Customer Reviews

Patti Smith : An Unauthorized Biography

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I confess that when I first browsed through this book over a year ago, I really didn't like it. It seemed like quite a hostile work, and I put down a lot of the apparent bias to Bockris also being Deborah Harry's biographer and the Smith-Harry relationship, such as it ever was, being one of oil and water. However. On rereading, this book doesn't look as bad as all that. Smith won't enjoy reading it, but it certainly does not trash her--the clips and quotes from her most demented phases are kept to a minimum and the balance of what people have to say about her to this biographer is respectful, if somewhat baffled. There is a great deal of overlap between this treatment of Smith and Patricia Morrissey's far more detailed and professional biography of Robert Mapplethorpe, the Diego Rivera to Smith's Frida Kahlo. If one reads it as a supplement to that book, rounding out the picture of Smith as professional acquaintances and non-intimate friends saw her, the result is reasonably consistent. This in itself is an achievement. Bockris does not exactly get inside Smith's head, but that may be an impossibility for anyone other than Smith; she comes across as a powerful but fragmented personality. And this may be the mark of the born performer, the man or the woman with a sixth sense for their effect on others but little cohesive sense of self in private, giving them the talent for battening onto any symbols that project (and supply) their personal subjectivity, and fueling the combination of selflessness and narcissism that allows a person to take the blows on the path to fame. Smith's peculiar genius--the word is not too strong--is that of a long line of American artists who have been able to take this aspect of their personalities and use it to mirror the intense ambition, puritanism, fragmentation, and self-consciousness that typify the American character. She may have been obsessed with foreign influences--what American isn't?--but her unique talent was to be in some measure conscious of the source of this obsession, and use it, at her best, actually to find and channel links between the dementia of all nations and an indigenous spiritual lineage going back to John Brown at least. And as a working-class hero from the Rust Belt, her obsession with transcendence parallels that of a country whose greatest appeal and danger lies in the promise it holds out of being able to transcend one's origins--not to rise above them, but to bring them to a higher level, through a combination of courage, vision, and Napoleonic megalomania. Patti Smith remains dangerous long after punk has ceased to be; she remains dangerous because America does.

The trouble is that Smith's fans already know all this, and consequently there is only limited interest in hearing one more anecdote about the artist's eccentricities or one more piece of speculation about how she got that way. This book is not really a biography in the usual sense. It amounts to a superior compilation of stories and press clippings, most of which are not salacious (Smith always wanted you to believe she was bigger and badder than she was). But in the absence of the context provided by testimony from family members and others who know Smith best, and who naturally are not talking, the one or two pieces of interesting information sound like a tease and take on a pejorative quality. This effect can be observed in the little that we get to know about Fred Smith, Patti's late husband and, after Mapplethorpe, the biggest influence on her life and work. There is no doubt that his American populist aesthetic harmonized with hers, and may have rescued her from the manic "Radio Ethiopia" kitsch into which she was disappearing at the time of a near-fatal accident (she danced off a stage) that temporarily stymied her career. But depending on who you talk to, Fred Smith was either a kind and considerate husband, or a creep who stopped his wife's career, crushed her spirit, may have belted Patti around. The anecdotes to either effect are just that, anecdotes, and do not transcend the feeling of being breaches of privacy. And what does anyone mean by charging that the two albums Patti cut in the wake of his death are "careerist" or "professional mourning," just because he may not always have been good for her and she still misses him deeply? Sheesh.

The true biography of Patti Smith remains to be written. As for most important artists, it may need to wait till she is gone: Smith guards her privacy closely and there's no reason why she shouldn't. But by all means, read this one: it will take you back. And the pictures are good.

What a piece of garbage! Bockris and Bayley do here for Patti what Kitty Kelley did for Sinatra. Just about every occurence is Smith's life and work is judged by these two as careerist and manipulative, so unfortunately, this book is in no way the fair or balanced account that Smith fans had hoped for.

These two are even shameless enough to admit that the bulk of information provided by the book comes from interviews that Patti did with other people throughout her career. My guess is that one would come away much more informed by searching out the originals and seeing what Patti had to say in the proper context.

For two people so associated w/punk rock music, it seems odd that Victor Bockris and Roberta Bayley could have written such a tepid account of Patti Smith. This book relies heavily on published interviews and sensationalistic accounts of her life that Patti has given to journalists over the years. Bockris and Bayley paint her as controlling in some instances and a pushover in others, often in their attempts to discover her motivations. Not only that, but could they have chosen a more unattractive photo of Patti to adorn the book jacket? Patti had nothing to do w/this book and if you want the real deal, buy her collections of poetry, Early Work and The Coral Sea, and her complete lyric collection, which has tons of photos and some of Patti's journal notes from over the years.

Great subject for a bio. Beautiful photo inside of Patti and Robert Mapplethorpe standing on their fire escape. Notice I haven't said anything regarding the quality of the writing?

Patti Smith has a life story so interesting and compelling that even an account this pedestrian and unispired is interesting at times. But that is because of the story of Patti Smith, rather than the writing here, which is barely above the level of the average People magazine article.

The author failed to conduct a single interview with Smith for the book. His entire "research" consists of reading other people's work- other articles and books. Hence nothing is new here and nothing feels particularly incisive or accurate.

The author prefers to list famous people who attended a performance, rather than offer any insight into what made that performance (the art itself) interesting or meaningful. He spends lots of time with catty references and lukewarm sexual gossip, and no time analizing what makes Smith's writing and performance so compelling year after year.

There is also an ongoing series of refernces to Patti being "mean" to Debbie Harry, like the two are jealous high school cheerleaders rather than important women in rock. These refernces are utterly pointless.

At the end of the book is the one interview the author ever did with Smith, in 1972 at her first poetry being published. Reading it entertaining, because you realize the author used every single word in the book itself, desperately trying to spread this pr puff piece long enough to make it seem as if he knows Smith and her world. Pathetic.

This effort is particularly galling because Patti Smith herself did so much (and does so much today) to stretch boundaries, to make new connections, to reinvent her chosen art forms. How unflattering a contrast then, to have this "biography" be so utterly dull witted and pedantic. A National Enquirer article would be more insightful.

The book also fails to take into account Patti Smith's tremendous sense of humor. Often the "source" being cited is a pr interview Smith gives as a book is being published or a record released. She says something really funny and facetious(probably to keep herself amused with inane questions). But the author doesn't get the joke and cites what Smith says as if it were some declaration of serious intent from on high, later contradicted by a different answer years down the road.

Finally, it takes balls for the author to imply Smith is pretentious while his own book jacket declares himself to be the "Poet Laureate of the New York Underground." I would like to see a recount of the election to that post.

This book is poor. The writing is questionable and the design is terrible.

Its mainly compiled from articles and interviews-- which you could easily find for yourself on the web.

In an effort to try to make the book dramatic or interesting they portray Debbie Harry as P.Smith's most hated enemy and threat? Give me a break.

If you're really interested in Patti Smith then you'd be better off buying her books.

Despite some pretty good biographies of Bebe Buell, Blondie and Keith Richards, Victor Bockris strikes out in a big way with "Patti Smith: An Unauthorized Biography." Focusing on the snippy, selfish and just plain weird, Bockris creates an unflattering portrait of Smith that doesn't offer any insights.

Patti Smith wasn't pretty or graceful, but her strong artistic leanings took her to New York in the cultural swirls of the 1970s. At first she was just a poet, although an outstandingly vivid one, and then she became a punk rocker with a unique look and style all her own. Upon her marriage to MC5 rocker Fresh Smith, Patti Smith vanished from the limelight for many years to be a quiet, obedient housewife... only to reappear when her husband died.

At first, Bockris starts off strong with descriptions of Smith's childhood rebellions and love of rock'n'roll (including as her blunt description of her first glimpse of the Rolling Stones). Then she first arrives in New York and becomes enmeshed in the gritty avant-garde gaggle of artists and musicians -- so far so good. But the story starts to unravel when music comes back into the picture.

When Smith's music comes onto the scene, Bockris distances himself. He sticks to her eccentricities and naster moments, with little emphasis on her music (such as her rivalry with Debbie Harry, which is never explained in full). The descriptions of Patti's husband, lovers and friends aren't very well-rounded -- we basically get a 2-D picture and that's it.

"Patti Smith: An Unauthorized Biography" is mainly patched together from interviews and articles. That's always a problem; it puts a distance between the biographer and subject. And some of Bockris' comments about Smith's marriage seem suspect, almost like he was determined to see it as a failure. He seems disappointed that she opted to be a housewife for awhile rather than a punk goddess.

Unbalanced and patched together from previous material, "Patti Smith: An Unauthorized Biography" is a passable starting point, but by no means a good source for info on Smith's life and art.

The fact that Patti Smith's name follows Victor Bockris' and Roberta Baily's on the book catalog listing is misleading and irresponsible. Patti Smith had nothing to do with this book and neither did anybody who really knew or knows her. As said in the above reviews, it is a poor pastiche of periodical articles and conconcted stories by embittered has-beens and hangers on who themselves never created anything of worth. It is obvious that it's 'authors' did little if any real research on Patti Smith the individual or the artist and, sadly, they do not seriously focus on her work. It's as if they cut and pasted huge portions of the book from the internet while sitting at home on laptops doing google searches. In conclusion, this book is a waste of paper and money.

Never dull, if sometimes uneven in quality. The truth, and memory are ever subjective. Great photos. Despite the hoopla surrounding its release, it's worth a read.

I see that most of these people hate this book. I admit it has its faults. Lots of 'em. The cover is supremely nasty. Not really because Patti has her hands stuck down her pants. The authors manage to mention themselves enough to slightly annoy the reader, and Victor even put a picture of himself in it (of course Patti's in the picture, too, but you get the feeling there were LOTS more photos to choose from, and he just put that one in there to feel all special). More than a few times, we get bombarded with images of Patti enjoying carnal pleasures -by herself. I'm not easily offended, but it was just unnecessary. All of that other stuff already mentioned, it's informative, and it's really the only Patti Smith bio out there. All in all, an okay read. Plus, you can't beat the price- I just happened to see it in a store and was able to buy it with scrounged-up pocket money.