An Untamed State
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4.3 • 16 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Mireille Duval Jameson is living a fairy tale. The strong-willed youngest daughter of one of Haiti's richest sons, she has an adoring husband, a precocious infant son, by all appearances a perfect life. The fairy tale ends one day when Mireille is kidnapped in broad daylight by a gang of heavily armed men, in front of her father's Port au Prince estate. Held captive by a man who calls himself The Commander, Mireille waits for her father to pay her ransom. As it becomes clear her father intends to resist the kidnappers, Mireille must endure the torments of a man who resents everything she represents.
An Untamed State is a novel of privilege in the face of crushing poverty, and of the lawless anger that corrupt governments produce. It is the story of a wilful woman attempting to find her way back to the person she once was, and of how redemption is found in the most unexpected of places. An Untamed State establishes Roxane Gay as a writer of prodigious, arresting talent.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Poet and short story writer Gay's first novel delivers a searing portrait of a politically and economically divided Haiti, as seen through the lens of one family's nightmare. Mireille Duval Jameson, a Haitian-born young woman, is on vacation from Miami and visiting her upper-class parents in Port-au-Prince when she is kidnapped at gunpoint. Her captors regularly extract hefty ransoms from their wealthy victims, but in this case, Mireille's too-proud father refuses to pay up until it's nearly too late, resulting in his daughter suffering 13 days of increasingly savage sexual torture. When Mireille regains her freedom, it's only the first step in the shaken family's uncertain recovery. Though the opening kidnapping feels like a scene from a particularly stilted thriller, Gay soon finds a more assured footing as she narrows in on the pain each character both endures and inflicts. Mireille's desperate attempts to wrestle control from her kidnappers by sacrificing her body are deeply felt, but it's the author's unflinching portrayal of Mireille's shattered physical and psychological state once she's rejoined her husband and infant son that is at once disturbing and frighteningly resonant.
Customer Reviews
Brilliant and a must read.
Challenging, breathtaking and very rewarding. This book will stay with you for a very long time.
At times It brought me to tears. There were moments when I couldn't read on. But the one constant was the feeling of rage and anger at what too many women have to endure.
An amazing story about an incredibly brave woman.
PREPARE THYSELVES!!!!!
This book opens brilliantly. The opening sentence grabbed me in the bookshop and ensured a purchase for the store owner, and as it turns out, the first chapter is one of the most gripping and terrifying chapters I have ever read.
A young and happily married family is violently torn apart by a group of heartless thugs who kidnap the young wife in front of her husband and young toddler strapped in the back seat of the family car. It turns out the kidnapping is motivated by revenge as well as personal ideology and the book gains even more emotional tension when the family of the kidnapping victim refuses to pay the ransom for their daughter’s release. At what price is this decision made? And who must pay this price? And why would a man - a family man, no less - make such a decision?
The book is populated with short, intense chapters which enhance the reading experience no end. Be warned - the story is violent. But what else could it have been?
It is easy to see how and why this book has raced up the charts around the world. Books this good are written for a reason so make sure you don’t miss out on this exciting and hugely relevant release.
More please. Full marks for this one.