Plus, she doesn’t have friends or meaningful ways in which she can find any real type of escape. The first one is early on in the book, and it involves her treatment of a bullied classmate named Rilke, who the girls’ teacher describes as being a “know-it-all” and “kind of a kiss-up.” We know that Turtle’s background isn’t good. She’s not an easy character, by any means, but it’s her complexity that makes her feel like a living, breathing person.īS: You are totally right about Turtle not being “an easy character.” There are two moments, especially, where that sentiment rings truest to me. Were there any moments where you felt frustrated with her?
And you’re right: My Absolute Darling isn’t just about abuse. She’s not an easy character, by any means, but it’s her complexity that makes her feel like a living, breathing person. This is a survival story, and it works because the reader can’t help but root for Turtle. The way she internalizes what happens to her makes sense. The number one word I’d use to describe her is “resilient.” Her father is an awful human being, and the scenes where he’s abusive are horrifying and sadly all too real. She’s one of those characters who will always stay with me.
Michele Filgate: I fell in love with this book because of two things: the gorgeous prose and Turtle. To begin, I’m curious to know what you think of Turtle - and of her determination to survive. I kept comparing Turtle’s inherent drive to survive to Mireille’s in Roxane Gay’s An Untamed State, which is the book I thought of the most as I was reading My Absolute Darling. I mean, she’s a person who just survives. She survives lengthy (and dangerous) stays in the woods. Yes, she physically survives abuse from her father, but she also survives other things. “Survivor” is the term I think best describes Turtle. At such a young age, she endures all forms of abuse, and, somehow, she still has the strength to continue. And she works so, so hard to overcome every hardship that comes her way. Truthfully, she’s a character I don’t think I’ll ever forget. As you’ll see in Michele and Bradley’s conversation, My Absolute Darling is a kind of rare, brilliant book that manages the difficult task of emotionally breaking its readers before, somehow, finding a way to give them hope.īradley Sides: To me, the single greatest aspect of My Absolute Darling is the fourteen-year-old protagonist, Turtle Alveston. It’s an intense and harrowing story, following fourteen-year-old Turtle Alveston and her fight to survive the dangerous world and her abusive father. Gabriel Tallent’s debut novel My Absolute Darling arrives on a wave of early praise. In this edition, Michele Filgate and Bradley Sides discuss Gabriel Tallent’s My Absolute Darling. “Double Take” is our literary criticism series wherein two readers tackle a highly-anticipated book’s innermost themes, successes, failures, trappings, and surprises.
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