Review: 3 stars
‘My Absolute Darling’ was one of NPR’s top picks for 2017, and also earned rave reviews from Stephen King, who crowned it a ‘masterpiece’. ‘Turtle’ Alveston is our hard-edged teenage narrator - molded in the unforgiving ways of survivalist living by her emotionally, physically and sexually abusive father, Martin. The theme of hunter and prey pervades throughout the novel . Turtle, for all her fierceness and strength, cannot break free from her father’s psychological hunting grounds. She degrades her own worth, appearance and intellect to match the level of depravity Martin bestows upon her. Turtle is not immediately conscious of her victimization, her shame, nor her role in the ongoing abuse, but she is shocked time again back to reality by the new levels of cruelty Martin achieves.
The novel is a very uncomfortable read, and intentionally so. Tallent includes scenes such as Martin forcing Turtle to do pull ups, dangling above a knife, in addition to the attempted rape of a 10-year old girl. Turtle is inadvertently saved with a chance encounter with two schoolmates - Jacob and Brett - who bring her back into the orbit of normalcy. The development of a crush on Jacob and the simple desire to attend a high school dance are events that bring the extremity of Turtle’s double-life into sharp relief, and compel her to save herself. The climax is incredibly vivid, action-packed and thriller-like - with the stakes of Martin and Turtle’s cat and mouse relationship elevated to all-time highs.
Tallent is a very ambitious writer for tackling a tale of this complexity and difficulty, told from a vantage point so different from his own. There are quiet scenes he includes, that speak to Turtle’s true character beyond the abuse (which can tend to be buried at times). Take for example, the care and art with which she cleans her guns, or seasons the cast iron skillet - signs of her fastidiousness, pride. Her character-defining arc is anchored in her evolving relationship with Cayenne, the young girl Martin grooms as Turtle’s successor. Seeing the abuse play out on another human is what catalyzes Turtle to no longer accept her reality as fixed.
I found the novel powerful and disturbing, and do not recommend it for the faint of heart, or those looking for a light read. It can be dark and offensive, but is one novelist’s perspective on what female strength looks like, and how complex relationships can be.