MY ABSOLUTE DARLING by Gabriel Tallent
MY ABSOLUTE DARLING, Gabriel Tallent’s debut novel, is the gripping, often shocking tale of Turtle, a fourteen-year-old girl attempting to survive in two worlds: that of her school, where she struggles over vocabulary words and treats female peers with a casual misogyny and that of her home, where her father’s tutelage in firearms, survivalist training, and the kind of mental and physical toughness that would do credit to a hardened commando, has come at a terrible price.
Turtle’s love/hate for her father Martin has evolved in a climate of physical abuse, casual camaraderie, and constant indoctrination in his toxic world view. Martin is a fascinating, yet terrifying character, a man so damaged that he nicknames his daughter ‘kibble’, like the food fed to dogs, and prepares for an end of the world that one senses he’s more than a little eager to see.
Turtle is not, however, without allies. An alcoholic grandfather in the trailer nearby attempts to help her, a perceptive teacher offers sanctuary, and a schoolmate named Rilke, herself the victim of Turtle’s bullying, makes overtures of friendship. Each is foiled by Turtle’s fierce insistence that nothing is wrong at her home.
The world opens up for Turtle after she rescues Brett and Jacob, two teenaged boys lost in the Mendocino wilderness. Spending time with their loving, wholesome families is like a voyage to another planet, worlds away from the brutal treatment she’s come to associate with ‘love.’
The introduction of another girl, ten-year-old Cayenne, into Turtle’s life ratchets up the terror, and Turtle must make a terrible decision: to do the courageous thing and end this or carry on as always and preserve the pernicious bond between herself and Martin.
In the final chapters of the novel, Turtle’s feelings for Cayenne, Brett, and Jacob are tested to the core when she has to pit her own survivalist training and shooting skills against those of her formidable father.
MY ABSOLUTE DARLING is both unforgettable and often deeply unsettling. Some of the more graphic passages are difficult to read, as when Turtle is forced to do pull-ups from a ceiling beam with an upright knife between her legs. That said, this is a novel not to be missed, where brutal action merges with magnificent prose and acts of stunning cruelty are juxtaposed with mesmerizing descriptions of the natural world in which Turtle finds rare moments of solace.
Turtle’s love/hate for her father Martin has evolved in a climate of physical abuse, casual camaraderie, and constant indoctrination in his toxic world view. Martin is a fascinating, yet terrifying character, a man so damaged that he nicknames his daughter ‘kibble’, like the food fed to dogs, and prepares for an end of the world that one senses he’s more than a little eager to see.
Turtle is not, however, without allies. An alcoholic grandfather in the trailer nearby attempts to help her, a perceptive teacher offers sanctuary, and a schoolmate named Rilke, herself the victim of Turtle’s bullying, makes overtures of friendship. Each is foiled by Turtle’s fierce insistence that nothing is wrong at her home.
The world opens up for Turtle after she rescues Brett and Jacob, two teenaged boys lost in the Mendocino wilderness. Spending time with their loving, wholesome families is like a voyage to another planet, worlds away from the brutal treatment she’s come to associate with ‘love.’
The introduction of another girl, ten-year-old Cayenne, into Turtle’s life ratchets up the terror, and Turtle must make a terrible decision: to do the courageous thing and end this or carry on as always and preserve the pernicious bond between herself and Martin.
In the final chapters of the novel, Turtle’s feelings for Cayenne, Brett, and Jacob are tested to the core when she has to pit her own survivalist training and shooting skills against those of her formidable father.
MY ABSOLUTE DARLING is both unforgettable and often deeply unsettling. Some of the more graphic passages are difficult to read, as when Turtle is forced to do pull-ups from a ceiling beam with an upright knife between her legs. That said, this is a novel not to be missed, where brutal action merges with magnificent prose and acts of stunning cruelty are juxtaposed with mesmerizing descriptions of the natural world in which Turtle finds rare moments of solace.
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