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A review by yikesbmg
An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
5.0
This is book is truly something. My initial thoughts:
-It is at once the most romantic and most violent book I have ever read. Gay juxtapositions scenes of extremely tender moments from Miri’s past with the most awful, awful moments of her present. The characters talk a lot about how the Haiti they see is very beautiful but broken simultaneously, and the structure of the book helped me understand what they meant. The structure reminded me a lot of “A Little Life” except its inverted — in that book the trauma is past, the beauty is the present. Reading this book helped me understand critics that said “A Little Life” was voyeuristic.
-I have read a lot of accounts of sexual violence and rape, but this book is the first and only thing where I felt like I understood the magnitude of what that violence does to a person. It is devastating, and I think everyone — especially cisgender men — who has not faced such violence should read this book.
-The honesty that defined Michael and Miri’s relationship before her kidnapping actually shocked me. The honesty, how clearly they saw one another, their very plain desire to just be there for one another. I really don’t know if relationships like theirs are possible but jesus christ a bitch will now dream. I loved loved loved love that Miri was not easy, that she was very clearly hard to love and difficult. I love the relationship and duty she feels towards, and is reciprocated by her mother in love.
It is weird to say this is now one of my favorite books because the content is so terribly violent, but it is because it’s truly a literary work. I had physical reactions to this book, had to turn away from the page. I could so clearly picture what was going on and it made me want to vomit and scream at the same time. Roxane Gay is a writer, a really fucking good writer.
-It is at once the most romantic and most violent book I have ever read. Gay juxtapositions scenes of extremely tender moments from Miri’s past with the most awful, awful moments of her present. The characters talk a lot about how the Haiti they see is very beautiful but broken simultaneously, and the structure of the book helped me understand what they meant. The structure reminded me a lot of “A Little Life” except its inverted — in that book the trauma is past, the beauty is the present. Reading this book helped me understand critics that said “A Little Life” was voyeuristic.
-I have read a lot of accounts of sexual violence and rape, but this book is the first and only thing where I felt like I understood the magnitude of what that violence does to a person. It is devastating, and I think everyone — especially cisgender men — who has not faced such violence should read this book.
-The honesty that defined Michael and Miri’s relationship before her kidnapping actually shocked me. The honesty, how clearly they saw one another, their very plain desire to just be there for one another. I really don’t know if relationships like theirs are possible but jesus christ a bitch will now dream. I loved loved loved love that Miri was not easy, that she was very clearly hard to love and difficult. I love the relationship and duty she feels towards, and is reciprocated by her mother in love.
It is weird to say this is now one of my favorite books because the content is so terribly violent, but it is because it’s truly a literary work. I had physical reactions to this book, had to turn away from the page. I could so clearly picture what was going on and it made me want to vomit and scream at the same time. Roxane Gay is a writer, a really fucking good writer.