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4.33 AVERAGE
4.33 AVERAGE
fast-paced
dark
reflective
okay so i picked this book up and got a little way through it before i realised it was very far from fiction. this is a beautifully but tragically told story of a young woman, the aunt of the author, who was murdered. i don’t have a lot of words right now but please, pick up this book, you won’t regret it.
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Beautiful and raw. Can't wait to read more of Maggie Nelson's work.
emotional
sad
slow-paced
My favourite of Nelson’s collections and one of her best books full stop, perhaps just short of Bluets and Argonauts. I think she’s at her best when there’s this focus to her work, or a purity or subject.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
As someone who enjoys the occasional true crime, I have noticed that books dealing with real life murder tend to reduce the victims to just victims. Even if some time is given to victims' lives, their lives are often framed as though they were fated to be murdered. What I appreciate about Maggie Nelson's Jane: A Murder is that its about reconstructing Nelson's aunt Jane. Nelson is trying to get to know and understand a woman she has never met but whose life and presence is felt in Nelson's life. By using excerpts of Jane's journal, we do not meet someone who has be rendered angelic, too good for this world, by tragedy and memory, but rather a person flawed and full of life. The greatest mystery is not who murdered her, but rather the mystery that all people carry, who she is.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual violence, Murder
Minor: Rape