Bluets Paperback – CLV, October 1, 2009

I was made aware of this book from one of my classes in art school and I have returned to it a few times since graduation. The last time I read this book I was 10,000 feet in the air while on an eight-hour flight. It was a great companion in this setting as I soared through the blue sky around me. This book inspired me to do some of my own writing and to look at something as simple as the color blue with a little more depth, curiosity, and appreciation.

Nelson holds the intensity of her vision with the anguished search of an obsession and the clarity of a desire. This slim volume operates like a grand segmented essay exploring the history of blue and its meaning in art and life. It is Nelson’s concision that dazzles and upends the reader with painful revelation, both tempting and warning the reader that the path we’re walking together is dangerous.

I really enjoyed this book. What becomes clear is that this book is just as much about what isn't written as what is. The philosophical examination of the color blue as it relates to life, the world and ideas is wonderful, but it becomes evident that this book is about heartbreak. One person's journey through it all. It's beautiful, I really enjoyed it.

This was a very beautiful book to read. I can truly see the interworkings of the author finding themselves. I see how they experience the world through her relations with the color. Where we may “wander off disoriented and blind folded, walking gingerly with hand stretched out in front of you until you either run into a wall(laughter) or a friend gently pushed you back towards the game”. The author also speaks of a f***ing in the blue, a phrase that struck me a lot. That to me feels red, yet still also blue. She has successfully defamiliarized blue for me though I am not sure if I understand he more either. There is a grand push and pull of ideas. But overall, I truly learned so much about the way of thoughts through her beautiful words and references.

Maggie Nelson's Bluets is a mesmerizing exploration of the color blue, blending memoir, philosophy, and poetic prose into a unique and compelling narrative. Through 240 short entries, Nelson delves deep into the emotional and intellectual resonances of blue, crafting a work that challenges and delights, leaving readers pondering the complexities of perception and existence. This edition celebrates Nelson's profound insights and lyrical prowess, making it a must-read for those captivated by the intersections of art and life.

I read this book (poem) twice, each time becoming more impressed. It became clear to me that the protagonist's obsession with the color blue served as an escape for her deep depression about lost love. The actual mentions of love were relatively few, which made her loss seem even deeper. I did, of course, eventually search for the original "Bluets" painting, but could see no relationship between this "smudgy" painting and this beautiful poem. Maybe someone else can?

I love this book. It is nonfiction, and comprises a series of small, numbered writings. They're more similar to Nietzsche's aphorisms in size--that is, they can be a sentence or two, or fill a few pages--but they are affirming, profound, and provocative. What are they about? Ostensibly, the colour blue. The entire book comprises reflections on the colour blue--its symbolism, its place in the spectrum of light, its manifestations as moods and states of being, its place in literature and music.The writing is brilliant. Maggie Nelson, whose most recent book, THE ARGONAUTS, is a tour de force, has such a fantastic style. Her writing evoked feelings in me as her writing placed a series of sensory experiences in my mind, each of which was evoked by what she was writing about.This is a work of philosopy, of aesthetic theory, of cultural criticism, a meditation on what it means to be alive and human, all creatively told by writing about the colour blue. At first glance, it may sound like another form of navel gazing, but that would be a misreading of what's going on. This is a book about the human condition, one that Nelson writes about with style and aplomb.

I was excited about this book since reading an excerpt in The Hat. I read that poem 2x and went online and ordered it, knowing only it would come in the fall, and it did. I read the entire thing today sometimes skipping excitedly along at a pace maybe a bit too swift to really be taking it all in, but i was excited and it made me hungry for the next pages wit and frankness and it's the sort of work that just makes you hungry for more. You want to know all of it right now. I laid the book down for a minute to finish tending to what I had in the oven and my boyf. picked it up and started reading different parts aloud, loving it, laughing, we discussed the "depression is not like a fire" bit. I am so tremendously stoked this book exists, that it scratches the poetry itch I have for something lyrical and smart and feminist and libidinous and real and very alive. It is revivifying and truly great work. Perfect present for the cool woman in your life. Or the uncool woman in your life. Both. Either. All.