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aquint's review
4.0
This book was not exactly what I was expecting but brought up some points that made me rethink some of the work she dissects. She did not seem to have a clear objective other than discussing cruelty in many forms in a variety of art, literature, and film. It was still interesting even if she didn't have a strong opinion on the subject. I would have loved images to correspond with the text.
hieronymusbotched's review
5.0
Neither condemning nor defending, this book is a marvel, and dead-on what I wanted: a worthy successor to Sontag's Regarding the Pain of Others and a knockout bibliography.
notlikethebeer's review
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.25
This is probably the kind of book that each reader will take what they want from. For me, that was some of the discussion right at the end of the book, about the ethics and implications of providing the voice of perpetrators, which I found fascinated and inredibly relevant, at least to my own interests! However that's not to say that I didn't enjoy the rest of it, or find it interesting/useful, as I definitely did, and have found myself applying some of Nelson's analysis since reading! My major criticism is that it was quite academic, which is a sad departure from Nelson's usual knack for writing in an incredibly engaging and readable way. And it was, in some ways, 'before it's time' perhaps in that the past 10+ years would have made for plenty of fertile ground - I frequently caught myself thinking "hmm, that's just like [insert recent event]"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, and Torture
cmbooks8's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
An ironic and odd take on aesthetics written by a "better than thou" author who goes so far as to quip more than once about how superior her moral compass is, then bashing on her peers for enjoying "crude" art (page 60). Her arguments are coherent but clearly and irreparably bias, refusing to even consider another view as having a relevant point, occasionally taking her adversaries (Francis Bacon, Nietzsche, and others) quotes out of context to benefit her own argument. Her arguments are also full of an irony that she stands against shock horror as a form of desensitization, but she is entirely okay with randomly inserting detailed references to torture in sections where, frankly, it was uncalled for.
I must hand it to Nelson, her writing is intriguing, and despite disagreeing with practically every point she made, I was engaged. It read with the equal power and view (but opposite reasoning) as the work of an Evangelical preacher. It was very upfront, and at times disrespectful, about the author's beliefs, and all in all it read as the equivalent of being screamed at over a phone call for having a different opinion.
I must hand it to Nelson, her writing is intriguing, and despite disagreeing with practically every point she made, I was engaged. It read with the equal power and view (but opposite reasoning) as the work of an Evangelical preacher. It was very upfront, and at times disrespectful, about the author's beliefs, and all in all it read as the equivalent of being screamed at over a phone call for having a different opinion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Torture
Moderate: Islamophobia
lucaelisabeth's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
noahtato's review
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
This book was a very interesting meditation on the nature of cruelty, and an informative history of modern art and performance in relation to it. However, as Nelson notes at the beginning, it is unclear whether or not such a meditation serves to enhance the reader’s relationship with defending/absolving cruel acts.
dreamgalaxies's review
4.0
Maggie Nelson is one of my favorite writers, and I enjoyed reading something from a different genre from her. This book leans heavily into philosophy as well as literary/art criticism.
I appreciated the meditations on cruelty as catharsis in this book, and how Nelson dives into real life examples, too (e.g. Abu Ghraib). I found the last couple of essays especially thought-provoking--what is the purpose of reproducing suffering and cruelty in art? This was important reflection especially as someone who digests a lot of violent media, and as someone who subscribes to the covenant of not looking away, for lack of a better phrase.
Unfortunately while I enjoyed the musings, I'm not sure I came away with any particular thesis due to the scattershot and wandering nature of the prose. I wasn't sure why each essay was cloistered within its chapter, as the paragraphs on each subject seemed to float in their own bubbles, not terribly connected to anything else--and yet Nelson often came back to particular artists. (Plath, Bacon, McCarthy, Artaud, etc.) There's little cohesion or development of a central argument here.
While it was a rambling book, I did find lots to chew on here.
I appreciated the meditations on cruelty as catharsis in this book, and how Nelson dives into real life examples, too (e.g. Abu Ghraib). I found the last couple of essays especially thought-provoking--what is the purpose of reproducing suffering and cruelty in art? This was important reflection especially as someone who digests a lot of violent media, and as someone who subscribes to the covenant of not looking away, for lack of a better phrase.
Unfortunately while I enjoyed the musings, I'm not sure I came away with any particular thesis due to the scattershot and wandering nature of the prose. I wasn't sure why each essay was cloistered within its chapter, as the paragraphs on each subject seemed to float in their own bubbles, not terribly connected to anything else--and yet Nelson often came back to particular artists. (Plath, Bacon, McCarthy, Artaud, etc.) There's little cohesion or development of a central argument here.
While it was a rambling book, I did find lots to chew on here.
horfhorfhorf's review
4.0
Despite the use of both the words 'art' and 'cruelty' in the title, this book was not what I expected. Led me down quite the rabbit hole through making a whole new list of books, artists and movies I need to investigate. Slow out the gate, finished nicely.