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A review by caroline_mclaughlin
Bluets by Maggie Nelson
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Interesting concept. I’ve found that I struggle with poetry and short form prose in the same way that I struggle with art museums. I’m incapable of slowing down and enjoying, but I often enjoy the individual pieces when shown separately. I did enjoy some pieces, and despised others, so the score kind of averaged out. I do wish a book like this had been given the credit rupi kaur was given so I could’ve bought this book as a college freshman instead and actually read something worthwhile.
However, despite some of the insight I gained from it, I thought it suffered from some of the same pitfalls many books like this one often do. Maybe this is just my personal taste, but I found that the many gratuitous sexual descriptions all felt intended for shock value or to appear “gritty and raw” and none seemed to truly add anything to the piece as a whole. There were also a few other bad takes I found with respect to the Middle East. Placing these in between quirky epithets and yearning passages often felt inappropriate. I’m sure it’s composition in proximity to 9/11 did nothing to help that, but it made the reading experience much more uncomfortable. Overall, it had some interesting ruminations and some truly, seemingly unintentionally off putting sentiments.
However, despite some of the insight I gained from it, I thought it suffered from some of the same pitfalls many books like this one often do. Maybe this is just my personal taste, but I found that the many gratuitous sexual descriptions all felt intended for shock value or to appear “gritty and raw” and none seemed to truly add anything to the piece as a whole. There were also a few other bad takes I found with respect to the Middle East. Placing these in between quirky epithets and yearning passages often felt inappropriate. I’m sure it’s composition in proximity to 9/11 did nothing to help that, but it made the reading experience much more uncomfortable. Overall, it had some interesting ruminations and some truly, seemingly unintentionally off putting sentiments.