We see how much these people change in just a few pages and how different life is for them all by the end. The relationship between Miri and Michael is fascinating and fragile and the story articulates so many things about recovery and friends that aren't often talked about.Īlso the parallels, between Miri and Michael, between Florida and Haiti, between Miri and her mother, and so many other comparisons really carried through the narrative. There are passive chapters between the flashbacks and narration but it tells a story that shows how complicated relationships are, and how finicky people can be, and what it can take to be a family. The book is certainly dark, and the story captures the darkness and lostness that Miri is feeling. While people may say this is a difficult book to read it's really a fantastic story about love, loss, and empowerment. Roxane Gay captures the trauma, tragedy, and intimacy of close relationships in this story. An Untamed State establishes Roxane Gay as a writer of prodigious, arresting talent. It is the story of a willful 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. As it becomes clear her father intends to resist the kidnappers, Mireille must endure the torments of a man who resents everything she represents.Īn Untamed State is a novel of privilege in the face of crushing poverty, and of the lawless anger that corrupt governments produce. Held captive by a man who calls himself The Commander, Mireille waits for her father to pay her ransom. The fairy tale ends one day when Mireille is kidnapped in broad daylight by a gang of heavily armed men, in front of her fathers Port au Prince estate. 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.
Mireille Duval Jameson is living a fairy tale. In An Untamed State, she delivers an assured debut about a woman kidnapped for ransom, her captivity as her father refuses to pay and her husband fights for her release over thirteen days, and her struggle to come to terms with the ordeal in its aftermath. Now, with An Untamed State, she delivers a breathtaking debut novel ( The Guardian, UK) of wealth in the face of crushing poverty, and the lawless anger produced by corrupt governments. Roxane Gay is a powerful new literary voice whose short stories and essays have already earned her an enthusiastic audience. Author and essayist Roxane Gay is celebrated for her incisive commentary on identity and culture, as well as for her bestselling nonfiction and short story collections.