An Untamed State

I can't say that I “wanted” to read this book, despite Roxane Gay's incredible writing and beautiful way of expressing very difficult things. More that I couldn't help but read it, and once started, couldn't stop - even though it was painful, visceral, in some ways hopeful and yet unsatisfying. I'm not sure I could recommend it, even though I think it's so worthy. An Untamed State leaves the reader in a complicated state, one in which there's so much to process and discuss but instead you're managing feelings and images you'd never want to experience. For many, the entire book will be a giant trigger. The images depicted of physical, emotional, and sexual violence reserved particularly for women are hard to metabolize and let go, and you never seem to escape from them even when you escape, much like the protagonist. It lingers right up until the last page, despite the hope, and progress, and joy regained. Only the healing relationship between mother in law and daughter in law seems to somehow overshadow it for brief moments, and that's definitely something. It glimmers like a small beacon in an otherwise dark and harrowing world. A difficult read.