Work In Progress Review: My Absolute Darling Chapters 1-5

So, I'm five chapters into 'My Absolute Darling' and felt the urge to write about it. I don't know if anyone will find this discussion very satisfying considering there's obviously so much of the book I still know nothing about, but then, I'm doubtful that anyone will read this blog full stop, so what the heck.

The main reason I picked 'My Absolute Darling' up was because I heard the enthusiastic comparisons made between it and 'A Little Life,' Hanya Yanagihara's 2015 novel which I read earlier this year and found absolutely astonishing and possibly the best thing I've ever read. I mean, seriously, that gosh darn book. I have all the emotional depth and range and complexity of, I don't know, a rag on a stick, but I couldn't sleep on a couple of occasions because of how much that book upset me and fucked me up. And yet it was also life affirming and gorgeous, as the same time as being full of utter anguish. I just cared so much about all the people in it and everything that happened in their beautiful, terrible lives.

I don't think 'My Absolute Darling' is going to be close to that level, and I am thoroughly unconvinced so far by its handling of its main subject, the abuse inflicted on protagonist Turtle by her wild and domineering father Martin. At the end of the first chapter, we're subjected to a deeply grim scene in which Martin rapes Turtle, and I think author Gabriel Tallent delivers it well; Martin repeating the phrase “goddamn” over and over again as he molests his underage daughter, his obvious, near reverential awe for Turtle's body, really gives his lust this tangible, appalling stench. But, I also think it happens far too early in the book for it to have the power it should. We've only just met both these characters. In 'A Little Life,' the main victim of sexual abuse is the tragic, dignified, wonderful Jude St. Francis, and Yanagihara holds off on detailing the depths of his nightmarish upbringing, or plunging him into his hideous, doomed relationship with the psychotic Caleb, until we've already grown well acquainted with Jude as a person. By the end of the first chapter, Martin and Turtle have inevitably only been painted in broad brush strokes; we understand that Martin is mad and violent and possibly evil, and that Turtle has grown up frightened and confused in his care, but that's not enough for them to feel like real, fleshed out human beings in the way Yanagihara's characters always did. So, even thought Tallent's writing is frequently terrific and lends that awful conclusion to the first chapter real ferocity, it's undermined by its placement in the story.

Come the end of Chapter Five, it still feels like Martin and Turtle are a bit hollow. Flashes of Martin's personality hit home; the moments where he irritates Turtle's school bus driver with his intentionally weird and unsettling brand of flirting are quite memorable, as is Turtle's classmate Elise witnessing this and deciding it makes Martin “so cool.” But mostly, he's just too much of a villain, too quickly. I don't quite know what I made of him forcing Turtle to perform pull ups on a roof beam while he held a knife menacingly below her, but it definitely didn't nauseate me the way it objectively should have done. The psychological effects that Turtle's upbringing has had on her have so far mostly played out in mundane school dramas, in her inability to make friends and her struggles with her lessons and loathing of her teacher Anna. Where I've left her, in Chapter Five, she's currently stalking two lost teenagers, Jacob and Brett, through a sprawling, labyrinthine forest near her home. Some of Jacob and Brett's banter together is quite funny and charming, some of it is intensely annoying. Turtle is obviously scared and distrustful of both of them, but feels an odd compulsion to follow them despite knowing the longer she's away from home, the more furious Martin will be upon her return. She watches Jacob and Brett encounter an amiable old hippy who offers them directions out of the woodland and sells them some marijuana, and seems bewildered that the three of them could have such a friendly and productive conversation, although as a reader I think we're perhaps meant to side with Turtle in thinking the old hippy is not to be trusted.

Despite having not said a single unqualified positive thing about the book in the last three paragraphs, so far I actually like 'My Absolute Darling' well enough (this is the sort of infuriating volte-face you might have to get used to from me because I'm actually not very good or smart). Tallent is a consistently elegant writer, he's handled some awful subjects with great sensitivity, and most importantly the pace of the book is pretty spot on, with each chapter so far offering at least one moment that feels genuinely crucial to the narrative. It's shaping up to be rather good, but the notable flaws that have already sprung up mean it's probably not going to be as life-shatteringly brilliant as 'A Little Life' was.

Hello

I have decided to call this blog 'Books Are Quite Good' because I feel it accurately reflects my belief that books are quite good. I went looking for a cool quote about books that I could repurpose for my blog title, but it turns out a lot of quotes about books are really wanky and pretentious, and I really don't want the blog to be like that. I want it to be a place where we concede that there is nothing uniquely amazing about reading as an art form, but some individual books are uniquely amazing, and let's celebrate them while also having fun by sniping bitchily at ones that aren't quite as good. That's basically the mission statement for this enterprise. A bit of sincere enthusiasm and joy, a bit of sarcasm and being a dick, some book chat, probably a fair few lists because I love making lists.