
An Untamed State
A novel of privilege in the face of crushing poverty, and of the lawless anger that corrupt governments produce. The story of a willful woman attempting to find her way back to the person she once was, and of how redemption is found in the most unexpected of places.
Buy the book
IndieBound, Powell’s City of Books, iBooks, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Amazon
International editions
United Kingdom (Corsair), Cargo (Netherlands), Bonnier (Sweden), Lubbe (Germany)
Praise
Clear your schedule now! Once you start this book, you will not be able to put it down. An Untamed State is a novel of hope intermingled with fear, a book about possibilities mixed with horror and despair. It is written at a pace that will match your racing heart, and while you find yourself shocked, amazed, devastated, you also dare to hope for the best, for all involved.
Edwidge Danticat • Claire of the Sea Light
An Untamed State is a harrowing, suspenseful novel about the connections between sexual violence and political rage, narrated in a voice at once traumatized and eerily controlled. Roxane Gay is a remarkable writer, an astute observer of Haitian society and a deeply sympathetic, unflinching chronicler of the compromises people make in order to survive under the most extreme conditions.
Tom Perrota • Little Children and Nine Inches
An Untamed State is the kind of book you have to keep putting down because you can’t believe how good it is. Awesome, powerful, impossible to ignore, Roxane Gay is a literary force of nature. An Untamed State arrives like a hurricane.
Mat Johnson • Pym
From the astonishing first line to the final scene, An Untamed State is magical and dangerous. I could not put it down. Pay attention to Roxane Gay; she’s here to stay.
Tayari Jones • Silver Sparrow and Leaving Atlanta
Reviews
- Kirkus Reviews, Starred
- Publisher’s Weekly
- Library Journal, Starred
- Booklist, Starred
- Bookforum
- Chicago Tribune
- American Microreviews
- Diagram
- Philadelphia Inquirer
- The AV Club
- My Bookish Ways
- Associated Press
- TIME
- The Miami Herald
- The New York Times Book Review
- The Minneapolis Star Tribune
- Las Vegas Weekly
- The Los Angeles Times
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- Seattle Times, Interview
- Bustle
- The Washington Post
- Sacramento News & Review
- San Francisco Chronicle
- The Portland Mercury
- The Boston Globe