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4.33 AVERAGE
4.33 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
challenging
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Amazing book- incredible use of poetry. Very unique and hauntingly beautiful. Really cool way of using different types of media to tell one cohesive story! It was interesting to see how she broke down the story into sections and how much that helped me get into the right mindset. And the ideas around the murders of women fleshed out through the book opened my eyes to how fucked up society’s perspective of these incidents are and how murder can affect the victims loved ones/how loved ones deal with it individually.
“Inside the loop of the mind, it’s a different story. The detective and the dreamer cobble things together from whatever lies nearby, like plumbers fixing pipes with rags and strings in a poor country. Inside the loop of my mind, I find a lone egret standing on one leg at the edge of a lake, preternaturally still, listening for something”
Not so big on the poems but really interesting lenses and mixed forms
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Really really surprised how little I liked this.
Haunting, moving, and beautiful. Of course, I love everything Maggie Nelson writes, but this one I really couldn't put down. Read it almost entirely in one sitting and wanted to smile and cry simultaneously at many points throughout.
“The world is ours, but we walk in it noticed.”
“Was Jane waiting to happen? In my imagination, she was the most driven person I knew. A woman who did what she wanted. A woman who wanted.”
This is an extraordinary book. It is haunting and deeply moving. It is eerie and ethereal. The title says it is about a murder, and indeed it is, but more than that, it is a fitting tribute to the author’s Aunt Jane. Within this tribute is a scathing disdain for those fascinated with “true crime” stories—a commentary on how perverse human nature is. Maggie Nelson also manages to weave a commentary on the social position of women into this story about her aunt’s life being ripped away from her.
Nelson traces her aunt’s life using what little information she can find and does so marvelously. I feel a keen sense of loss for Jane—it is clear that she was a great woman and would have become even greater, if only a man had not selfishly and cruelly ripped her from the world.
Nelson’s prose electrifies the text. However, for me, Jane’s writing stole the show. She herself was a wonderful writer and Nelson really allowed Jane’s work to shine.
“Was Jane waiting to happen? In my imagination, she was the most driven person I knew. A woman who did what she wanted. A woman who wanted.”
This is an extraordinary book. It is haunting and deeply moving. It is eerie and ethereal. The title says it is about a murder, and indeed it is, but more than that, it is a fitting tribute to the author’s Aunt Jane. Within this tribute is a scathing disdain for those fascinated with “true crime” stories—a commentary on how perverse human nature is. Maggie Nelson also manages to weave a commentary on the social position of women into this story about her aunt’s life being ripped away from her.
Nelson traces her aunt’s life using what little information she can find and does so marvelously. I feel a keen sense of loss for Jane—it is clear that she was a great woman and would have become even greater, if only a man had not selfishly and cruelly ripped her from the world.
Nelson’s prose electrifies the text. However, for me, Jane’s writing stole the show. She herself was a wonderful writer and Nelson really allowed Jane’s work to shine.
I'm a sucker for narrative told through verse, it's true. Aside from form, however, this book is also exceptional for its laser-like focus on Jane as a real person (and by extension her survivors as real people), not a cardboard cut-out marked 'victim' for a predetermined crime story to play out upon.