{"product_id":"year-of-the-monkeybooks","title":"Year of the Monkey","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the National Book Award-winning author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJust Kids \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eand \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eM Train,\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e a profound, beautifully realized memoir in which dreams and reality are vividly woven into a tapestry of one transformative year.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFollowing a run of New Year's concerts at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland with no design, yet heeding signs--including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger's words, \"Anything is possible: after all, it's the Year of the Monkey.\" For Smith--inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing--the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life's gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSmith melds the western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places, this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment set in. But as Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope for a better world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRiveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith's signature Polaroids, \u003ci\u003eYear of the Monkey\u003c\/i\u003e is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.","brand":"Smith, Patti","offers":[{"title":"Hardback (Biography)","offer_id":44237977845984,"sku":"","price":18.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0330\/3125\/8248\/files\/BNCImageAPI_9d94d544-699c-46bb-99cc-963297ee960a.jpg?v=1696954831","url":"https:\/\/agricola-street-books.myshopify.com\/products\/year-of-the-monkeybooks","provider":"Agricola Street Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}