Any Man: A Novel

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This raises the question of what constitutes assault and rape and how even when consent is given it can be withdrawn at any point. In that way, Tamblyn's book is critical because it believes so wholeheartedly in the most fundamental power of art: to awaken minds by evoking empathy.

I haven't had the chance to listen to the audiobook version, but I imagine that it is even more moving to hear the narratives come to life, so please pick that one up if you can. The book is woven together with poetry, prose, journal entries, radio show dialogue, tweets and dating app chats and monologues and erratic thoughts. I do think books and shows, done with good intention, are an extra source of light to shine on the issues women face. Over the next eight years Maude is looked for and never caught and her victims are left to live broken lives. So she encouraged her young daughter to pray that god would handle it and some days later the neighbour’s house was burglarized.

I shouldn't make a scene, I was blowing it out of proportion, this wasn't a big deal, he wasn't hurting me, I'd be able to get off the bus soon, it was my fault, I shouldn't have worn a dress to work that day, what would I even tell a cop? The story is about a woman known as Maude who tortures men and boys religiously and the reaction of the males affected and the media. It made all the anger and guilt and bullshit kind of rise up and turn into a sort of righteous feeling of pride. 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. I live in a world that has told me and my sisters for generation upon generation that we are lesser.

There’s something about social media that keeps us trapped, and it trains people like myself who are in positions of privilege and power to know that all I have to do is tweet out my thoughts and prayers, and I’ll get this many retweets, and I’ve done my work. She also uses artistic choices to blend the horrors of everyday life with the horrors of the genre to create a sort of otherworldly, monstrous look at perpetrators of sexual violence. She’s such a mysterious and bizarre character we never truly get to know or understand, though I think she went a little too far with her being monster like and couldn’t make up her mind if she was a normal woman or a fucking creature (the 6 foot hair thing was ridiculous). I actually thought about writing a character based on Yiannopoulos (who, like I said, is vile, but also kind of fascinates me in a ‘watching-a-trainwreck’ way) but I guess Tamblyn beat me to it.

It does what good fiction is meant to do: challenges me to re-consider my views, my responses, my gut reactions through creative, fresh prose and storytelling. To show the violence of objectification; the physical and psychological violence of assault; the violence of not being believed. Sadly I think a lot of interesting elements in this story go unexplored and I think the book lost some impact to its writing style and should have been quite a lot longer. I’ve taken a couple of days to think about this review because I want it to be coherent and not preachy, but I’m definitely about to go on a rant of epic proportions filled with long quotes, so buckle up buttercups.

And while I’m not a murderess, I do love a good ending to a man’s mind, especially if I’ve written it. Throughout their therapy sessions we are questioned on the way society treats victims of sexual assault. one thing i find odd is the inclusion of a trans man who is a victim of maude, but whose story is glossed over.It's the difference between living your life with actual principles and living your life based on hatred. Crossing forms and styles, she makes each voice unique and distinct and the book almost compels you to read it. She grew up saying other people’s words and feeling other people’s feelings, being watched without truly being seen. We can't let loose our rage on the world and then leave others to pick up the pieces and find the solutions. What You Need to Know: This is a story about the male victims of a serial rapist known only as "Maude".