Damn you, Roxane Gay. Why, why would you put me so inextricably into this moment, make me live it second by second? I'm not strong enough for this. I won't sleep. I won't leave the house.

That was my dominant thought through most of the book, and it's in no way a criticism. Because I know the answer, or at least my answer.

Though the story itself is fiction, the emotional truth is real and prevalent. The writing is... I want to use a lot of superlatives but I'm going to go with "honest", and I spent each page both eager for the next and dreading what it would hold. In the end, it is worth every heartbeat. There is fear, heartache, frustration, empathy, and startling self-reflection; I don't mean in the text but in the reader.

I want to take this book and hand it to people, say "Understand." I won't, because I cherish my copy, but they can find a bookstore, surely.

Anyway there are much better reviews on here, read them too, then buy the book and read it and understand what you can, and think about the rest. I'll see you in line at the store when her next book comes out. ( )

Started off good but Michael is an annoying ass from beginning to end and his kidnapped wife became annoying pretty quickly. ( )

Roxane Gay thanked Channing Tatum for his neck, in the acknowledgments for this novel. I thank him too, but also Gay, for this gorgeous, devastating book about the atrocities of man, and how sometimes, maybe, women survive them. ( )

Wow. An Untamed State is the tale of an American woman of Haitian descent who is kidnapped while visiting her parents in Haiti. Mireille and her husband, Michael, along with their son, Christophe, are headed to the beach when they are surrounded by SUVs. The men in the SUVs jump out and pull Miri away and keep her captive for 13 days while demanding a ransom from her father, a successful businessman.
The story tells of Miri and Michael’s idyllic life before the kidnapping and their struggle to find their way back to some kind of normalcy after the kidnapping.
The horror Miri experiences is detailed and truly terrible. Her PTSD after the kidnapping seems very real and is so heartbreaking. Michael’s struggle to grow up and accept his wife and her trauma was interesting to read. I enjoyed reading the perspective of Michael’s parents and Miri’s sister, and how they helped Miri and Michael.
I read this book almost without stopping, it held my attention so completely.
#AnUntamedState #RoxaneGay ( )

Until that moment, Michael had not understood the vastness of the world and how small a place he held in it...

Fuck, just... fuck. I knew just a few pages in that this would confirm Roxane Gay's presence on my list of favourite authors but I didn't know it confirm it this much. Like, I still have no words a week later, just... wow. It's haunting, it's raw, it's powerful and it's beautiful. And it's so fucking good. ( )