M Train by Patti Smith - A Short Summary & Review
M Train by Patti Smith - A Short Summary & Review
By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
A Rite of Fancy Book Recommendation and Review
A short summary:
M Train unfolds as a series of mental and physical stops, cafés, train rides, memories, books, films, meals, graves, and dreams, stitched together through Patti Smith’s interior landscape. It is less a memoir in the traditional sense than a meditation on solitude, grief, art, routine, and observation.
Across eighteen “stations,” Smith reflects on travel both literal and imagined, tracing how a life is shaped not by milestones but by repetition, attention, and devotion to seeing the world carefully.
My favorite quote from the book:
Questions to ponder while reading:
My review:
Reading M Train made me want to see Patti Smith’s New York, not the landmark version, but the quiet cafés, the overlooked corners, the places where thought happens.
I want to visit a mythical Chinese restaurant that may or may not exist except in memory.
I want to buy a boat for a clubhouse, even if the clubhouse is imaginary and the boat never leaves the dock.
This is a book about yearning, for places, for conversations, for versions of ourselves we glimpse but never quite catch. Patti Smith writes like someone who understands that dreams don’t disappear when they’re deferred; they simply hover, waiting for attention.
M Train won’t give you a map. It gives you permission to wander.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
✨ #TakeTheBackRoads
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