Reviews

Jane: A Murder by Maggie Nelson

mollygu's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

emilie_isawesome's review

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3.5

I don’t know if I fully understood this, but from what I did understand I enjoyed 

cherrie_bluhd's review against another edition

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5.0

wow. i dont even know what to say, cant put the words together. a book i want to recommend to everyone but its an odd book to recommend. but just trust me trust me trust me. wow. one of the best things i’ve read in a while

steviejneill's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

af666014's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This was beautiful. Its hard to write into words, but what sticks out most:
  • The way this illuminates who Jane was and the mark she is still leaving in those she never physically met
  • How this explores grief for someone lost but not necessarily known
  • The necessary reflection of the reader on how we live our lives
  • The attention to violence against women, and its far reaching impact

alicja_p's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective fast-paced

4.5

dijoncreamy's review

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dark reflective fast-paced

5.0

hal2fun's review against another edition

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challenging sad

4.25

geva1108's review against another edition

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4.25

I waited to read this book because so many people recommended it to me based on the project I was working on— I wanted to build my own boat before it went out to sea. But now feels like a good time to explore this subject— spec. the spacial, racial, sensational misogynies applied to murdered white women, objects in death and many times throughout history characters in and facilitators of the deaths of Black people. I think to explore the fascination with “true crime” we need to explore how white women get what they want and also how that same “power” is actually a form of subjugation and misogyny (liberation would free the perpetrator, e.g) The language of news articles in the gruesome deaths of white women clues us into this fact (it’s what I try to explore in my book and what Nelson explores when she queasily quotes from the Michigan Murders collection). This is what I brought to this collection, after sifting through these thoughts and my emotions also being a child of one of these stories. I think Nelson’s tenuous grasp on Jane as understood through her and her sister is the most compelling part of this book— the case itself falls flatter to me, perhaps because even copping the language of the sensational for reclamation’s sake still imbues the text with sensation. I also wasn’t positive the lineated poems needed to be lineated— the line breaks offered structure but not much tension, music, or pulse. I really enjoyed the way Nelson showed her threads while she was knitting this together. I read it so quickly and know I’ll return to it as I think about this more. Really appreciate this book and also hold Jane in my heart, hope she’s lighting a cigarette on the forever train and reading Marx in endless daylight. 

julialuvs2read's review against another edition

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5.0

Just read it! This is a masterpiece! There is so much work and time dedicated to each word as it takes you on a gut wrenching journey. This book is an all time favorite of mine.