The Red Parts
by Maggie Nelson
New Book of the Week , April 11, 2016
Old Books of the Week
The Argonauts and The Red Parts
by Maggie Nelson
When The Argonauts came out last year, I was intimidated by Nelson's genre-fluid book about her life with a gender-fluid partner, not wanting to be schooled on a topic about which I'm curious but sometimes feel mentally arthritic. So when I saw that an earlier book about her Aunt Jane's 1969 murder was being reissued I thought, "Hey, even if she's pretentious, at least I get a true crime book!" In The Red Parts Nelson delivers the chilling suspense and procedure and forensic details of standard murder tales but her particular authorship adds much more—and more than simply her relationship to the victim. Her insightful, irreverent, revealing, and wide-ranging style was so engaging that I bought the just-released paperback edition of The Argonauts even before I had finished The Red Parts. And that book delivered what I consider a Peak Reading Experience: when what you're reading sparks your own answering thoughts and you enter into a kind of interaction that exercises and energizes your mind. I came away reassured that my aging brain is not as creaky as I'd thought and sure that I'll read whatever Maggie Nelson comes up with next.
The Argonauts and The Red Parts
by Maggie Nelson
When The Argonauts came out last year, I was intimidated by Nelson's genre-fluid book about her life with a gender-fluid partner, not wanting to be schooled on a topic about which I'm curious but sometimes feel mentally arthritic. So when I saw that an earlier book about her Aunt Jane's 1969 murder was being reissued I thought, "Hey, even if she's pretentious, at least I get a true crime book!" In The Red Parts Nelson delivers the chilling suspense and procedure and forensic details of standard murder tales but her particular authorship adds much more—and more than simply her relationship to the victim. Her insightful, irreverent, revealing, and wide-ranging style was so engaging that I bought the just-released paperback edition of The Argonauts even before I had finished The Red Parts. And that book delivered what I consider a Peak Reading Experience: when what you're reading sparks your own answering thoughts and you enter into a kind of interaction that exercises and energizes your mind. I came away reassured that my aging brain is not as creaky as I'd thought and sure that I'll read whatever Maggie Nelson comes up with next.
— Liz
The Red Parts was reviewed in Newsletter #85 on April 11, 2016. For more like this, and other bookish news, sign up for the newsletter .
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