Customer Reviews

Widow Basquiat

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I read this book I could not put it down...I had always been a fan of Jean Michel Basquiat's work and so was very curious to read this book. This book was absolutely beautifully written. It has a very poetic, surreal, childlike quality to it....the style it is written in resembles the style the artist painted in...It is clear that this author was intimately acquainted with both Jean Michael and Suzanne. This book is far from a journalistic accounting of the story...it is about the feeelings, the smells, the tastes....this book is a sensory account of the time...it takes the reader back there...it is amazingly moving. Bravo to Jennifer Clement. I am sure to hear more of her very soon. She is a brilliant writer.

Unlike the popular movie "Basquiat" and other convoluted accountings of the artist's life, this book is a part of the "real deal" of what went down --- written by the author with the help of Basquiat's girlfriend of the time --two figures who were really there and in the artist's life well before he was ever heard of or given any serious attention by the likes of Warhol or anyone else with a famous name. This book is free of the hype and distortion that has sadly compromised other descriptions of what really went down. The book also depicts some of the rawness and flavor of what was happening in the East Village/Lower East Side during that time period.

The book is written in a poetically hypnotic style utilizing a structure of short passages for easy reading. Hard to put it down once started. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

I have been a fan of Basquiat for a long time. I am an artist as well. I have always been intrested in his life and have a lot of books on him and his art and his life. I found this book to be about a totally different perspective. Not only a womens persepctive but a women who was a muse to him. This book does not paint a glorified Picture of him...or a star struck tragic picture of him. It is about Susan and her plight with life, and him being a big part of it. The book is extremely poetic, very dark, sad, melancholy...but above all MOVING. I read it in less than 24 hours. I applaud Jennifer Clement

This book was a excellent book in the matter that it protrayed another perspective of Jean-Michel Basquiat and let us in on the life of one of his most enduring muses in his short and unfortunate addictive lifestyle and life. The books poetic writings give Jean-Michel and Suzannes life together a hard tragedy instead of a glamorous protrayal (tragedy is the actual matter of fact). Jean-Michel and Suzanne's relationship was truely bizarre and not understanding to the everyday person. People who know or know of Jean-Michel probably never knew the side of him that Suzanne saw, and it is refreshing and wonderful that we were allowed to read such intimate details of their life together. I titled this review "Hearts and Tracks" because the book is full of heart and the heroine abuse of Suzanne and Basquiat (including a discription of his unfortunate death).

This is a surprisingly light read of a heavy topic that gives a unique, inside view of life with the artist, Jean-Michael Basquiat. It is an even better book when read as a success story of a woman who ultimately left an unhealthy relationship. Since it covers her childhood as well as her relationship with Basquiat and her attempts to move away from him you get a little bit of insight as to why she would be attracted to this type of person. When you finish the book you will have learned about the sensationalized artist but you will also learn a story about a very successful woman who wasn't quite as interesting to the public only because she was strong and overcame adversity instead of wallowing in it. She is probably not as famous as her ex-beau because she didn't die of an overdose, but such is our culture.

I had already read a classic biography of Basquiat but this is quite different. The book offers an artistic and poetic exploration of Basquiat's life and artwork.

Really enjoyed this book. I love all that is Jean Michel Basquiat. Always wanting to know more about him as a person. This book filled in many blanks.
Thanks for sharing Suzanne.
Donna Marie

knowing the parties involved. i was deeply touched and moved by this love story and psychological mining of its subjects. this is an invaluable insight to the back story behind an incredibly important artist living through a period of new york city history while honestly addressing the drugs that were so much a part of driving production of so many artists at the time. Basquiat was no exception to this and certainly not alone.

On Sunday September 9th the author will be giving a free reading of this book, to celebrate it's US release, at St. Mark's Church, 131 East 10th street @ 2nd avenue at 7pm.......

The book came in the maximum amount of time I expected - 2-14 business days from the notice I received from the seller that the item had been shipped. The quality of the item was high, much higher than expected for a used book. It looked brand new and I was very pleased with the item.