An Untamed State - by Roxane Gay (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

A Haitian American woman survives a brutal kidnapping in this "commanding debut novel" from the New York Times-bestselling author of Bad Feminist (The New Yorker).

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. 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.

Mireille Duval Jameson is living a fairy tale. The strong-willed youngest daughter of one of Haiti's richest sons, she lives in the United States with her adoring husband and infant son, returning every summer to stay on her father's Port-au-Prince estate. But the fairy tale ends when Mireille is kidnapped in broad daylight by a gang of heavily armed men, just outside the estate walls. Held captive by a man who calls himself The Commander, Mireille waits for her father to pay her ransom. As her father's standoff with the kidnappers stretches out into days, Mireille must endure the torments of a man who despises everything she represents.

An Untamed State is a "breathless, artful, disturbing and original" 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 (Meg Wolitzer, author of The Interestings).

Review Quotes

Praise for An Untamed State:

Longlisted for the 2014 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize

"[A] commanding déeacute;but . . . Mireille's struggle to maintain a sense of self while being denied her freedom produces the novel's most powerful chapters." -New Yorker

"Roxane Gay's riveting debut, An Untamed State, captivates from its opening sentence and doesn't let go. . . . Let this be the year of Roxane Gay: you'll tear through An Untamed State, but ponder it for long after." --Nolan Feeney, Time.com

"A fairy tale . . . its complex and fragile moral arrived at through great pain and high cost. . . . Perhaps Haiti, too, is a beautiful princess, well-versed in the vagaries of men, still searching for a happily ever after." --Holly Bass, The New York Times Book Review

"Poignant . . . haunting . . . When Mireille is finally freed, her rocky adjustment harkens to that of the mother in Emma Donoghue's Room. . . . Gay writes of her homeland beautifully, describing it in the conflicting, nuanced way that will ring familiar to Americans whose parents hail from troubled lands. . . . Gorgeous writing . . . A wonderful and affecting read." --Rasha Madkour, Associated Press

"Gay may be working in territory many American readers know through the lyrical stories of Edwidge Danticat, but her style is wholly her own: direct, bracing and propulsive. . . . [A] smart, searing novel." --Ron Charles, The Washington Post

"To say that An Untamed State 'tells the story' of Mireille Duval Jameson - an American lawyer, wife, and new mother, who, while visiting her Haitian parents in Port Au Prince, falls victim to the wave of kidnappings plaguing that city - would be inadequate. Rather, Gay compels her readers to breathe and bleed [it]. . . . Brutally and vividly rendered." --Abby Frucht, The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Bold . . . A terrific read. . . . The character development of Gay's protagonist, Mireille, is particularly well-crafted and nuanced; her portrayal of a woman who fights her strongest fight to resist being defeated by her captors is compelling and agonizingly felt by the reader. . . . This novel . . . will reward the reader." --Jim Carmin, Minneapolis Star Tribune

"I applaud Gay's courage: She writes candidly, vividly, and necessarily . . . You will find it difficult to resist her flawless pacing [and] sharp, clear prose." --Ariel Gonzalez, The Miami Herald

"Set in Haiti, Roxane Gay's first novel, An Untamed State, is a roundhouse kick to notions of privilege." --Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair (Hot Type)

"Wrenching . . . Vividly written." --Jennifer Weiner, USA Today

"Clear your schedule now! Once you start this book, you will not be able to put it down. An Untamed State is a novel of hope intermingled with fear. . . . It is written at a pace that will match your racing heart." --Edwidge Danticat, author of Claire of the Sea Light

"A gripping psychological portrait of how trauma remakes the body to respond only to itself . . . Fans of Gay's work as an editor at The Rumpus and a columnist for Salon (among other places) will see a lush, sensual side to her writing here, turned to describe brutal facts of subjugation and punishment, the agony of waiting to be rescued and the protection of the brain." --Ellen Wernecke, The Onion AV Club

"Harrowing: truly, it harrows. With iron teeth it pulls up things that do no

About the Author

ROXANE GAY is also the New York Times bestselling author of the memoir Hunger; the story collection Difficult Women; the novel An Untamed State, which was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize; the essay collection Bad Feminist; and several comic books in Marvel's Black Panther: World of Wakanda series. She divides her time between Indiana and Los Angeles.