If I Were a Nominator: from the Idiosyncratic Mind

I suppose by titling my post this way, and with others following suit, eventually all you folks will figure out who were the nominators for this preliminary round. But that's a side point.

Anyway, when the idea of the LBC was brooched to me some time ago, I didn't hesitate to say yes. Why? Because the aim of highlighting worthwhile books that might fly under the radar is something I've long been committed to on my own blog. Because I tend to focus primarily on crime fiction -- it's the genre I know best, after all -- most of the books I tend to enthusiastically recommend tend to be of such ilk. But not always. Which leads me to the book I would have likely picked had I been a nominator: Emily Maguire's TAMING THE BEAST.

I might be cheating, since I've written about it before and because it won't be published in the US until next year at the earliest (depending on when Serpent's Tail, which holds world rights and which will bring the book out in the UK this fall, decides to distribute it.) But when I read Maguire's debut, originally published in Australia last year, I was -- for lack of a better word -- gobsmacked. Her storytelling had such power, such depth and rawness that it left me blindsided. It took me places I would never have gone willingly by myself. In fact, even when I thought I could no longer handle the level of emotional heft, I was still carried through to the end by the sheer force of the two main, doomed characters, Sarah and Daniel. They began in an inappropriate relationship because of power and age issues; but by the end, they are so beyond any boundaries, any taboos that it's hard to know where appropriate begins and savagery ends.

What makes TAMING THE BEAST work so well is that it doesn't judge its characters in any way -- Maguire simply stays back and lets them tell their stories, lets them be. She's a compassionate writer and a keen observer, who understands how ambiguous sexual desire can be, even if many people are unwilling, even ashamed, to admit it to themselves, let alone anyone else.

It's a fine novel, and one that is about to get a broader audience. But I wish -- and fervently hope -- more people will take a chance on it, even if, as I expect, it will polarize people deeply.

Then again, I also think that the best fiction is not the type that was universally praised in its time, but created rifts, sparked debates and furious discussions. TAMING THE BEAST is bound to do just that.

Comments

[ladysankofa]

I always find it so frustrating to be reading about a great book that I can't wait to read and then find out that it is not available in the states yet :(

It's like knowing the next volume of the Marquez autobiography has been published, but it's still in Spanish and hasn't been translated yet.

Frustrating.
Frustrating.

I'll put it on my "keep an eye out for this one" list~