A Year On Earth With Mr. Hell

by Young Kim

I found the book so engrossing; I really did read it in one sitting. That’s kind of unheard of from me. It all takes place in a beautiful bubble of privilege and thank god. It’s glorious to be allowed to enter into it because fuck the rest of our rotten, barren world in this moment.– Bret Easton EllisThe highly acclaimed début memoir by Young Kim, this book is a completely truthful and explicit account about a romantic affair Kim conducted with legendary punk rocker and writer, Richard Hell. It is unique in that while it is a diary, in its cinematic sweep, it reads like a novel.

Known for his own erotic writing, Hell instigated the book inadvertently by asking Kim to write something sexually provocative about their first night together. Set in a Warholian swirl in the worlds of art, music, and fashion, spanning continents, the narrative is as much about Kim’s processing her grief for Malcolm McLaren (most famous for his role as the conceptualizer, art director, and manager of the Sex Pistols, as well as designing the punk style with his then-partner Vivienne Westwood), her romantic and business partner for the last 12 years of his life until his untimely death in 2010.A Year On Earth With Mr. Hell is a forensic dissection of the author’s intense sexual relationship with a charismatic, frustrating, talented man, and you won’t have read anything quite like it. It’s breathtakingly frank, clear-eyed and gripping. We should all be grateful that Young Kim is able to write about the risks and delights of desire without fear or shame – and in cool prose that avoids the color purple and all shades of grey.—Nick HornbySex, fashion, celebrities, travel—in the midst of all this swirling glamour and erotic experimentation is the attentive eye of a discerning young woman.--Edmund WhiteThe most graphically effective sex writing I've read in a long time. The same material as fiction wouldn't have such an immediate and even threatening when someone is making something up, that gives the reader an out, and this doesn't.-- Greil MarcusA fabulous escapist fantasy involving two cool people in amazing clothes having a fine time taking them off in glamorous hotel rooms.--Helen Rumbelow, The Times The spirit of Anais Nin and Georges Bataille is reborn in this wonderful book. Young Kim has written something that is much more than a memoir—a truly modern work of art. --Matthew D’Ancona

Genres: Nonfiction, Music, Memoir

236 pages, Paperback

Published February 12, 2024

Reviews

[Sebastian Black · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once I was at a gallery dinner in LA and I was seated next to a collector type who was talking about how hard it is to keep white t shirts white. She said when she needed one for an outfit she would get a new one and then throw it out. But even so, she opined, it’s impossible to know where to find a good white t shirt when one is traveling in a foreign city. I said if she wanted to keep her white ts white she should use oxi clean, but if she insisted on single use she should just get the 3 packs of Hanes or whatever from Target or CVS. She smiled at me like I had an arm growing out of my forehead and then turned to talk to the diner on her other side.

I kinda think that lady was the writer of this book.

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

She should’ve been meaner to him

[Maddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of bragging and name dropping but I always wondered what it’d be like to sleep with Richard Hell, so.

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

An intensely self centered woman spends time with two aging narcissist artists. Much detailed self reflection follows.

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

She should’ve been meaner to him

[Sue Online · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, I know it’s been quite a while since I wrote about a book on Goodreads, but I must write about this book. Must. I’ve listened to a ton of books. I’ve even bought software that will read the book out loud for me if I only have an e-book. But this one? I was willing to go blind for it (yes, that’s hyperbole, if it doth offend thee, cast this review from thee, and pretend this book doesn’t exist).

Back in my punk days (they never really leave you, do they?), I listened to Television, and the Heartbreakers, along with the Ramones, The Clash, Sex Pistols, Adam and the Ants, Wayne/Jayne County, and the whole wild lot. So I know (knew?) of Richard Hell and Malcolm McLaren, but in a “I’ve heard they’re influential” way, not in a “and I must therefore find out everything I can about them” way.

And I’d never heard of Young Kim (who by the way is referred to in the book as Young, so it galls me when "reviewers" call her Kim - did you even read the book?)

But I gave a quick read to an NYT article on this book, and I needed it. Minju Pak (Ode to a Punk Rock ‘Sex God’ – New York Times Feb. 16, 2024) wrote , “Little by little over the last few years, “A Year on Earth With Mr. Hell,” a self-published, sex-heavy memoir by an unknown author, has become a word-of-mouth hit among artists and writers… The critic Greil Marcus described it as “the most graphically effective sex writing I’ve read in a long time.”

That is literally as far as I got in the article when I started searching for the book. Not easy. I found 1 copy in the UK, and I didn’t want to wait. E-book it is (yes I hate “licensing” a book instead of owning it.)

Wow! Young Kim is an outstanding writer. I read the book in a few hours. I NEVER read a book in a few hours. Now, I might listen to an audio book at double speed, which can reduce listening time (and enjoyment). But read? Nah.

But I read this book in a matter of a few hours. I utterly devoured this book, bleeding eyes be damned. I have never read such an addictive memoir from someone who is both self-possessed and unaware – and I only read non-fiction!

The book is controversial, and apparently Richard Hell is less than impressed (did I read somewhere that he called it “revenge p**n”?). It’s erotic, but rest assured there’s more clothing than (insert erotic word beginning with the letter C) and more art than (insert erotic word beginning with the letter A). I loved the book, and am seriously considering tracking down a hard copy.

On February 19, 2024, I looked for the book, it was $23 for the paperback. The same book today, February 20, 2024, is $65. Oof. The least expensive I can find now is $40.

I have to pull the trigger, bite the bullet, pull my thumb out, get off the pot… Whatever phrase you want. One moment please… Aaaaand done. To be delivered next month. It’s a pain to wait, but a delicate pain, something that begins gently and grows over time. I can do naught but wait in pain, and it will be worth every moment.

[sasha]

i know all the reasons why one can dislike this book and they are, to a certain extent, not untrue: young is self-absorbed (but knows herself better than most people know themselves, and should we fault her for this? simply because she puts it on paper, and others keep it within the undocumented regions of their internal lives?); the culture, name-dropped (yes, this was a bit annoying, i think, because she narrates as though no one else has ever heard of art before); the end of the affair, a bit unexplored, perhaps? And yes, she writes more of her clothes than of sex, but I am also a woman obsessed with clothes so this didn’t bother me at all.

but i read this very quickly and it was engrossing and i found her charming. she is cold but she knows this and she is not unkind. in fact, she is very kind, and very respectful, and i think this is more important than the pretense of warmth. she is loyal to her friends and this i deeply respect. at one point, she writes of how much she loves to write, and how often, this means that she is the one writing more to her friends than they write back, and this is also how my life often has been. and she loves like i love, i think, which is somewhat idealistically, and likes to learn from those she loves. and i did think this was an intimate way of approaching how to grieve through writing.

[Alexandra Gurvitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obsessed. Not for Prudes or those who hate name droppers.

[Emma Santucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

after forgetting to bring this book on vacation i have finally finished it and i am obsessed. it’s actually so small and easy to hold in your hands and put in your pocket which made it such a joy (physically) to read. but also: her voice is awesome and it was so much fun from start to finish. a great grief vs. love vs. sex story set in the new york // european art world.

[Chelsea Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engrossing! Smutty! Like reading a well written diary!

[Kasey Tyson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite. Was supposed to be an empowered account of a love affair, but it did not feel empowering to me in the slightest. Glad I did something different from my normal read though.

[Sophie Kemp]

insanely clinical descriptions of sex...j'adore....crazy pants!!

[Gabby Grossman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the sluttiest book ever, written by someone who I can only describe as a true and genuine nutjob. Parts of this book made me laugh out loud (despite the fact that Kim clearly did not mean them as a joke— I’m thinking specifically of when she tells Hell that being a narcissist is nothing to be ashamed of). Dora and Nathan gave me this book and said it was “the horniest book ever” and made them “want to have a sexually liberating situationship.” That may be true AND YET it was so genuinely bad and hard to read because I found everyone so annoying and self obsessed. Also the sex scenes weren’t that hot. Sue me!!!!

[Isabelle Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve never read another book like this.

[Dorsey Ensor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Captivating book. Marinating for now. Will say her approach is interesting

[Zoë · Rating 2 out of 5]

The promise of this book was not delivered…. Young’s aversion to the contemporary world just makes her seem crotchety and ignorant and sad…. And If she thinks Richard hell is such a crazed sex maniac she should try sexting with a European for 2 days and she will learn a thing or two

[Karan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretentious and annoying. I suspect Hell used his girlfriend as an excuse to get away from her. His infidelity didn’t bother him half so much as Kim’s personality.
.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

pasting my thoughts straight from a late-night journal entry, forgive me.

i finished a book today. i can’t remember the last time i read a book front to back. it was called A Year On Earth With Mr. Hell, about a woman named Young who had a 10-month affair with prolific punk rocker Richard Hell.

Young had previously been married to Sex Pistols manager and fashion legend Malcolm McLaren but he’d died (he was much older than her). after his death she found herself drifting into an affair with Richard Hell, who’d been in a relationship but took an interest in her. although much of the book centered on their affair, it wasn't all about that.

she wrote lovingly of Malcolm’s memory. she wrote about fashion and art and her upbringing in Korean culture. she wrote about grief. but the aspects of the book i latched onto the most were her relationship dynamics with these men.

as she wrote fondly of memories with Malcolm and Richard, the scenes she described didn’t feel fond to me. by her own accounts, Malcolm teased her, talked down to her, habitually walked ahead of her rather than beside her (seemingly harmless but a red flag in my book). Richard broke endless promises to her and continuously abandoned her (literally and digitally). during periods when Richard would ignore her, she’d still buy him gifts, send him emails/letters, text him photos she thought he’d like -- anything to get his attention.

Young implied she was manipulating Hell, but i’m not so sure about that. maybe if manipulating a man means giving him everything he wants and settling for the bare minimum in return. every conversation they'd had turned sexual. and even if she enjoyed it, by the end it seemed she wanted more from Richard than just sex. she wanted to keep him as a friend. she valued him as a person. could he say the same about her? did she even care about that?

to me it felt like she was trying too hard to sell to the reader that she didn’t care. that she was the one in control. that she knew exactly what she was doing. Young isn’t the first woman to understand how a man’s brain works, but she’d have you believe that. she wrote about the tactics she'd use to bait Richard into responding to her after a communication drought. she never let up. i felt sorry for her. and i'm sure she would roll her eyes at that remark, but i did.

yes, giving a man attention works like a charm. pouring yourself into him when he's giving you nothing in return is a foolproof plan. he will take that bait 100 times over. from you and from 1,000 other women. as the narrator, Young wrote from a place of power and authority. she was in total control. she was dangling the bait and Richard was taking it. but why would you want to trick someone into talking to you? or spending time with you?

even if it’s just a fling, does manipulating someone into giving you affection make you feel sexy? to me it doesn’t compute, but maybe she really did enjoy it. she talked about it as if it had been some sort of social experiment. but then it’s easy to sound detached from a memory when you’ve had years to detach from it.

part of me thinks she wrote this book so Richard would read it, as another attempt to bait him into reconnecting. but the feminist part of me thinks she wrote this to own the narrative and rub Richard’s nose in his mess.

in one memory she shared about Malcolm, she described a fight (of many) they’d had where she was dangling from his neck begging him not to leave her. why would anyone want to dangle from another person’s neck? why would anyone want to beg to be loved? there’s no heart in that.

[Angela Liu · Rating 3 out of 5]

i wanted to love this book. HOWEVER. i strongly feel that this could have been an essay. by the tenth time young kim detailed the emotional experience of texting richard hell a long, elaborate paragraph about her desire for him and receiving an emoji in response, all i could think was, girl, stand UP!!! stop buying him expensive gifts in paris and clearing your schedule for him every time you’re in new york! and the more she revealed about her marriage to malcolm mclaren, the more worrisome it became. toxic, codependent, misogynistic.

the sweetest moments in this memoir are when young discusses her own path from yale to law school to pursuing the arts. she’s had such an interesting, potentially inspiring journey. and then her life — both professional & personal — transforms via her relationships with these powerful, older men. young kim is the “pick me” girl lived out to its platonic ideal; a glimpse of what things would be like for us if at age 40 we were still trying to convince ourselves that we didn’t care if he texted us back or not.

young kim is not a sympathetic narrator, either (richard hell is in a relationship throughout the whole length of their affair) and she clearly declares herself an anti feminist. this would be less of an issue for me if the prose had been particularly spectacular or i’d felt that she revealed some interesting insights about why she holds these heretic views but frankly the prose is sloppy and any self awareness fails to come through in this text. obviously i can see why this was in the kaitlyn phillips gift guide. i can also see why richard hell himself called this book revenge porn! if i were a rockstar who slept with someone three times and they proceeded to write a memoir about that experience, i’d def feel exploited.

it’s a gorgeous little book with nostalgic vignettes of nyc at the time i was a student there and i’ll keep it on my bookshelf but would strongly not recommend. unfortunately.

[Kareem · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe that this memoir is an astounding piece of literature, and I also believe that it will take a certain person to fully appreciate it as such.
I’m heavily remined of Just Kids by Patti Smith, in fact more than a few names overlap, although Patti Smith herself leans towards a traditionally literary soul, and Young Kim leans towards the world of fashion and the arts. I love that through Young Kim I know Tom Ford's iconic glasses was a design taken from Christian Roth's. I am delighted that She uses the same brand as perfume as me, the 800-year-old “Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella”.
This is a beautiful, intelligent and graphic written account of a love affair that exists in the engine of a life many people would easily dismiss. Ultimately, I was engrossed by the talent of her writing and the depths of Young Kim’s sentimentally. Richard Hell called it” Revenge Porn” I could be so lucky for someone who could be inspired to create such work because of me and be able to fully grasp and understand the totality of another’s internal world as well. If the price is people reading about how I licked Young Kim’s ass, then so be it. A worthy sacrifice. I would think an artist of all people would understand.
I find myself wondering how will others see and describe me? If it’s anything like Young Kim sees Richad perhaps, I won’t feel as badly as I’ve lived so far. Lastly, I am more than a little jealous of reading about their world. I feel so connected to; I would be right at home.

[Celeste Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 This is touted to be a revolutionary, transgressive book about a wild sexual affair with an 80s true transgressive, Richard Hell. Can one even say his name without adding "the Voidoids"! But it's also really a lovely memoir that simultaneously honors and eulogizes her relationship - a relationship cut unexpectedly short - with THE punk maestro Malcolm McLaren. (Reading this made me think of my tangential relationship to Nancy Spungen via David Spungen at U Penn of course).

There are actually only a limited number of words about carnal sex but what there is, is delineated with accuracy, spiked with wry amusement and loaded with textural detail. In essence, there are vastly more words about the preludes and postludes than the interludes themselves, but the one-year memoir charmingly and yes, at times, very compellingly reflects Young Kim herself, meaning her own growing up. She's in midlife but this is nonetheless a classic coming of age memoir - a bildungsroman.

One loaded with a lot of cultural, art (pop or otherwise) and name references which make you feel like her... (Marbury The Clocks, Ghesquiere Balenciaga, a snide aside about Red Hot Chili Peppers & Jane Page, Oak Island, Damien Hirst, Deyrolles pre-fire, Palais Royale, Colette, PiL ...). She posits that she's persnickety, a planner and a bit of a perfectionist, but really, she is full of emotion and the desire to experience, this thing called life. Bonus: the way she describes the act -or in her case - the art of gift-giving is literally inspired and inspiring.

[Cass · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blech. This book is inadvertently hilarious. All the self congratulation about the hip and terribly important art events, the dopey enthusiasm for world-shattering trivial nonsense, the big fuss about clothes and shoes and grooming and…presents! She flies around a lot and visits her friends. It’s unbelievably dim. The writing about sex is no better: the author had a few unattached meaningless sexual encounters with a guy, and they had a good time. She wrote things down. It ended. She had another boyfriend before, but he died.
That’s pretty much it. No insight, no actual creativity, no point, no emotion, nothing to say. My favorite part is the observation that men should pay for dates, because women spend so much on the clothes and hair and makeup etc in preparation for the dates. Yikes!

[Jo Joy Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

glad i picked it up again after considering it cheesy half way. Not massive sexual content or enlightenment. titillating, annoying, resonating. perhaps a little of all three. it's a show off book. who writer is with, knows, wears, but there are snippets of honest feelings or rather admitting all our inabilities to feel and not avoid, deal and accept. it all gets a bit impossible when lust, infatuation, loneliness, need, desire and comfort are involved. connecting isn't easy. separating even harder. makes you wonder if some are worth it? maybe there's a compromise to be found...

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of digital ink has been spilled about the author/narrator's personality — and, it's true that neither she nor Richard Hell come off looking great in this memoir. "Self-absorbed cultural snobs" doesn't really do them justice, but it doesn't necessarily make them uninteresting characters, either. For all their punk bonafides, Kim in particular comes off as a driven, if pompous, curator of the fashionable taste in artistry of all sorts (particularly in clothing) — and that seemingly includes her lovers. Hell comes off, not as the oversexed sleazeball you might imagine an aging punk progenitor to be, but as a running dad joke of libidinal grossness. And their sexual relationship seems more like a handful of obsessed-over one-night trysts, clinically — if not un-erotically — described. (And Kim is not a bad writer!)

I picked up this book after reading the NYT article, like many others here. What got me was the hot-pink design and packaging homage to Ophelia Press, the even smuttier NY kid sister to legendary Paris publisher Olympia Press, which brought the world Henry Miller, William Burroughs, and Nabokov, along with a slew of mostly male literary sluts.

"The Story of O" this ain't, but it delivers on that promise of quick-hit erotic impulse, albeit mixed with a good helping of pompous instruction in good (read, "avant") artistic taste. Viewed from a distance, the characters, too, act as a kind of (maybe unintentional) critique of the post-punk artistic establishment, a world in which where wearing just the right perfume to a Damien Hirst afterparty attainable only by chartered boat is the 20s equivalent of smashing the system.

Boring boring boring, Sydney.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

The descriptive elements of the book- place, sex and fashion- were great; Kim's writing is sharp in these arenas. However, the name dropping and privilege upon which her experience is founded make it tiresome and not transgressive in the least (which she claims it is). Some questionable taste in contemporary art as well!

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked Kim Young's writing style. She goes into a lot of detail about what she or Richard wore, and the style of her surroundings. I'm not someone who notices a great deal about fashion, but I enjoyed her descriptions. It seems the affair that she writes about included just a few actual encounters, but it was interesting.

[Sal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd be hard pressed to argue if your response after a couple dozen pages was to throw this across the room yelling, "My god, everyone in this book is an insufferable jerk!"
That said, I must have a soft spot for pretentious New Yorkers when their memoirs reveal they are just as shallow, silly, and horny as the rest of us.

[Naomi Sk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many stories about sending postcards!!!!!!!!!!

[Ji · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book so bad and boring that I'm questioning if the book itself is some critique on consumerism and art and not expected to be judged on the actual writing

[Lisa Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confused about her, until I realized she is just a grifter. Having said that - I finished the book.