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ashleyholstrom's review against another edition
5.0
Look, I know this is fiction, but if you told me that this was actually a memoir published as fiction, I would believe it. Every second of this book feels like reality. All the senses are triggered: You feel everything, hear everything, smell everything, taste everything. Miri once lived a perfect fairy tale life. And then she visited her family in Haiti and was kidnapped and held for ransom for thirteen days. Unspeakable horrors were done to her, while her wealthy father tries to negotiate the ransom. When she is finally released, bruised and cut and broken in so many ways, she has to rediscover how to be the human she was before this happened to her. This is one harrowing book, and one you won’t be able to put down.
From The Best Books We Read in August at Book Riot.
From The Best Books We Read in August at Book Riot.
cetoria's review against another edition
5.0
Heartbreaking. But, of course, Gay's words carry the novel along beautifully. The chapters jump back and forth between past and present which makes reading the particularly harrowing parts of the novel more bearable.
dsuttles's review against another edition
5.0
There are a few books I've read in my lifetime which have just been so excruciatingly painful I've almost had to put them down. Beloved and In the Time of the Butterflies are two examples. An Untamed State is another. You don't just read a chapter, set the book down, and move on with your daily life. At least not for me. I was so emotionally involved in Mireille's journey, I literally got nightmares.
But it's not just the subject matter that makes this story intense. There are a lot of gruesome tales out there about kidnapping and rape and murder that are meant to simultaneously shock, thrill and disgust -- sensationalist stuff, both in fiction and in the news, that is meant to elicit gasps from its readers. That's not how this story operates.
In An Untamed State, there is something very human and very real that eviscerates you. Mireille's pain is your pain. Mireille's thoughts are your thoughts. You go along with her for this journey and it is not easy for either of you. You both come up hollow and empty. You both are desperately trying to feel whole. You stop thinking you can be. You try again. You continue.
The great moral of the story is NOT about the beauty of human persistence or the will to survive. Rather, life is effed up. People are effed up. We are all animals, wild at our core, but animals with choices. These choices matter. There are hard truths and soft truths. There are things that are wrong no matter how you look at them. Feelings are complicated, but also valid. Little else matters in this world, if anything, without empathy. Have empathy.
Ultimately, this is a story about what it means to be alive vs. whole. Indelibly powerful.
But it's not just the subject matter that makes this story intense. There are a lot of gruesome tales out there about kidnapping and rape and murder that are meant to simultaneously shock, thrill and disgust -- sensationalist stuff, both in fiction and in the news, that is meant to elicit gasps from its readers. That's not how this story operates.
In An Untamed State, there is something very human and very real that eviscerates you. Mireille's pain is your pain. Mireille's thoughts are your thoughts. You go along with her for this journey and it is not easy for either of you. You both come up hollow and empty. You both are desperately trying to feel whole. You stop thinking you can be. You try again. You continue.
The great moral of the story is NOT about the beauty of human persistence or the will to survive. Rather, life is effed up. People are effed up. We are all animals, wild at our core, but animals with choices. These choices matter. There are hard truths and soft truths. There are things that are wrong no matter how you look at them. Feelings are complicated, but also valid. Little else matters in this world, if anything, without empathy. Have empathy.
Ultimately, this is a story about what it means to be alive vs. whole. Indelibly powerful.
eden_winkels's review against another edition
5.0
Literally could not put this book down (finished it in a day!). Absolutely captivating and beautifully written. A story that is too often untold and one that mirrors the horrors of mental health and PTSD. Absolutely worth a read!
tyaneka's review against another edition
5.0
This may have been the best book I've read all year...and I've read a lot. This book was so well written, so vivid, so descriptive that I had an emotional reaction to the plight of the main character. Mireille was a complex woman who went through a traumatic thing...and survived
amethyst_word_witch's review against another edition
5.0
This book is raw, tragic, emotional, and triggering. It is a true to life look at how sexual violence can rip the humanity out of a person. The result can be a rippling effect that changes the person’s character and relationship dynamics. The story is ultimately about overcoming, but it also shows the lingering effects of such violence that will never go away. (TW: rape, object penetration, starvation/thirst, captivity, and burns/cuts.)
caitlinthegeek's review against another edition
3.0
It took me awhile to read this book. Months even to get through part I. The writing was good but the subject matter was brutal. I found part II to be easier to read (actually read that part in one night) and it doesn’t make sense without part I but it’s just horrible to read and imagine. Continuous, unending rape - especially while harbouring your own trauma - is hard to read and I did not enjoy one second of the first part of this book. I liked how Roxane explored trauma in the second half but I hate that I had to get through the first part to get there. Is not for the faint of heart.
dezreads's review against another edition
5.0
This was the most tearfully difficult and painful book to read to the credit of the fierce writing of Roxane Gay. Her words were so powerful in that they hit me in a way that made me feel physically sick and nauseated.
I found my breath quicken with so much intensity that I had to stop myself from reading and physically close the book at several points. You would think that the end of the hellish ordeal Mireille went through in thirteen days midway through the book would finally bring about relief and a return to her fairy tale life, but I was very wrong. The hell stays with you for a long time, which speaks truth to all the women who went through sexual violence and captivity.
I will recommend this book but word of caution that it could be severely triggering for some.
I found my breath quicken with so much intensity that I had to stop myself from reading and physically close the book at several points. You would think that the end of the hellish ordeal Mireille went through in thirteen days midway through the book would finally bring about relief and a return to her fairy tale life, but I was very wrong. The hell stays with you for a long time, which speaks truth to all the women who went through sexual violence and captivity.
I will recommend this book but word of caution that it could be severely triggering for some.
emilyholladay's review against another edition
5.0
This book is so powerful. I couldn't put it down basically from the moment I picked it up. If pain demands to be felt (John Green), this book demands to be read. "Girl children are not safe in a world where there are men. They need to learn to be strong."