An Untamed State by Roxane Gay

Merielle's parents live in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. When Mireille, their daughter, son-in-law, Michael, and grandson, Christophe arrive for a visit, no one has any idea how their life will change. Later one psychologist will tell Mireille straight out that her life will never be the same again. On one fine day for an outing, Mireille, is kidnapped outside gates of her parents' mansion. The kidnappers will torture her with a laugh on their lips. As a matter of fact, she is gang raped over and over again. For me, it was very hard to read those beginning to middle pages. I can not describe what this poor woman lived through. When Mireille is set free, her battle at home is just as bad as the one led while in the presence of her captors. She is a different woman. Her family becomes different. How in the world do you treat a woman who has in many ways died? Her sister, Mona and the rest of the family have been raped too in their way. However, Mireille becomes angry when of them start a conversation with "I know what you've gone through." They quickly let that statement go.

In Untamed State, Roxane Gay, forced me to look deeply at rape. I think being raped must be one of the great fears of any woman. It's so horrible that I whisper when speaking the word "rape." Mireille learns to distrust every single person in her life after she is released. She doesn't want to be touched by her husband, her mother and it takes a great deal to finally allow her father to loosely hug her when she returns to Port-au-Prince. Hardest to bear is the fact that Mirelle feels so dirty it's a long time before she touches her baby, Christophe. She's afraid her "dirtiness" will spoil his innocence.

Roxane Gay does a magnificent job with this book. I couldn't believe how deeply she dug down and got to the core of Mirelle's feelings. It's truly an incredible novel. On the back of the novel are words written by another wonderful author, Tayari Jones. Out of all the reviews on the back of the book, her words touched me the most. This is a little bit of her praise for Roxane Gay. "...Pay attention to Roxane Gay; she's here to stay." This is a novel you won't want to miss this year. If you can not read it before 2015 rings in, read it during the new year. It's an unforgettable work of fiction. roxanegay.com/an-untamed-state/