‘Bluets’ by Maggie Nelson
“Goethe describes blue as a lively color, but one devoid of gladness. ‘It may be said to disturb rather than enliven.’ Is to be in love with blue, then, to be in love with a disturbance? Or is the love itself the disturbance? And what kind of madness is it anyway, to be in love with something constitutionally incapable of loving you back? Are you sure — one would like to ask — that it cannot love you back?”— From Maggie Nelson’s 2009 book Bluets.
Bluets is a book about the parallels of loving someone (an ex-lover) and loving something (the color blue). Though being in love with a color is an unrelatable experience for most people, Nelson’s poignant words and sincere approach to truth-telling make this book engaging for any reader. Bluets is written in paragraph-long vignettes with verbiage that feels more reminiscent of poetry than it does of prose. Every single word has a purpose. Each sentence deserves to be read, thought upon carefully and then read again.
I assume this book must have been cleansing to write. Nelson divulges the burdens of a past relationship and, through writing about her ex, is able to gain closure. Bluets has the capacity to have an equally beneficial impact on the reader. Because most people have encountered loss at some point, it is relatable and cathartic to read about someone else’s affliction and the way in which they overcame it.
That being said, the focus is not on grief but on an inanimate, yet intimate, form of love with blue. Nelson does a thorough job of recounting all of the vast connotations that surround this color and is able to impart to the reader a perspective of connectivity through the haze of interpretations that surround it. What is the one thing that bowerbirds, a poison strip for termites and the German term for being drunk all have in common? The color blue. The book’s only shortcoming is that it lacks a plot in the traditional sense and instead follows an arc based on mood, which can, at times, be hard to follow. As long as a structured storyline is not a requirement and you enjoy exquisite writing as art, I recommend this book.