The first part, called How the Mind Works, reveals insights to her writing process, some details about her travels around France and England — including her visit to her French publisher Gallimard, Voltaire's statue in Square Honoré-Champion, and the grave of Simone Weil (who serves as a notable inspiration to Smith's writing and for the female protagonist in Devotion) in Ashford, Kent — along with an intimate recount about her personal life.
At first he supports her passions but eventually his machiavellian pursuits are disclosed when he takes her to a land that's hot, the opposite environment she requires to do her favorite activity and have her abilities as an ice skater flourish.
Media she's crossed paths with serves as one of her muse's for Devotion evident by the incorporation of a video she saw about a youthful Russian figure skater and a movie trailer regarding exiled people from Estonia to Siberia.
Author and critic Matt Hanson wrote in The Arts Fuse that Smith's "craft depicted in Just Kids are only frustratingly glimpsed in Devotion.
"[2] On behalf of The Washington Post, Michael Lindgren called the book "equal parts exasperating and inspiring" and highlighted how it "illustrates how a creative mind transforms impressions and thoughts into art".