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karijohnson's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
joelkarpowitz's review against another edition
4.0
An Untamed State is one of the hardest books I've read in a long time, not because it's dense or complex--in fact it's incredibly readable and straightforward--but because the subject matter is so brutal. Gay explores the crossroads between political violence, sexual violence, and family dysfunction in this story of the Americanized daughter of Haitian parents who is kidnapped and held captive until her father is willing to pay her ransom. Gay describes the violence without sparing any details, but not to sensationalize the cruelty but to not allow readers to shy away from it. Her focus is not the awful acts themselves, but the emotional and psychological toll they take and what it costs to survive such an experience. It's not pat and easy, and it's not a read I think everyone could or should read, but her unflinching examination of the type of crimes that do occur around the world on a regular basis is eye opening. Sometimes, like the main characters in this book, we have to face the worst in order to begin to understand and deal with it, and hopefully begin to do something about it.
dude_watchin_with_the_brontes's review against another edition
4.0
I love that the book didn't end with the "ordeal" ending upon her return.
mjwerts's review against another edition
3.0
An Untamed State tells the story of Mireille, a young Haitian-American wife and mother, who is kidnapped while visiting her parents in Haiti. What follows is 13 days of hell that reshape Miri and her family.
This is not an easy book to read. Miri's experience is described quite graphically, and her subsequent psychological pain is equally gut wrenching. Despite the reader's potential unease, the book and subject matter are important, as too many individuals around the world have suffered similar ordeals or live in fear of the possibility.
Do not confuse "important" for "well-done," though. The book has its strong parts, but suffers from some weaknesses as well. The "flashbacks" to Miri's romance with her husband often ring false. The purpose of the backstory is to make you fall in love with Miri and Michael as a couple so their subsequent travails after her kidnapping are more heartfelt. Instead, the reader is left wondering how these two individuals were ever happy in the first place with wildly different temperaments, world views, and goals.
In addition, every male character is treated with only one or two notes: the loving, but inept husband; the miserly, reserved father; and the sadistic kidnappers. The result is a book that is captivating at times and very uneven at others.
This is not an easy book to read. Miri's experience is described quite graphically, and her subsequent psychological pain is equally gut wrenching. Despite the reader's potential unease, the book and subject matter are important, as too many individuals around the world have suffered similar ordeals or live in fear of the possibility.
Do not confuse "important" for "well-done," though. The book has its strong parts, but suffers from some weaknesses as well. The "flashbacks" to Miri's romance with her husband often ring false. The purpose of the backstory is to make you fall in love with Miri and Michael as a couple so their subsequent travails after her kidnapping are more heartfelt. Instead, the reader is left wondering how these two individuals were ever happy in the first place with wildly different temperaments, world views, and goals.
In addition, every male character is treated with only one or two notes: the loving, but inept husband; the miserly, reserved father; and the sadistic kidnappers. The result is a book that is captivating at times and very uneven at others.
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