Pão dos anjos: A história da minha vida

by Patti Smith, Camila von Holdefer (Translator)

Da infância humilde à consagração artística; das descobertas da poesia ao punk dos anos 1970 e a gênese de clássicos como Horses . A trajetória íntima e criativa de uma das artistas mais influentes do nosso tempo.

Às vésperas de completar oitenta anos e após os aclamados Só Garotos e Linha M , Patti Smith volta a percorrer os labirintos da memória nesta que é sua obra mais pessoal.

O ponto de partida é a infância no pós-guerra americano, período em que a autora de Horses viveu com a família em quartos de pensão e conjuntos habitacionais prestes a serem demolidos na Filadélfia. Lá, conhecemos seus pais (um operário e uma garçonete), o irmão Toddy, as irmãs Linda e Kimberly, suas primeiras leituras (Lewis Carroll, J. M. Barrie, revistas Vogue encontradas no lixo), sua saúde frágil.

Na adolescência, surgem os primeiros sinais do que viria a ser sua voz artística: Rimbaud, Bob Dylan e os beats se apresentam como faróis criativos, e a jovem poeta começa a unir palavra e melodia em canções que se tornariam clássicos incontornáveis.

Em Nova York, “no verão do amor”, conhece Robert Mapplethorpe e juntos entram pelos portais do Chelsea Hotel ― e dos anos 1970, do punk, das noites no CBGB (“ somos arte/ratos, filhotes imundos, palavras que gastamos ”). De passagem por Detroit, numa turnê que se tornaria célebre, é apresentada a Fred “Sonic” Smith, com quem se casaria e construiria uma vida de devoção e liberdade.

Entre o luto e a gratidão, Pão dos anjos é uma celebração da arte como força transformadora: a capacidade de fazer com que o cotidiano se torne beleza e a dor, esperança.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Music, Biography, Biography Memoir, Art, Audiobook

272 pages, Paperback

First published August 9, 2025

About the author

PATTI SMITH is a writer, performer, and visual artist. She gained recognition in the 1970s for her revolutionary merging of poetry and rock. She has released twelve albums, including Horses, which has been hailed as one of the top one hundred albums of all time by Rolling Stone.

Smith had her first exhibit of drawings at the Gotham Book Mart in 1973 and has been represented by the Robert Miller Gallery since 1978. Her books include Just Kids, winner of the National Book Award in 2010, Wītt, Babel, Woolgathering, The Coral Sea, and Auguries of Innocence.

In 2005, the French Ministry of Culture awarded Smith the title of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, the highest honor given to an artist by the French Republic. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

Smith married the musician Fred Sonic Smith in Detroit in 1980. They had a son, Jackson, and a daughter, Jesse. Smith resides in New York City.

Reviews

[Celine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Bread of Angels during threads of encapsulated moments.

In my backyard, hair still wet from a shower, water dripping onto the pages. Curled up on my side in bed, long after I told myself I’d go to sleep. I read it with one hand while cooking dinner, going back and forth between the pages and what I was doing. And countless other small snippets of time.

Patti takes us through her life as an artist— starting with a poverty stricken childhood in Chicago, leading into a period of grief, after the loss of her husband, and so many other beloved friend and family members. We see her as a young bohemian, newly in love, a mother, discovering her voice as a writer, and so many other precious memories, all written with poetic prose and deep vulnerability.

Sparkling with wit and grunge, Bread of Angels reflect the life of a true artist, rebellious to their bones. Patti has always been punk rock, this only further cements it.

[Quirine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the way Patti Smith sees and gives words to her inner and outer world. Especially the chapters on her childhood are gorgeous—the level of detail and atmosphere not unlike a charles dickens story. After that, things become more rushed and unfocused. The premise promises the story of Patti and her great love, Fred, but he remains elusive and vague. As with Just Kids, there’s A LOT of name dropping, which both fascinates and annoys me in equal measure. But her writing remains, on every page, utterly touching and transporting.

[leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

i first fell in love with patti smith’s writing when i read just kids - a beautiful, moving portrait of her relationship with robert mapplethorpe and their shared journey to becoming artists in 1970s new york. bread of angels rewinds the tapes a little further back, detailing smith’s lineage and youth - a childhood marked by illness and frequent moves - her beginnings as an artist and writer, a wife and a mother, bringing us all the way up to where she is today.

the sections about her work are so illuminating, offering details about the recording of her albums and insights into the creative process, particularly how she found her voice as a writer. smith’s prose is so lyrical that her start as a poet is really no surprise. what a privilege it is to have patti smith’s art in the world, and with bread of angels, to be offered another piece of it.


thank you bloomsbury (and betsy!!) for the arc - it comes out next week in the uk on 4 november.

—————————


original review: what a beautiful memoir / portrait of an artist.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this audiobook narrated by Patti..
This is very autobiographical, her youth with her family in Philadelphia, they were poor.. moved 11 times in her youth.
Much of the book was about her life with her husband Fred Sonic Smith.. their meeting, courtship, and married life lived right here in St Clair Shores Michigan, their home was literally not even 10 minutes away from mine, talks about their children.
She writes about her many personal losses in the 80’s and 90’s, the major losses “the love of her life and the artist of her life” … Fred and Robert Mapplethorpe respectively.. strange fact: Robert’s birthday was November 4, and Fred died on November 4th
Robert Mapplethorpe took the beautiful picture on the book cover.
She speaks of her writing and touring later in life.
I enjoyed this one!

[Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

[4.5 stars] From one of the greatest living artists, comes another poignant memoir of her life through various phases not yet touched upon in her other books. We get a stronger view into her post-WWII childhood, the season of love she shared with her husband Fred, and the aftermath of his death and her travels as a single woman again. It's quite a sweeping memoir for her, less focused on one particular era of her life or artistic endeavor. At times that means we get just a glance at what was going on behind the scenes or how she was feeling about it before moving on to another, no less interesting, anecdote. Her life is her art! And she renders that on the page so eloquently and creatively. Her 'rebel hump' forms, sheds, and reforms in various ways across the years and we get an intimate and personal look at that process from the artist herself.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit jaar ontdekte ik de literaire kant van Patti Smith en dat was toch een kleine revelatie. Vooral wanneer ze autobiografisch schrijft. Haar soms iets té spirituele fictie spreekt me minder aan, al heeft ze ook in die teksten een heel eigen stem en timbre. Mijn ontdekkingstocht begon bij Just Kids en daar leunen deze nieuwe memoires het dichtst bij aan, met dat verschil dat ze daar focuste op haar coming of age als artiest en haar band met Robert Mapplethorpe, grofweg de jaren '70 dus, terwijl ze hier een heel leven overschouwt.

'Bread of Angels' opent met een prachtig citaat van Gogol - 'Obstacles are our wings' - en leest als een trein en in tegenstelling tot wat de krantenreviews schrijven, kan je het niet reduceren tot een afscheid van de vele inspirerende mannen die haar levenspad gekruist hebben en haar als veelzijdig artiest geïnspireerd en gevormd hebben. Alleen al haar uitgebreid behandelde kindertijd en jeugdjaren bruisen van de levenslust en de uitgesproken eigenzinnigheid (dat laatste is zowat de rode draad door Smith's leven). Ook wanneer ze over haar relatie en huwelijk met Fred Sonic Smith schrijft, haar grote liefde, blijft het een ode aan het leven, de kunst en de hang naar schoonheid.

Pas op twee derde van het boek doet de schaduw van het verlies zijn intrede en ja, op korte tijd speelt Patti Smith heel wat dierbaren kwijt. Haar lief, haar geliefde broer Todd en haar vader. Later ook nog haar moeder en de twee giganten van de beat-poetry met wie ze een levenslange band onderhield: Burroughs en Ginsberg. In de nasleep van zoveel verlies en verdriet worstelt Smith met het leven, maar ze blijft alert en vatbaar voor vernieuwing en schoonheid, hoe moeilijk ook. Zeker nadat er zowaar een familiale plottwist aan het licht komt. Dat alles zorgt voor boeiende inzichten van een levenswijze 78-jarige vrouw die, zonder ook maar ergens sentimenteel te worden, probeert op te schrijven wat niet of lastig in woorden te vatten valt.

Toch zijn het net de woorden - woorden van een dichter, songwriter, beeldend kunstenaar, performer en mens - die haar overeind houden, al kostte het haar tijd om ze terug te vinden. Tijd en plaats zijn immers altijd al van belang geweest voor Smith. Het gaat vaak over de juiste plek zoeken en vinden om te schrijven, van een kaarttafeltje in haar keukentje over illustere literaire cafés tot een hotelsuite met balkon in de 'Bay of Angels' in Nice. De laatste stukjes, onder de titel 'Vagabondia', schreef ze op die laatste plek. Ze vormen een elegant uitwaaierend coda bij alweer een grandioos autobiografisch meesterwerkje. 4,5*

[Greta-Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

to live in the same time as Patti Smith is a gift I will treasure forever

[Bonnie G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

An ethereal being, a person so fully herself that she reveals most everyone I know (including me) as merely players. And her certainty is so generous, a pure acceptance that each person can know themselves, and their view of the world is their life and destiny if they have the conviction to realize and honor that self. Patti never thinks that she knows how you should live, just that you should look inside, and stop listening to others who tell you how you should live.

Every Patti Smith book is transformational, but until now, I have never thought any of them measure up to Just Kids. This is every bit as wonderful, her words as miraculous and true. Rather than an epoch if Patti's life, this is a survey, from birth (actually gestation) to the current moment. This simply could not be more beautiful, more immersive, more perfect. A best-of-the-best for me. An imperative read for anyone who wants to start to understand the soul of an artist.

I listened to this, recited by this South Jersey girl. Draw=drawl, pillow=pilla, and on and on. Let Patti tell you her story. I read Just Kids in print, and this made me plan to listen to that book soon, so she can tell me her story in her own voice.

[Juan Naranjo]

PAN DE ÁNGELES son unas memorias que solo pueden estar escritas por una poeta. Es un libro de una prosa hermosísima que convierte la vida cotidiana en algo elevado y místico.

Independientemente de cuánto te guste la música de Smith, leer cómo cuenta su vida es un ejercicio de máximo interés, ya que a su alrededor orbita buena parte del arte estadounidense del último tercio del siglo XX.

Yo he disfrutado mucho de la lectura, a pesar de que hay partes demasiado exhaustivas (todo lo relativo a sus antepasados, por ejemplo) y otras por las que pasa demasiado de puntillas (especialmente, todo lo acontecido en el siglo XXI). De hecho, cuesta un poco entender cuándo pasa de ser una artista precaria a una celebridad mundial.

Creo que son unas memorias honestas y valientes. Me gusta que reconozca sus fracasos y que sea tan generosa con sus amistades.

Sin embargo, es inevitable comparar este libro con su ÉRAMOS UNOS NIÑOS… y, claro, ni en lo que cuenta ni en cómo lo cuenta, este está a la altura de aquel.

[Francisca]

Escucho el Gloria: In Excelsis duo de Patti Smith para envolverme de la profunda alevosía que la escritora y música nos ofrece. Con este Pan de ángeles, con estas memorias sobre su vida estamos ante unos escritos que si bien retratan las épocas que ha vivido nos proponen también una interrogación sobre el mundo y sobre a qué vinimos a él. ¿Es imprescindible leer estas memorias para conocer a Patti Smith? Rotundamente sí. Pues estas memorias nos explican por qué ella es como es, cómo nacieron sus letras y su música, cómo creció y cómo se hizo a sí misma. Es esta la historia de cómo una artista se hace a sí misma. Cómo el arte, la literatura y la música confluyen en una sola cosa.

Aquí vemos su infancia así como la época en la que conocería a Robert Mapplethorpe y también cuando se quedaría embarazada y sus primeros pinitos en la música y sus giras por Europa y EEUU. Vemos cómo se enamoraría. Cómo se enteraría de algo fundamental en su vida y que no desvelaré pues creo que es lo que hace especial el final de este libro.

Patti Smith no viviría en el lujo, pero tendría la enorme fortuna de dedicarse a lo que quería y como podía, no quizás de aquella manera, pero tendría una vida a suma de cuentas fácil. Pero no hablemos de ella en pasado, hablemos de ella en presente. Patti se reconoce a sí misma como a una mística y nosotros no hacemos sino apreciar esto también. La enorme influencia de la literatura en su hacer es notable, con ese primer libro propio y robado de Rimbaud... No cabe duda que estas memorias nos traen la vida íntima de una mujer pero que nos retrata la vida de una artista en todas sus letras también.

Es innegable pasar de páginas sin pensar en cómo tendría tanta fuerza para seguir hacia adelante pese a todo lo que le pasaba. Tuvo un accidente en pleno concierto del que saldría mal parada y vemos aquí cómo se rehabilitó. Con esfuerzo y ganas y paciencia. La artista que ni se drogaba, ni bebía alcohol. Todo un mito de una época que nos ha dado a ver todo lo contrario en cuanto a mitología musical se refiere. La gente la quería, la gente que se fue y ya no volvió, pero nosotros también la queremos porque es absolutamente bellísima la manera en que nos cuenta una vida que es tergiversada por la lengua del amor: la poesía.

Es la poesía la clave para conocer a Patti Smith: esos momentos únicos, esos encuentros y llamadas con Fred, esas cosas que nos describe sobre cómo escribe cada día en su cocina y en su mesita plegable, cosa que ahora hará en cafeterías. Patti siempre con un papel y un lápiz en la mano, mostrándonos que vida y arte y amor son solo una. Que vida, arte y amor nos envuelven en ese halo místico que ella apreciaba tanto. Una vida para el arte, una vida para el amor. ¿Pero que es el arte sino amor aquí? ¿Y qué es el amor sino arte?

Sin duda Pan de ángeles se convierte en un libro indispensable para aquellos que vemos a Patti Smith como una artista total. Un mito. Alguien que consiguió lo que muy pocos consiguieron en vida: ser atrapados por la poesía y la música y el amor. No miento si digo que me dan ganas de darle un abrazo al terminar estas memorias, pues sin duda se vuelven profundamente únicas sobre la vida de una persona que está luchando siempre por lo que quiere y por lo que tiene.

[Liz Hein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the beginning, didn’t like the middle, but oh is that ending incredible. Worth every page for that.

[nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Major thanks to Random House for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts:

“𝘞𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦, 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘞𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘺𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰, 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘰. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘮, 𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯.
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵?”

And here, Patti presents strict poesie to that of pastures that stretch on through time and history and pain and pages. A look at a life lived, with eclectic pickings from childhood to a time where she fell off the stage and got a gash on her head. The press did her dirty, but she remained helpless, neck-braced, but this is where a flood of joyful help entered her life. The Ramones brought her tequila and a copy of Punk mag. William Burroughs brought her a fish wrapped in newspaper, to cook, to feed her. But it was here that poetry flooded out of her.

The book creates a formation of how the poetry comes out. For all the medical and physical catastrophes that have wrecked her, they have been whirlwinded in ways full of life and appreciation for a life. All of this spirals into Godspeak, unreachable and incomprehensible at times, but spellbinds in the usual Patti way that we all know and love her for.

Another window into her life with various notes on how some of her albums came to be as well as Just Kids. A treasure. Precious.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of Patti Smith’s art—whether written, visual, or performed—has always had a haunting, elegiac tone to it, so it seems only fitting that she chose for Bread of Angels, her most intimate and poignant memoir yet, to be published on November 4th, a significant date—the anniversary of her beloved husband’s untimely death, and what would’ve been Robert Mapplethorpe’s birthday. Six days later will mark the 50th anniversary of her seminal debut record Horses.

“God whispers through a crease in the wallpaper.”

Patti usually writes about fleeting moments and shorter periods of time, making them seem poetic and profound, no matter how mundane; but this memoir is much more expansive than anything she’s written before, spanning her entire life. We begin with an account of her sickly, post-World War II childhood, spent moving from Chicago to Philadelphia to New Jersey, from one condemned, rat-infested housing complex to another. Hard, trying circumstances, yet through nostalgic and dream-like recollections, she manages to make it whimsically charming, almost romantic. She recounts how she fell in love with reading under her mother’s tutelage, spoke to the king of tortoises, captained an army of younger siblings to fight the neighborhood bullies, and searched for a magical silver penny with single-minded dedication.

“I did not want to grow up. I didn’t aspire to be a member of the adult world, with its endless responsibilities. I wanted to be free to roam, to construct room by room the architecture of my own world.”

In her teenage years, influenced by Bob Dylan records and girlish daydreams of Arthur Rimbaud, she begins writing her own poetry, which eventually turns into lyrics for her unique blend of punk rock and spoken verse. She offers insights into the recording of her early albums, including anecdotes about the genesis of some of her most iconic songs (I’d heard several of them at live shows throughout the years!); the many artists from all walks of life she befriended; glimpses of the vagabond touring life that suits her bohemian heart so well.

“There were no rules, save to be free, no material expectations. We were all striving for the new, merging poetry and rock, stripped down naked, devoid of artifice. In the pursuit of illumination, we may be sullied, but in the pursuit of simplicity, purged; we all sought both.”

And then, four records in, she privately decides to leave New York and her rock star career behind. She moves to a Detroit suburb with her one true love, Fred “Sonic” Smith, and they build a quiet life and family together. In Michigan, gladly surrendering to the domesticity of married life and motherhood, Patti builds a room of her own, with heavy black felt floors, a throw pillow covered with Moroccan silk, a low table with mint tea in a Persian cup, an open notebook, and a fountain pen ready to be dipped in an inkwell. It was during this quiet decade spent away from the public eye that she found and honed her voice as a writer, filling notebook after notebook.

“One must discern between a dream and a calling. I was spun backward, a small child pleading her mother to teach her to read. It was the word that first seduced me and to the word I would return.”

The last section is marked by an unrelenting series of profound losses, yet her grief is laced with deep gratitude, and she transform pain and vulnerability into hope, mettle, and stunning prose. Bread of Angels is an intimate, radiant portrait of an artist who lives to write and writes to live, as well as a tender elegy to all those she’s loved and lost. How will she cast her soul next?

“The unsullied memory of unpremeditated gestures of kindness. These are the bread of angels. The pen drops, I touch phantom wounds.”

[Ada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hi he entrat moltíssim. M'agrada molt quan Patti Smith narra la seva història personal; familiar, musical, cultural. En aquest sentit, és el llibre que més s'assembla a Just Kids. M Train i The Year of the Monkey eren més onírics, menys concrets, una altra cosa. Aquí, en les útlimes pàgines, també té un punt d'això, però en global m'ha agradat molt.

[Chaitanya Sethi · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a few people on this spinning planet of ours that open their eyes fully conscious of what they need to do until the hourglass runs out. Patti Smith is one of those people. Her desire to be an artist overlaps so symbiotically with her work that to imagine her as anything but seems like a thoughtcrime.

'Bread of Angels', a phrase that Patti coined to refer to "the unsullied memory of unpremeditated gestures of kindness", is a memoir that captures the details of her Dickensian childhood, growing up in a poor family in post-war America, a sickly, gangly child predisposed to prolonged bouts of illnesses with nothing but her vivid imagination to offer respite and recovery. Soon joined by her younger siblings, Linda and Todd, the trio was inseparable, forever occupied in innocent games that offered a break to their overworked parents.

What followed were a series of relocations, destabilizing the family's foothold as they struggled to build their home afresh. In between, by virtue of stepping into the world, the children are exposed to the kindness and cruelty of others, especially the adults. It is this point which affected me the most (as it did in Arundhati Roy's memoir as well), I do not understand or cannot rationalize how a grown person can find it within themselves to be intentionally malicious towards a child.

Owing to her illnesses, Patti discovers a love for reading nourished by her parents, and by sheer chance stumbles upon the world of art which was to forever transform her. "Art is the highest form of hope", that chapter begins with this quote from Gerhard Richter, and proceeds to describe her visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art as she stood in front of a Cubist paintings, mesmerized by Sargent, Modigliani, and Picasso. The rest is history. Well, history as documented in 'Just Kids'.

Subsequent sections cover her coming into fame, meeting her future husband, Fred 'Sonic' Smith, finding success, and leaving it behind to start a family in Detroit. It is here, amidst domesticity that she is devastated by the losses of her closest people - Robert Mapplethorpe, Fred Smith and Todd Smith, in a matter of years. We understand how she compelled herself to return to public life through a mix of personal and financial compulsions. We also learn, almost in real time with Patti, a revelation about her parenthood that was news to her too.

Patti is an unparalleled literary voice with a timbre that makes it seem like she is attuned to some otherworldly frequency of the universe. There's the tendency to daydream, another to have an inner voice, and yet another to live in an alternate reality; Patti Smith writes as if she has access to all of them, that her consciousness is permeable, and she can flow from reality to that space at will.

I will admit, and anyone who has followed my page knows this, that I am partial towards her, I adore her writing and am inclined to rate her higher than a casual reader who isn't aware of the lore surrounding her. Admittedly, this book was somewhat scattered in places. If you have read her other works ('Just Kids', 'M Train', 'Year of the Monkey', and 'Woolgathering' in particular), this serves more to complement the missing pieces of those books while mapping out her childhood in detail. The latter sections tend to jump around without much flow and in the hands of an inferior writer would have been much clunkier. It's an illuminating memoir but does not have the power of 'Just Kids' or 'M Train'. Yet, in the collective oeuvre, it fits snugly, adding to the tapestry of her art.

[Chelsey Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Patti Smith feels like taking a deep, steady breath of fresh air. Her writing is such a treat. I adore Just Kids for its myth, grit, and chaos of youth, but this book hits a totally different nerve. Every line is beautiful, every reflection is precise, and every story is alive. She effortlessly weaves heartbreak, tenderness, and humor onto every page. Bread of Angels left me breathless and sad because I was not ready for it to end. Patti Smith’s writing is profound and necessary. If you loved Just Kids, do yourself a favor and read this one.

[Lulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks for making me cry on the tube I guess

[Rach · Rating 5 out of 5]

She has always had such a clear sense of self and I could read about her childhood forever. I am inspired and moved by the way she experiences life

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another lovely memoir by Patti Smith, this one details her childhood, music career and family life with husband Fred until his death. From there it becomes less focussed and dreamier talking about her travels and writing. Beautiful writing and a pleasure to read.

[Dennis Kenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much closer to 3.5 stars than 3. Patti’s writing is hypnotic, as always. The first hundred pages of this book - Patti reflecting on her childhood - was the highlight for me. Once we move into her “classic” period - Horses and Robert Mapplethorpe and all that good stuff - it felt like we were re-treading Just Kids. There wasn’t much new in that section that illuminates or compliments the previous work and just felt unneeded. Having said that, it’s still quite enjoyable to read, as Patti Smith is one of the great writers of our time. It’s always a pleasure to be in Patti Smith’s mind for a few hundred pages.

Bread of Angels is structured more like a traditional autobiography, in stark contrast to her previous memoirs. What makes Patti’s three other memoirs so great is that they focus on very specific periods of time and/or her relationships with important people in her life. In this book, her subject matter strays often, feels unfocused. Again, I never once found myself bored by this book. Patti’s vibrant use of language - especially in the final chapter - is riveting. I just personally feel if I’m going to read about subjects she’s already discussed, I’d rather re-read M Train or Year of the Monkey.

There is a pretty substantial revelation that comes toward the end of the book that I wish would have been given more focus. Perhaps Patti is still processing it, who’s to say. There is a GREAT book in here somewhere, that’s more sharp and focused on her childhood. It’s just not the book that was published.

If you’ve enjoyed Patti Smith’s previous memoirs, you will certainly enjoy this one. But much like when you visit an old relative, be prepared to hear some familiar stories again.

[🪄wiktoria✨]

i’m a simple kind of girl — patti writes and i read it

[Sophia Eck · Rating 4 out of 5]

feel like i need to read the whole thing over again

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

This was a really captivating and beautiful read. I think we all know now that Patti Smith is a wonderful writer, but I thoroughly appreciated her level of insight into key parts of her life that we haven't heard as much from before (or any of really) - specifically her post-WW2 childhood and her marriage to Fred 'Sonic' Smith. While the content of this memoir isn't quite as fluid, maybe a little choppy, the way she writes her life is just so immersive and captivating. I think my favourite part of this memoir was the depiction of her young life, and her relationship with her family. Her imagination inspires such a feeling of awe in me, and I truly felt like I was running wild with her - it made me want to write, to capture moments from my own everyday life and look at them anew. I don't normally enjoy novels from a child's perspective, but maybe childhood memoirs hit me better.

Much of this book deals with grief, some of which she has touched on before (Robert Mapplethorpe), and others not so much (her parents, her husband), and I felt really touched by how she expressed those emotions, even now decades on. She holds the people in her life with such reverence and I love that she included us as readers in her internal life, and showed how much people and events inspire her in her work. Patti Smith is a true artist, and I do hope she still continues to publish more of her writing, although this particular memoir made me feel a little melancholic on that subject, as if we might be nearing her last.

[Isabela Yu · Rating 5 out of 5]

"for children operate in the perpetual present, they go on, rebuild their castles, lay down their casts and crutches, and walk again"

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a gorgeous book! I enjoyed learning more about Patti Smith’s life and especially her creative process. The many habits of imagination from her childhood that she never stopped using. The mythic quality that many of her autobiographical stories take in—at one point, I even felt a bit of Jane Eyre emerge, in a good way.
The ending of the book is especially powerful. Smith takes up her poet’s voice to bring the memoir to quite an ending, taking us back through many of the stories she has recounted.

[Annika White · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first book in a long time that I couldn’t finish. Patti Smith is a masterful word smith, and I’d love to give another of her titles a try. I found this content of this book, however, to be very boring. It should probably be categorized under biography. It spans her whole life and doesn’t have any connecting theme/ through line. If you’re a fan of hers and you want to read about her life, this book might be for you. But if this is your introduction (like it was for me), I’d say start somewhere else.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patti begins with her impoverished childhood then leads us into her defiant teenaged years. Next, we visit her move to NYC, the people she meets, and the blossoming of her artistry. She has written before of her NYC years and with more depth, too. Her time in Michigan which she spent raising her family felt fluttery. It was as if she needed to write about it but not share too much. Why write a memoir without revealing, at least tangentially, what sort of wife and mother she became? Smith faced much tragic loss much too soon yet she reaches within to divulge her swirling, lyrical musings. A very satisfying read by one of my favorite artists even though it was overwritten in few segments.

[Marley Ryann · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a privilege it is to exist at the same time as Patti Smith.

One of my goals for 2026 is to spend more time with the books I read, which will mean sometimes writing reviews, more for the sake of remembering what I read and how it made me feel than anything else. Bread of Angels, my highly anticipated first read of the year, frequently moved me to tears.

I first entered Patti's world through her memoirs, so getting to read such an extensive history of her life was a treat. I was lucky enough to see her read excerpts live at the beautiful St. Ann & The Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn; reading those passages later to myself and hearing her voice in my head made it all the more personal.

Reading about Patti's childhood made it undeniably clear that she was born to be an artist, a writer. Her curiosity and way of living life is art itself. I'm ashamedly still quite unfamiliar with her music, so I learned a lot by reading her stories of creating albums, touring, and all the artists she encountered along the way.

I give my reading experience 4/5 stars, only because much of the namedropping and artistic references were lost on me, but only my ignorance is to blame for that.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patti has always been my favorite artist. I've been an enamored and ardent fan since 1975. "Bread Of Angels" is her proper memoir - she leads an austere yet adventurous, optimistic and inspirational life. There are some overlapping anecdotes with "Just Kids", but in "Bread" Patti tells us about her childhood, her fascination with books, art, and what she once referred to as the "sea pf possibilities". There are great stories about the origin of some of her songs. She shows her vulnerabilty as an artist, musician, wife and mother. Her writing is incredibly vivid. Like all of her books, I will likely re-read this once a year.

[Els · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mijn relatie tot Patti Smith dateert van toen ik nog op de lagere school zat in de jaren ‘70. Op de speelplaats wisselden we als prille tieners lp’s uit die we op cassetjes opnamen. Zo maakte ik kennis met de beroemde platen van deze enigmatische zangeres (Horses - Easter - Wave).
Maar haar geschreven oeuvre - op haar songteksten na - was nog onbekend terrein voor mij. Deze ‘Engelenbrood’ is mijn eerste kennismaking met haar biografische notities.
Het spichtige en regelmatig zieke kind Patti groeit op in uitgeleefde woningen die klaar voor de sloop waren, in een voorsteeds Amerika van de jaren ‘50. Er was geen geld, er waren wel ratten die de foto’s met familieherinneringen opaten. Op een dag ontdekt Patti op een vuilnisbelt oude magazines met daarin zwart-wit foto’s van gerenommeerde fotografen, een trouvaille die haar kennismaking met echte kunst markeert. Kort daarop gaat ze met haar vader voor het eerst naar een museum waar haar kennismaking met Picasso een verpletterende indruk achterlaat.
Wanneer ze naar New York trekt om ‘kunstenaar’ te worden ontmoet ze de personages die mee haar carrière richting en kleur geven zoals Robert Mapplethorpe, Bob Dylan, overbuurman Tom Verlaine…
In een afwisselend literair poëtische en dan weer welhaast zakelijke vertelstijl haalt Smith herinneringen voor de geest. Soms zijn ze erg gedetailleerd zoals bij de productie van haar platen. Soms zijn er tijdssprongen van meer dan tien jaar. Er zijn foto’s die het geheel verluchten maar er zijn ook beelden die tussen de regels in mijn hoofd ontstaan zoals de plaatsen waar ze schrijft of het romantische huisje dat ze met zielsgenoot en man Fred Smith deelde.
Engelenbrood is een zoektocht naar de herinneringen die haar maakten tot wie ze is. We passeren langs haar grote liefde Fred, langs haar liefhebbende zus, haar ouders, haar kinderen, haar objets trouvés, haar schrijven en haar writer’s blocks. Het is een erg intiem en wat mij betreft prachtig boeiend boek. Ik laat ook met de hulp van Spotify graag mijn eigen herinneringen nu mee tot stand komen.
“De onbezoedelde herinneringen aan spontane gebaren van goedheid. Dat zijn stukjes engelenbrood.”