Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

An Untamed State by Roxane Gay

15 reviews

jvickers0502's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Tons of triggers to be aware of first. The summary is insufficient. There is a lot of sexual violence and PTSD. I don’t consider these spoilers, but women, especially, need to know these are a big part of the story before deciding if they are going to read it.

I’ve read Roxane Gay’s before. I know from her other books the traumas she’s shared, and the whole time, it felt like she might’ve been working through some of her own trauma. It was impossible to read the book without feeling compassion and sorrow for her. It was equal parts deeply emotionally brutal to read as well as beautiful to see how Mirielle mends her way back to life. And other than Michael, Glen, and Victor, I think I hated every man in the book. In the end, I closed the book full of hope for her (both Mirielle and for the author) and grateful to Lorraine and Mona.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

myrthekorf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Kidnapping

taylorlanxon's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

spacebras's review against another edition

It's good but damn, this is a little too much torture porn, respectfully.

Getting RAPED WITH A GUN is absolutely too much.

I don't judge anyone for reading this, but Christ... And the bad guys being like militant leftists is also weird? I'm not sure, I'm just gonna drop it imho.

Seriously, all respect to Roxane Gay, but I cannot

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, and Kidnapping

leslie_overbookedsocialworker's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

jadahreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Kidnapping

melissalivanos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The trigger warnings on this are a small novel in themselves. This book is an absolutely brutal but very well told story. Proceed with caution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Eating disorder, Miscarriage, and Injury/Injury detail

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

 An Untamed State is a dark, disturbing and confronting read. Told in two parts, it is the story of Mirielle Duval Jameson. She is a Haitian, married to an American and living in Miami. On a trip back to Haiti to introduce her parents to her baby son, she is kidnapped and held captive for thirteen days before her father, a wealthy businessman, pays and ransom and she is eventually freed. The first half of the book is centred on her kidnapping and period in captivity, with numerous flashbacks to her previous life, especially her relationship with her husband Michael. This section is packed full of trigger warnings, particularly for physical and sexual violence. What I found interesting was the depiction of Mirielle’s mental state, and the tricks she used to try and survive, tricks that saw her try to dissociate from what she was experiencing. The second part of the book looks at what happens after she was freed. While her physical scars were horrific the mental and emotional scars were worse. Gay did an excellent job of presenting Mirielle’s pain, her visceral vulnerability as she learned to cope with her sense of security and self-worth, her very identity, having been ripped from her, and her efforts, some more constructive than others, to learn to live with unforgettable trauma.

This was a deeply uncomfortable and confronting read, unflinching but not gratuitous, one that exposes the dark underbelly of Haiti and the toll that extracts. It highlights the economic iniquities in that country, the anger and resentment evoked, and showcases one way those tensions play out. I can’t say I enjoyed reading this book - the subject matter precludes that - but I don’t regret the reading experience.

“I did not deserve the unwanted attentions of a man like you. It is often women who pay the price for what men want.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Rape, Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Cancer and Panic attacks/disorders

donotfeedthebirds's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Miscarriage, and Racism