My Absolute Darling By Gabriel Tallent - Starting January 4th 2018

[Dannii]

Turtle Alveston is a survivor. At fourteen, she roams the woods along the northern California coast. The creeks, tide pools, and rocky islands are her haunts and her hiding grounds, and she is known to wander for miles. But while her physical world is expansive, her personal one is small and treacherous: Turtle has grown up isolated since the death of her mother, in the thrall of her tortured and charismatic father, Martin. Her social existence is confined to the middle school (where she fends off the interest of anyone, student or teacher, who might penetrate her shell) and to her life with her father.

Then Turtle meets Jacob, a high-school boy who tells jokes, lives in a big clean house, and looks at Turtle as if she is the sunrise. And for the first time, the larger world begins to come into focus: her life with Martin is neither safe nor sustainable. Motivated by her first experience with real friendship and a teenage crush, Turtle starts to imagine escape, using the very survival skills her father devoted himself to teaching her. What follows is a harrowing story of bravery and redemption. With Turtle's escalating acts of physical and emotional courage, the reader watches, heart in throat, as this teenage girl struggles to become her own hero—and in the process, becomes ours as well.

Shot through with striking language in a fierce natural setting, My Absolute Darling is an urgently told, profoundly moving read that marks the debut of an extraordinary new writer.

[✨Skye✨]

Going to start from the beginning today :) I'd only got 16% in and I've mostly forgotten what happened in that 16%. I do remember it being an uncomfortable read.

[Dannii]

I forgot to bring my book with me and am away from home so will be starting this tomorrow :)

[Dannii]

1/4: (view spoiler)[I have had this for a little while and completely forgot what the book was even about. I think this doubled the shock of what was an already shocking story-line. What a harrowing tale this was set out to be, from almost the very first page. Turtle is such a sad and lonely character and her incestuous relationship with her father made me physically sick to read. (hide spoiler)]

[Dannii]

2/4: (view spoiler)[I quickly became disenchanted with this book! Whilst the actual bones of the story are harrowing and powerful, the writing style is just not working for me. I am finding each scene overly described and each piece of dialogue lengthy and repetitive. (hide spoiler)]

[Dannii]

3/4: (view spoiler)[Has this author ever even heard a teenager speak? I adore John Green but can understand how some believe his teenage characters to have unrealistically philosophical discussions with one and other. But this is on a whole other level! And then in other areas it just becomes full of 'dudes' and 'likes'. Really not ejoying. (hide spoiler)]

[Dannii]

4/4: (view spoiler)[Honestly, I only struggled through this book because of the Stephen King blurb! What is everyone seeing in this tat I didn't?!?! Whilst the ending did pull it back it wasn't enough to rectify the distance the writing style had already created. (hide spoiler)]

[✨Skye✨]

Very slowly getting through this!

Chapter 4 (view spoiler)[ There are some very uncomfortable moments to read in this book. The sexual and physical abuse is sickening. I did think the author's use of explicit language to describe the sexual abuse was inappropriate for discussion of a 14 year old being raped by her father. I'm all for truthful representation of awful subject matters but I just don't think the words "pussy" or "spunk" were necessary whatsoever. (hide spoiler)]

[Dannii]

Skye wrote: "Very slowly getting through this!

Chapter 4 [spoilers removed]"

I agree. I appreciated how the brutality of the situation was highlighted but it made me so uncomfortable.

[✨Skye✨]

Chapter 12 (view spoiler)[ I really like Anna as a character, she seems like she really cares about her students and it was Anna's talk that helped Turtle finally prove herself in school. I was disappointed in Turtle for being mean to Rilke, even after Anna asked her to help stop the other students bullying her. I'm hoping Turtle redeems herself for that. I don't know how I feel about Jacob, he seems like a nice boy but Turtle doesn't really know him. (hide spoiler)]

[✨Skye✨]

Chapter 18 (view spoiler)[ I was not expecting this turn of events. Martin leaving is such a huge thing and there's no indication as to why, and now Turtle and Jacob are really fighting for their lives. It's such a bleak story, when Daniel finds out that Turtle's father hurts her he's finally going to do something, and then dies. And then the dog dies. This is so, so bleak. (hide spoiler)]

[✨Skye✨]

Chapter 24 (view spoiler)[ Cayenne is an interesting development. I hope she provides the motivation for Julia to do the right thing. I also desperately hope that Julia isn't pregnant. (hide spoiler)]

[✨Skye✨]

Finished! I ended up becoming quite invested towards the end. While it isn't a new favourite, I think it is one that will stick with me, and I will remember Turtle for a long time.