In a network of lines that enlace

Write what you know. It’s always the ‘advice’ others give us. Whether you believe it or not, it seems to be a staple of what people recommend you do when approaching creative writing, no matter how knowledgeable they may or may not be.

Marina wrote what she knew, and what she lived. Which, as a woman in her early twenties about to graduate, was confusion. She voices the adolescent mind working its way through everything it encounters like no other. I remember feeling precisely what she describes, and she’s captured it so perfectly. The Opposite of Loneliness is a fabulous essay, a moment and emotion in time caught perfectly. She had much talent, and I am sure would have gone on to do many things. The repeated line ‘we are so young’ makes the piece that much more evocative in light of her death.

Much of her writing is very similar in the prose sections. I much preferred her essays and the snippets of poetry. She is repeating sentiments and feeling, much as she was probably experiencing in her own mind. Much as you do when you’re a teen. That was her perspective on life, and it’s very well done.

This is a good collection, worth reading for the power of raw talent so sadly lost that radiates throughout.