really unique read… combines verse writing, letters, diary entries, news clippings. i liked the style a lot and wished it was longer. i may end up reading The Red Parts.

i think it’s very common to be fascinated with the lives of family members who died before your birth. at least i found that relatable, as i often am wondering about my own aunt i never met. 

For someone who tends to avoid true crime books I accidentally keep reading them. Jane, was Maggie Nelsons aunt who was murdered along with other horrific events in 1969. Maggie who was born 4 years later has written both an elegy of Jane and an account of her murder, along with the effect that's had on her humans in the years since. It's predominantly poetry but there are diary entries from Jane, along with police/newspaper reports. It is not as you'd imagine a happy read. It is however beautifully written. Despite being almost painful to read. It's a bit like one of Caravaggios more brutal paintings. Horrifying but you can't look away, can't fathom how someone has created something so beautiful out of something so terrible. And I don't typically like poetry. This might be a bit like how I hate musicals but love la la land, whereas people who love musicals tend to hate that one. Really though I think Maggie Nelson might just be quite excellent and has turned pain into art and given Jane a life beyond being merely the victim of yet another males hatred. She's akin to Judith beheading Holofernes. 5/5.