An Untamed State

I loved this story. It was credible and believable and so very rich and unctuous with the important details that comprise a fabulous book like this one. All the fascinating variables of pride, culture, socioeconomics, politics, gender and sexuality, integrity, humanity, survival, violence and brutality, and deep abiding love are just some of the plethora of facets of the human condition that this author molds into this beautiful story. The intricate skeins of each individual character are combined in this finely woven tale of tragedy and loss and the struggle to survive. Mireille's and her father's pride, as well as her understanding of him create a compelling framework for the dynamics of what happens and how it unfolds. Without their pride and intelligence, perhaps her captivity could have been much easier. But the author builds their stories and personalities carefully throughout so that you can understand that there was probably no other way for the events of the novel to happen. She writes this story so well that it feels like it is the true tale of a woman who survived being a ransom hostage in some of the most brutal circumstances. I especially loved the relationship Mireille had with her mother-in-law Lorraine. It was interesting that their relationship grew from Mireille's strength, support, and perseverance as she cared for Lorraine being treated for cancer. Mireille dropped everything to care for her husband's mother, and Lorraine was obstinate and cantankerous. They exchanged some barbs, but Mireille mostly just took Lorraine's "ornery" behavior and saved those timely barbs for the most appropriate moments. Despite this, their relationship blossomed to multiple weekly phone calls between them. I loved the result of this foundation of their love and relationship being that which Mireille needed for her recovery and to find herself once again. It's Lorraine's stubborn pressure and simple farm life practicality that helps Mireille to move beyond the horror and terror; and you see during her healing with Michael's parents that it could only have been Lorraine to push Mireille through the process. Michael's parents give him the wake up call and wisdom to push through his own issues to be there for her. I loved how step by step Lorraine's compassion, strength, and support awakened Mireille's trust and love and provided the safety she needed to begin to heal. This author filled the pages of this book with many, many wonderful and realistic details that make the characters so alive and real to me. If you like reading about different cultures and perspectives and how people deal with traumatic situations most people could never imagine, and especially the realistic struggles and triumphs to overcome the aftermath. I highly, highly recommend this book.

The theme of fairy tales, and the subversion of that theme, runs throughout Roxane Gay's debut novel, An Untamed State. American-born Mireille is visiting Haiti, where her parents are from and where they've returned in their later years, with her husband and newborn son. They're just leaving the gated compound where her family lives when they're suddenly accosted by kidnappers and Mireille is taken. They demand $1 million for her return, and she's held for 13 days before ransom is paid. During those 13 days, she's brutally raped and tortured, and the woman she is when she's released is a world away from the woman she was before. We learn about her life through the memories she experiences while she's captive. How she grew up, watching her talented father chafe against the ways in which he was treated as "lesser than" because of his status as an immigrant. Her relationship with her siblings, especially her sister. The way she and her husband Michael met and fell in love. Their privileged life together in Miami, where she's an immigration attorney and he's an engineer. And then when she gets back, how very unable she is to resume that life. The second half of the novel relates Mireille's flight to Michael's family farm in Nebraska to heal...or more accurately, recover enough to be able to deal. The wounds she's suffered aren't the kind that really heal, after all. The motif of fairy tales is everywhere, from the beginning, where the book literally opens with "once upon a time", to the end, in which Mireille is given the chance to confront one of her captors. When I first read it, the ending bothered me. It seemed too convenient, to tie things up too neatly. Life doesn't work that way, and otherwise the book is deeply, unflinchingly realistic. When you think about it through the context of fairy tales, though, it has that kind of wish fulfillment that the modern versions of these stories often do. But the bulk of the story is filled with the things that get cut out of the tales for today's world: the violence inflicted on Mireille is completely unvarnished and it is very difficult to read. And that difficulty of reading is the only reason I'm not more enthusiastic about this novel. Roxane Gay is a phenomenal writer and the book is compelling and hard to put down. She draws realistic, captivating characters who have shades of gray and consistent internal logic, and the way she subverts Mireille's "fairy tale" narrative of her life with Michael by showing us its sometimes-ugly underbelly is brilliant. I could go on forever about how incredibly-written it is. But with the subject matter being what it is, it's hard to recommend this book widely. There's a great deal of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. If that's something you're able to handle, I'd definitely recommend it.

First of all, I want to say that this book does have some very graphic scenes. This is a powerful, gritty, and emotionally suspenseful book. If you have any triggers of sexual abuse, this would not be a good book for you. The book is divided into two parts: Happily Ever After and Once Upon a Time. At first glance, it seems unusual that the author did the parts in that particular order. But it makes sense. Miri lives like a princess in a fairy tale. She is happy and married and loves her family. Then her entire world is changed. During the Happily Ever After section, the author goes back and forth between Miri's captivity and her courtship with her husband, which she refers to as "the before." I am not going to lie: the scenes with her captors are hard to read. They are incredibly raw. Those men do things to her that I can't ever imagine surviving. At times, it seems like the reader is a voyeur, watching something that they have no business watching. But the story is so riveting that I couldn't tear my eyes away. Then comes the aftermath . . . the Once Upon a Time section. Miri also refers to this period in her life as "the after."This part was almost as hard ti read as the beginning. Miri feels abandoned by her father and her husband because it took so long to get her back. She has severe PTSD and feels afraid, even in her own home. Some of the decisions she makes are hard to swallow, but easy to understand given what she has been through. Miri is fighting to get her life back. She feels she has died during her captivity so the second half of the book is about Miri coming back to life. This tests her marriage and her family in a way that has never been tested before. I cried during the second half of the book. When I finished the book, I has to take a few deep breaths. This was such a masterpiece! It was so brutal, yet beautifully written. I really can't think of one thing to change. Here are several powerful quotes from the book: "They held me captive for thirteen days. They wanted to break me. It was not personal. I was not broken. This is what I tell myself." "I made my choice. There is nothing you cannot do when you are no one." "This is what I know -- the body is built to survive. An unknown energy pulsed just beneath my skin. I whispered, "I will survive this."" ""Your mother did not deserve the unwanted attentions of a man like my father," I said, "I did not deserve the unwanted attentions of a man like you. It is often women who pay the price for what men want."" I really think this was one of my favorite books this year, if not the best.

This book held my interest and had a good story. It was very well-written. I really did not like the main character, however, and I think that had a negative effect. I also found myself scanning and skipping pages, since she was constantly stating "I'm dead", I'm an animal" and "I'm nothing" - too repetitive. I was also disappointed that there was no mention of the interaction between her and her father [and later her mother] when she was first saved.

'An Untamed State,' by Roxane Gay is a high speed onslaught of suspense and tension. Gay opens with "Once upon a time in a far-off land, I was kidnapped." So much for high octane fuel and a burst of speed from the get go. There's very little letting up on the suspense throughout. Full dimensional, in depth characterizations entreat the reader to enter the life of protagonist, Mireille, and her husband, Michael, in the backdrop of a Haitian landscape. The political turmoil and extremes of poverty contrast with a small well to do class in Haiti. "Haiti is in fact the most unequal country in Latin America and the Caribbean: the richest 20% of its population holds more than 64% of its total wealth, while the poorest 20% hold hardly 1%." (www.worldbank.org). Gay shows this disparity in the lives of Mireille, who is from the small well to do class, and the kidnappers, who represent the lower echelons trying to eke out an existence in a hardscrabble country where compassion is a benefit bestowed mostly to the very wealthy. In the late 1970's, I traveled to Haiti with a missionary group. Port au Prince was a cauldron of activity and filled with color. The houses were painted brilliant blues and pastel pinks and the markets were filled with the press of bodies engaged in the commerce of everyday life. In my early 20's, I had briefly considered the life of a missionary. Haiti quickly changed my mind. Accosted by beggars on every side, one day in a busy market, a double amputee tugged at my skirt tail. His stumps were lashed to a board that he manuvered in and out of the crowd. Separated for a moment from my group, I will never forget that small moment of fear. During our stay we helped paint a church, attended services, and shared a meal with some Haitian church members. The meal included chicken feet. How can I forget the orphans who lived in rooms at the back of the house where we were staying. The oldest girl looked to be about 12 and assumned responsibility for 5 to 6 younger children. She appeared unfazed. Many families, unable to provide for their children, left them at churches and other places, established as orphanages. Gay's novel brings back all my memories of Haiti. Such a land of contrasts. Our group never visited the palatial estates. I do remember a huge ocean liner in the harbor and I remember thinking, even then, how far away from reality the ocean liner seemed. Gay's novel rang true for me, in every way. Mireille's experiences at the hands of her kidnappers were violent. Gay handles the narrative expertly not forsaking her character in any sense of the telling. Secondary characters are so richly wonderful. Gay provides the background that allows the reader to know what makes them tick. Occasional chapters give us husband, Michael's POV. Can you imagine what it feels like to have your wife kidnapped right in front of your eyes and not be able to do a thing? Gay takes us there. This is a rich, multi-layered novel with difficult thematic issues, which Gay handles deftly. I missed an opportunity to hear this author speak at a nearby college. If the occasion should arise again, I won't make the same mistake.

'Gripping' is certainly the most accurate word to describe this novel. In this book, you will follow Mirriele Jameson as she deals with both the physical and psychological trauma of having been kidnapped and physically abused for 13 days. Easily the best part of this book is Gay's imagery. Her descriptions of what her lead character went through will force you to keep reading because of how vivid and disturbing they are. Even as a male, I could put myself into Mirriele's shoes. I realize that this subject matter isn't for everyone, but I definitely feel that anyone who knows anyone who went through a traumatic experience should read this for the empathy. The rest of the characters, the results are generally strong, but with some misses. Gay shifts back and forth occasionally to Michael, the husband, as well as her father and mother. Her husband was actually a pretty well written character, but her father missed the mark. Probably because they didn't bother to explain his actions until the very end. Now, the book does have some real flaws. First, the flashbacks. Flashbacks are used frequently in the first half to describe Miri's fairy-tale romance with her husband as well as her home life. These could get overly sappy from time to time, but were mostly good. The real issue I had was that they seemed to start out of nowhere, run out of order, and then stop too abruptly. It just hurt the books pacing. The second problem may just be personal opinion, but I feel the way her husband responded to Miri's trauma wasn't handled as well as it could have. They try to make it seem like he's failing her by letting his frustration get the better of him, but I can't see how the other characters have much of a leg to stand on. I just can't blame the guy for his actions when the rest of the characters either aren't there or aren't helping. Anyway, this was a good debut and I'll be watching out for the rest of this author's work. But it does have some issues. Just be aware.

Roxanne Gay takes a hard, unsparing look at race, privilege, violence against women, and how one woman survives the horror of an abduction. Mireille is Haitian, a daughter not of poverty but of wealth and a sheltered life. She admits that she has a fairytale life. That is, until visiting Haiti from their home in Miami, she is abducted by a group of men to gain ransom from her father. At first, she believes that such kidnapping as business transactions and that no serious harm will come to her. That her father would pay the ransom and she would be returned home. But, that belief is soon crushed and the level of cruelty and violence of her captors escalates, and her mental, emotional and physical state deteriorates. The novel is intense and almost exhausting to read - from the impressive opening lines to the closing incident that reminds the narrator that healing from such a life destroying traumatic event is fraught with setbacks and moments that can send her right back to survival mode. While I often read more than one book at a time, I found that I almost had to pick something else up to get a break from the unrelenting nature of the novel, to have the space to process and then return again. The title echoes the nature of the violence, poverty, and corruption of Haiti as well as the mental and emotional state of the narrator throughout the novel. Despite the presentation of poverty setting the dynamic that leads to kidnappings, the perpetrators are not excused, not drawn as sympathetic. That they do not distinguish between the privileged of Haiti whose wealth is from corruption and those who earned their life through hard work argues that the kidnappers talk of the injustice of their world, but are nothing more than opportunistic thugs that use violence and power to gain money and are just as corrupt and immoral as those they rail against. Between the harrowing moments of the kidnapping, we learn the story of Mireille, her family, and her love and marriage to Michael, a Nebraskan farm boy -- Mireille's family calls him Mr. America. This provides the before and after of Mireille's life, the person she was, and the person she was forced to be to survive. The format gives the reader space to breath, to digest, to recover from the relentless destruction of a woman. The novel does not end with her release. The reader follows the days and weeks, the months, and eventually years of Mireille's journey to be whole, to find who she is, to find not just a reason to live, but life worth living. Mireille's climb from the place where she cannot remember her own name or those she once loved because it was easier to survive as 'no one' to place where she feels safe and loved is as brutal a journey as her captivity. Interestingly, it is not the husband, or her own family that serve as her anchor, but her mother-in-law, Lorraine. Through Mireille's memories, she is portrayed as the negatives of the stereotype of the midwestern farm-wife. All is not as it seems in this novel, nothing is simple, none of the questions it poises have easy answers. Gay's writing isn't lyrical, the novel, not perfect, but both are powerful.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a more vivid, visceral, or harrowing account of extreme violation and its aftermath. The protagonist is MIGHTY—and is completely undone by it. And she lets us into the complexity of that Once Upon a Time in the second half. There is love in this book. It is steady, it’s tender, and it’s practical. It’s palpable. I cried aloud and found myself in its pages. The book is complete. For an experience that can never be complete, this is a complete as it gets. The only other account I remember of visceral trauma this haunting was the production of Lynn Nottage’s play about women in the Congo, entitled “Ruined.” It premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2010. This is a subject that’s nearly impossible to convey, and yet it’s done with the stroke of genius. She takes her place here with Maya Angelou, Ntozake Shange and Toni Morrison.

I won't go into the plot itself because many reviewers have done that. I have read this book four times - the first three times without pause and the fourth time several months later and after having read Gay's other works ("Bad Feminist. Essays"; "Ayiti") and some of her OpEds on the New York Times. The latter - especially "Bad Feminist. Essays" and her OpEds gave me much more of a sense of Gay. And with that, I reread "Untamed State" a fourth time. Although I knew the story by heart, this time I picked up on other more subtle things that transformed the main character into much more of an - if you will - "feminist" character for me, or at the very least a character who has been very obviously fleshed out by an excellent modern feminist writer. I don't just mean Mireille's resistance to her captors or her "sassiness" in general. I mean her agency, her sense of self, and then when she loses this sense of self, the way she gets it back. Which is through the help of another woman, her mother-in-law, a likewise strong, ornery woman whom Mireille had helped get through a serious illness a number of years prior to this story. The story is also about how Mireille demands from her husband that he "also step up to the plate" and become stronger in order to balance out their relationship. Many scenes stick out in my mind; the "cringeworthy" ones (as one reviewer put it), not so much. If I were forced to choose, I would say that the second part of the book, Mireille's "recovery" fascinates me more. But of course that can't be separated from the first part of the book. All in all, an outstanding book and I look forward to what Roxane Gay will write in the future.

I am in complete awe of Roxane Gay. This novel tells the story of an American woman of Haitian descent who is kidnapped while visiting her parents in Haiti with her husband and baby. The writing is impeccable. The story is told in such detail that it felt like I was standing beside Mireille experiencing everything with her. Some parts of this book were difficult to read because of the realism in her writing. I have never before read a book that describes PTSD so accurately and the roller-coaster of emotions that accompany it. The character development was amazing as well, particularly with the main character, Mirieille, who was incredibly strong and determined before and throughout her traumatic experience and then became feral after the events became too much for her. I can say with confidence that this is one of the best books I have ever read in any genre.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book as it was so well written - a book of two parts. It was so well written I thought it was a true story. The first part is quite brutal in places but I felt it was appropriate and not gratuitous in any way. I really liked the main character and I was gripped by the first part despite feeling desperately for our heroine. The second part of the book is equally absorbing and the growing relationship between our heroine and her mother in law is touching. I would recommend this book to anyone except those with a very delicate disposition who might find the first part difficult. However, I think its a book every woman should read.

This book stayed with me for weeks after I read it, its challenging, disturbing, provocative and daring. It is at times an uncomfortable read, but all the more brilliant for it. Highly Recommended

The story from the start becomes interesting. But I would say this novel is well narrated rather than well written. The story is normal but, gays well crafted narration makes the story more incredible.