Any Man

A Novel

No cover

Amber Tamblyn: Any Man (2018, HarperCollins Publishers)

English language

Published June 10, 2018 by HarperCollins Publishers.

ISBN:
978-0-06-268893-4
Copied ISBN!

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (4 reviews)

"In this electric and provocative debut novel, Tamblyn blends genres of poetry, prose, and elements of suspense to give shape to the shocking narratives of victims of sexual violence, mapping the destructive ways in which our society perpetuates rape culture. A violent serial rapist is on the loose, who goes by the name Maude. She hunts for men at bars, online, at home--the place doesn't matter, neither does the man. Her victims then must live the aftermath of their assault in the form of doubt from the police, feelings of shame alienation from their friends and family and the haunting of a horrible woman who becomes the phantom on which society projects its greatest fears, fascinations and even misogyny. All the while the police are without leads and the media hound the victims, publicly dissecting the details of their attack. What is extraordinary is how as years pass these men …

3 editions

Review of 'Any man' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

It’s been a what-am-I-missing kind of week.

Synopsis: over the course of ten years, five men are raped. Violently, gruesomely, disfiguringly and traumatazingly. They are disbelieved, mocked, shamed. Online hate groups form. TV shows humiliate them. (There’s also love compassion healing and kindness). Five men, over ten years, experiencing what thousands of women suffer every day.

What is Tamblyn’s goal? To get men to empathize? (I suspect that not many rape-defending men will be reading this book). To show our societal hypocrisy, where rape is suddenly treated as a high-priority crime once it starts happening to men? (Well, no, because there’s none of that. No perps are found, no major efforts are made to resolve the crimes). Should I feel furious? Discouraged? I do, but I already did.

What am I missing?

avatar for tehjer_

rated it

5 stars
avatar for LaDragonista

rated it

4 stars

Subjects

  • Fiction, thrillers, suspense