An Untamed State

By: Roxane Gay

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Roxane Gay is a powerful new literary voice whose short stories and essays have already earned her an enthusiastic audience. 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 13 days, and her struggle to come to terms with the ordeal in its aftermath.

Mireille Duval Jameson is living a fairy tale. 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. The fairy tale ends one day when Mireille is kidnapped in broad daylight by a gang of heavily armed men, in front of her father’s Port au Prince estate. Held captive by a man who calls himself The Commander, Mireille waits for her father to pay her ransom. As it becomes clear her father intends to resist the kidnappers, Mireille must endure the torments of a man who resents everything she represents.

An Untamed State is a novel of privilege in the face of crushing poverty, and of the lawless anger that corrupt governments produce. 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.

©2014 Roxane Gay. Recorded by arrangement with Grove/Atlantic, Inc. (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Hard to listen to but so important

I had to put this book down for a while to process what I was hearing. Hard to listen to but worth it. Gives you insight into what is going on in the heads of victims of abuse and people w ptsd. The reader was brilliant.

A beatiful story about surviving.

I have been a fan of Roxanne Gay's writing for quite some time, but this is by far the best book of her's that I've read. The story is captivating and raw. I smiled as much as I cried while listening to this-- you can feel Marie's emotions shine through this piece. The performance does the writing justice.

I do warn anyone who is considering purchasing this about the graphic nature of some of the chapters. It's very detailed about what the main character has done to her when kidnapped, so if this is something that could be too much for you, I would steer away from this title. Other than that, I highly recommend this as it is one of the best books I've read in a while.

Captivating!

Excellent narration! Hard content to consume but very well done! Definitely a must read book!

Intense story of mankind's strengths and weaknesses, forgiveness and justice.

This story is very intense from the very first chapter until the end. Get ready.

So Terribly Beautiful

I am left in a stunned silence. There is nothing beautiful to be found in a kid napping and rape tale but Gay brings such emotion and captivates the reader to stay in the story. Haunting yet the story must be read.

An unforgettable story

This story was horrific and yet well told story. For me it showed the barbarism bred by extreme wealth in the face crippling poverty. But it also showed how vulnerable women are around the world. The protagonist battled herself from the pit of hell back to a semblance of normalcy. Not to give away the story but the protagonist should never forgive either of her parents. Neither of them understood love.

HORRIFIC BUT ENGROSSING STORY

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, this book was hard to listen to but I was unable to put it down.

What was one of the most memorable moments of An Untamed State?

The rape scenes were horrific. The author's descriptive detail puts the reader in the position to feel the victim's pain.

What does Robin Miles bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Robin Miles delivery was excellent but since we are talking about Haitians, I think a Haitian accent would have helped with the imagery.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes, no laughter but extreme repulsion for the perpetrators.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended.

Trigger warning

This is a serious trigger warning for sexual abuse survivors!

That being said, it is a powerful, beautiful, and painful story that is deeply layered and moving.

Not for the Faint of Heart

It’s extremely well written. It’s fluid, strong and its voice is loud and clear. What it spoke to me was the violence against women,violence’s lasting trauma while also addressing the difference of the sexes.

Some will read this book and come away with it being a story about a lawyer vacationing with her husband in Haiti who is kidnapped and abused. Others will come away with the survival of a woman who was violently stripped of her self-worth. The core of this book is in the eye of reader.

It’s a hard book to read for the violent incident is brutal and takes up better than one third of the book. Call me Pollyanna, if you must, but I read for entertainment. This book was not enjoyable - nor should it be. One does not have to look far to see unrestrained assaults happening on a variety of levels.Paying to listen to an extra eleven and an a half hours of turbulence, no matter how well written, was not the entertainment I was looking for. I don't feel that I am enlightened from reading it, nor will this story be in my thoughts for a long time.

Now how does one rate a book like this?

Roxanne Gay’s novel is riveting.

Well-written, socially-conscious, and page-turning story of a woman’s terrifying experience as a kidnap victim and the toll it takes on her mental and physical being and on her relationships with husband, father, mother and in-laws. The scars she carries are both physical and mental. This is a portrait of the modern world and what happens when the divide between the haves and the have-nots grows wider snd deeper