A review by kneirinck
My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent
3.0
I finished My Absolute Darling on audio yesterday. It was certainly a compelling read - I kept returning again and again to the book to finish it faster.
That being said this book is GRAPHIC and I was unable to listen in front of my 3 year old daughter as the words and themes were too mature.
I liked Turtle as a main character, especially in the beginning. She is struggling with school and my first thought was that she was struggling with a learning disorder of some kind. When the discovery is made that it is actually (likely) years of emotional and physical abuse that causes Turtle to struggle with learning certain things. Her obsession with her guns and survival at first struck me as an extension of her father, but with time seemed to be her own.
Overall I felt like the plot had a good pace to it, though there were times it seemed to get "stuck" in its own pauses. Maybe the audio accentuated that since the repetitive nature was extremely apparent.
I did like that the relationship between Turtle and her Dad was complex and had enough in between moments to show that in most abusive relationships most of the moments are fine or neutral with some sharp trauma punctured in between.
I can tolerate heavy topics fairly well but the persistence of it in this book served questionable purpose to me. I would have been far more interested in Turtles struggles coming out of her learned misogyny and trying to form bonds with other girls or women. Or learning more about her mother who as it stands seemed to be nothing substantial. There was a moment with Caroline (her best friend) but then nothing came of that and instead we saw over and over Martin's erratic and unpredictable nature.
I am glad I read this book in the end, even if it doesn't sit well. Sometimes those kinds lead to the best discussions
That being said this book is GRAPHIC and I was unable to listen in front of my 3 year old daughter as the words and themes were too mature.
I liked Turtle as a main character, especially in the beginning. She is struggling with school and my first thought was that she was struggling with a learning disorder of some kind. When the discovery is made that it is actually (likely) years of emotional and physical abuse that causes Turtle to struggle with learning certain things. Her obsession with her guns and survival at first struck me as an extension of her father, but with time seemed to be her own.
Overall I felt like the plot had a good pace to it, though there were times it seemed to get "stuck" in its own pauses. Maybe the audio accentuated that since the repetitive nature was extremely apparent.
I did like that the relationship between Turtle and her Dad was complex and had enough in between moments to show that in most abusive relationships most of the moments are fine or neutral with some sharp trauma punctured in between.
I can tolerate heavy topics fairly well but the persistence of it in this book served questionable purpose to me. I would have been far more interested in Turtles struggles coming out of her learned misogyny and trying to form bonds with other girls or women. Or learning more about her mother who as it stands seemed to be nothing substantial. There was a moment with Caroline (her best friend) but then nothing came of that and instead we saw over and over Martin's erratic and unpredictable nature.
I am glad I read this book in the end, even if it doesn't sit well. Sometimes those kinds lead to the best discussions