2023 memoir
Molly is a 2023 memoir written by Blake Butler and published by Archway Editions. It is a work of autobiography concerning his marriage to and subsequent suicide of the poet Molly Brodak.
Background and publication
Blake Butler is the author of several books, including Alice Knott (Riverhead, 2020), Nothing: A Portrait of Insomnia (Harper Perennial, 2011), and Scorch Atlas (Featherproof Books, 2009). Prior to publication excerpts appeared in The Paris Review and Harper's.
Reception
Jessica Ferri in the Los Angeles Times called it "the best book I've read this year," while in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Suzanne Van Atten wrote that it is a "dark, gorgeously crafted read". The Telegraph concluded that "the triumph of his book lies in its compassion. Instead of shaming Brodak, he shows respect to her trickle-down trauma. He diagnoses her – I suspect accurately – with borderline personality disorder. He tells us every awful truth about a toxic relationship. And he does it with real, unending love."
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