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At the risk of reading too much into a book’s front matter, it helps to know that Groff’s sister, to whom she dedicates the book, is superstar triathlete Sarah True.

Paging through this front matter feels like waiting for a haunted carnival ride to start, only to be wrong-footed.

Much of this material is winningly geeky and enthusiastic: “As front matter goes, I get especially giddy about translator’s notes, and for years I’ve toyed with the idea of editing an anthology of them.”

Even the front matter and jacket flap are upside-down amusing.

The front matter of “Every Night I Dream of Hell” includes a dramatis personae that runs to 40-odd entries.