Tallent’s world is shocking in the truest sense of the word. There are echoes of Ma’s bravery in Emma Donoghue’s Room, or the resilience of Cormac McCarthy’s protagonists as they struggle to stay alive. My Absolute Darling is a gritty and complex novel, as it charts a harrowing year in Turtle’s life where she must choose to kill or die. Turtle is on the one hand a victim of horrific abuse, but she is also a whip-smart, instinctive and courageous young woman who has been trained by her father to survive the most vicious of attacks. ![]() What makes Gabriel Tallent’s debut so compelling is that Martin has passed on his knowledge to his daughter. Martin, a boorish misogynist who routinely rapes his daughter on their isolated property on the Mendocino coast, prides himself on being a survivalist, the last man standing when the apocalypse hits. She was christened Julia by her mother, who died in suspicious circumstances when Turtle was a child, but Martin nicknames her “kibble”, reducing her to dog food in their daily conversations. ![]() Turtle is also “an illiterate little slit”, according to her father, Martin, a twisted individual whose libertarian ethos and autodidacticism are merely a cover for a gruesome sexual predator. ![]() At just 14, she’s a crack shot with a gun, knows how to survive in the wilderness without food and is able to save the lives of her friends by her vast knowledge of nature.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |