Reading Response: The Events of October

I'm going to be completely honest here: I could not finish this book.

It is not because the book was not well-written or well-researched. On the contrary, I found it to be hauntingly, distressingly good. The research seemed thorough to me, and no rock was left unturned. Gail approached the subject with nuance and respect, and I was impressed by the judicious way she examined the complicated and myriad aspects of the murder-suicide that occurred on this campus in 1999.

When I took Creative Nonfiction my sophomore year here, Gail had just wrapped up the years of work that went into writing this book, and as such, she was able to use it, and the process of writing it, as way to give us context in how to approach works like this. Even then, just by the way she discussed collecting memories from the persons affected by this tragedy, I was struck by the care she put into creating this book. I told myself then that I would read it someday, because I felt like it would probably be a perfect example of what I would eventually want to do myself with something I wrote.

And I was right. I read the majority of the book. I had to steel myself before every chapter, because while reading a narrative about such a traumatic event is difficult no matter what, reading about one that happened in the place you call home and hearing about the responses of multiple people you've grown to love and respect, is even harder. I managed to get through most of it. In the end, though, some stuff came back up when I was reading it I had to make the personal decision to put the book down and step away until I am mentally prepared to pick it up again. Maybe that will be tomorrow before class. I hope that it will be - I would like to engage in any discussions about the last chapter and a half that may arise.

I think, though, that this is a testament to how effective Gail was in telling the story of what happened before, during, and after the so-called "events of October," as well as conflating the events with the larger-scale societal implications of the matter. I found myself drawn, breathless, into the discussion on monsterizing Neenef, the debate about how to memorialize Neenef and Maggie, the question of bringing the term "violence against women" to this event.

I have no issue with the way this story was researched or presented. It seems extremely well done to me, and I do not think that my perception of it as a very well-written narrative is overly biased by the fact that I know and respect the author. The subject matter was just to volatile for me to finish right now.