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leguinstan's review against another edition
4.5
While much has been said about Nelson's heavy incorporation of queer and feminist theory in her memoir, the sense of uncertainty expressed in The Argonauts is what made the biggest impression on me. From the meandering stream-of-consciousness writing to the chain of unanswered questions peppered throughout her theoretical musings, Nelson makes it apparent that for all her erudition she is just as unmoored as the rest of us. This is in stark contrast to what most of us expect from a memoir: a strictly chronological presentation of a sequence of events leading to a significant change or revelation in the memoirist's life. Nelson intentionally leans into the contradictory, ever-evolving aspects of her identity and resists the instinct to compress her life into the confines of a narrative arc.
While I found it very easy to appreciate these aspects of the work, I can't say the same for the aforementioned incorporation of theory which had me frustrated at several points. And aside from this frustration, I also find it more difficult to find the value in what is arguably the single most inaccessible aspect of the memoir. But considering the fact that Nelson is entrenched in academia and that she is interested in queer and feminist theory, would a removal of the theoretical analysis in The Argonauts be a less authentic representation of Maggie Nelson's life? Can authenticity sometimes be at odds with accessibility? Is this genre-mashing a reflection of Nelson's multiplicity?
The reading experience may not have been smooth sailing, but Nelson's boldly experimental, vulnerable, thought-provoking writing makes up for the bumpy ride.
Graphic: Pregnancy
Moderate: Sexual content, Stalking, and Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Dysphoria
pang's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Grief and Stalking
Minor: Transphobia
aliciae08's review against another edition
3.0
It both reads like someone’s journal—scattered, but with the central theme hidden inside; and it also reads like someone’s xotero—their notes on articles that moved them just enough to be considered for a dissertation.
I didn’t love this book, but I definitely didn’t hate it either. It’s solidly a 3 for me. Sometimes the writing was pretentious and the sentences convoluted, but other times they were clear. Nelson talks honestly about motherhood and birthing, what her relationship looks like to her with a gender fluid partner and how their life is made up with all it’s mess, all it’s grief/fear and all it’s love.
Graphic: Pregnancy
Moderate: Transphobia and Death of parent
Minor: Cancer, Stalking, and Murder
souplover2001's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Pregnancy
Moderate: Sexual content, Transphobia, and Stalking
garynoplastie's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Deadnaming, Infertility, Transphobia, Medical content, Grief, and Stalking
Minor: Alcoholism
jonsnowsmanbun's review against another edition
4.25
Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Stalking, Abortion, and Death of parent
Minor: Excrement
skudiklier's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Pregnancy
Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Minor: Transphobia
Childbirthsuspicious_salmon's review against another edition
3.25
Graphic: Death of parent and Pregnancy
Moderate: Infertility, Sexual content, Transphobia, Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Deadnaming, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Excrement, Grief, Stalking, and Cultural appropriation
skippyfitzroy's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Infertility, Medical content, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Stalking
cryptidcas's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Cancer, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Transphobia, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria
Minor: Abortion