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Any Man: A Novel
Any Man: A Novel
Any Man: A Novel
Audiobook4 hours

Any Man: A Novel

Written by Amber Tamblyn

Narrated by Amber Tamblyn, Glenn Davis, Ben Foster and

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

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, brilliantly brought to life through a multi-voice performance featuring Glenn Davis, Ben Foster, Marc Maron, Jason Ritter, John Roberts, Russ Tamblyn, Amber Tamblyn, January Lavoy, Phoebe Strole, Robin Miles, Thérèse Plummer, Dan Bittner, James Fouhey, and Michael Crouch.   

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 learn to heal, by banding together and finding a space to raise their voices. Told in alternating viewpoints signature to each voice and experience of the victim, these pages crackle with emotion, ranging from horror to breathtaking empathy.

As bold as it is timely, Any Man paints a searing portrait of survival and is a tribute to those who have lived through the nightmare of sexual assault.

 

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateJun 26, 2018
ISBN9780062799548
Author

Amber Tamblyn

Amber Tamblyn is an author, actress and director. She's been nominated for an Emmy, Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award for her work in television and film. She is the author of three books of poetry including the critically acclaimed best seller, Dark Sparkler. Her debut novel Any Man will be released in June of 2018 on Harper Perennial and a book of non-fiction essays for Crown in 2019. Most recently she wrote and directed the feature film, “Paint it Black”, based on the novel by Janet Fitch, starring Alia Shawkat, Janet McTeer and Alfred Molina, currently on Netflix. She reviews books of poetry by women for Bust Magazine, is a contributing writer for The New York Times and is a founding member of Time’s Up. She lives in New York.

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Reviews for Any Man

Rating: 4.195167285130111 out of 5 stars
4/5

269 ratings18 reviews

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Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    So.... I went into this book semi blind and was blind sided. Wow, just.... I was not shocked by it. Like Tampa it is a side to a story we don't often hear. That should be heard. Read it.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Worst book ever, trying to be over dramatic, subject matter is very sad but the production of the book was severely over dramatic. Constant repetition ?
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow. This made my skin crawl. It made me sick to my stomach. It made my mind reel. It made me imagine things, not described, that I didn't want to imagine.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I only know Amber Tamblyn from Joan of Arcadia and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, when I saw she authored a book I kind of assumed it would be the typical contemporary fiction. I was wrong. Way wrong. This is about the aftermath of a sick woman ruining lives. This book was amazing. I wasn't a fan of the poetry aspect though.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book takes you into the bold truth of how social media has no regard for no one. 1 like.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book is unnerving, deep , and something to think about ! Excellent book! Disturbing but excellent!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    What Moth said was very interesting and telling. It was good!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was VERY powerful as an audiobook. It is only 4.5 hours but it took me a while to get through because it is very heavy - TW: sexual assuault, rape, sexual violence. However it was very well done and I feel like I could listen to it again to catch anything I may have missed the first time.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was a tough but powerful one. I went in on it because of a recommendation from my top literary podcasts. And I'm glad I was in the right frame of mine to handle it, because honestly, we're talking about a book that really has the potential to screw you up. Emotionally, cognitively, experientially, this is a hard but worthy read.Why is that? Well. So this is a book about a female serial rapist, told from the point of view of the male survivors of her attacks. While the attacks themselves are not displayed, the details of some of them come out in some of the descriptions of events in the aftermath, and they're pretty gruesome. These are details that will stick with you, along with much of the rest of this fairly slim tome likely.Some of that is the formatting - there's online chats, computer activity, poetry, articles, diaries, email exchanges, drawings, and more, and that all serves to keep the story lively and sticky. I like the formal playfulness, and it helps to make each of the sections stand out as a different thing more, too.There are lots of differences between the sections as well, because as you read through the book, you find the only thing that links the narrators is their maleness - they're young and old; they're in different life situations; some are straight, some are queer; some single, some married; it's all over; some of the attacks appear more premeditated, others at the moment they happen. Tamblyn is trying to capture the range of assaults, at least in circumstances; one hopes the horrors of some of the attacks are rare, at least.More than the horrors and the details, it's really the character point of views that stay with you. For a few of them, we get a bit of their lives from before they're assaulted, but for most of them, it's the aftermath. And as they struggle in different ways, finding different resolutions, coming together or not, it's hard not to feel empathy for them as the reader.Although that said, Tamblyn is also playing with the range here in response. Certainly some of the people shown responding in the book are more or less empathetic, both in their persona (one survivor does really read as a Milo Yiannopoulos expy) and in terms of the circumstances of when they were assaulted. In drawing comparison to the female experience, though these are all rape, some are attacked in ways where no one can question they did anything wrong; others get questioned about what they were doing out there at that time, or if they really said no, etc. It's pretty masterfully done, and the effects of what happens to the men are bruisingly felt by the reader.One thing that I feel I have to mention that did disappoint me is that there's a trans man who is attacked by the serial rapist, but of all the characters, he's the only one that doesn't get his own viewpoint, and his story passes without much comment or effect on the others. I get that Tamblyn wanted to include this, but if that's the level of attention the character gets, I'd have preferred her not to.On the whole, though, it was a powerful and fast read, one that I found gripping and inventive, raw and difficult. Definitely not one for everyone, but important and worthy if you think you can stomach the material. I don't think it's a book for any person, but I think it could and should have a wide impact.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Less a drama and more a ghoulish horror story, this story of a serial female rapist as told by her many victims renders the fall out of violent rape more acutely than any story I have ever read.

    This is a book meant to be heard. The performances are dynamic and the production value quite impressive. especially affecting is Marc Maron's performance. What at first feels like an awkward, more staccato imitation of the comedian's style evolves into a heartwrenching account of the most despicable abuse. Few things move me to sob these days, but Marc Maron's performance did, and it took some time to compose myself.

    I simply cannot recommend this book enough.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Best book i’ve ever heard tbh. Poetic asf and the role reversal is just chefs kiss
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Loved the unique format - especially via the audio version which is more of a performance and would love to see
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A must read for everyone. And the audiobook was really fantastic
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The content of this book is very serious. If you cannot read or listen to content about rape or sexual assault then please pass on this book. The narrators all did a fantastic job! Amber Tamblyn wrote an incredible book which accurately depicts how some survivors feel after an assault and how society treats those survivors and uses the trauma of these survivors to profit.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I think this might be the best book of our time.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Simply too weird. Might be good for those into that style of writing. I couldn't get through 2 minutes of it.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was a tough but powerful one. I went in on it because of a recommendation from my top literary podcasts. And I'm glad I was in the right frame of mine to handle it, because honestly, we're talking about a book that really has the potential to screw you up. Emotionally, cognitively, experientially, this is a hard but worthy read.Why is that? Well. So this is a book about a female serial rapist, told from the point of view of the male survivors of her attacks. While the attacks themselves are not displayed, the details of some of them come out in some of the descriptions of events in the aftermath, and they're pretty gruesome. These are details that will stick with you, along with much of the rest of this fairly slim tome likely.Some of that is the formatting - there's online chats, computer activity, poetry, articles, diaries, email exchanges, drawings, and more, and that all serves to keep the story lively and sticky. I like the formal playfulness, and it helps to make each of the sections stand out as a different thing more, too.There are lots of differences between the sections as well, because as you read through the book, you find the only thing that links the narrators is their maleness - they're young and old; they're in different life situations; some are straight, some are queer; some single, some married; it's all over; some of the attacks appear more premeditated, others at the moment they happen. Tamblyn is trying to capture the range of assaults, at least in circumstances; one hopes the horrors of some of the attacks are rare, at least.More than the horrors and the details, it's really the character point of views that stay with you. For a few of them, we get a bit of their lives from before they're assaulted, but for most of them, it's the aftermath. And as they struggle in different ways, finding different resolutions, coming together or not, it's hard not to feel empathy for them as the reader.Although that said, Tamblyn is also playing with the range here in response. Certainly some of the people shown responding in the book are more or less empathetic, both in their persona (one survivor does really read as a Milo Yiannopoulos expy) and in terms of the circumstances of when they were assaulted. In drawing comparison to the female experience, though these are all rape, some are attacked in ways where no one can question they did anything wrong; others get questioned about what they were doing out there at that time, or if they really said no, etc. It's pretty masterfully done, and the effects of what happens to the men are bruisingly felt by the reader.One thing that I feel I have to mention that did disappoint me is that there's a trans man who is attacked by the serial rapist, but of all the characters, he's the only one that doesn't get his own viewpoint, and his story passes without much comment or effect on the others. I get that Tamblyn wanted to include this, but if that's the level of attention the character gets, I'd have preferred her not to.On the whole, though, it was a powerful and fast read, one that I found gripping and inventive, raw and difficult. Definitely not one for everyone, but important and worthy if you think you can stomach the material. I don't think it's a book for any person, but I think it could and should have a wide impact.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book is not good. What it is, is important. Please don't read this book unless your mental health is on track and you have supports in place for if it tanks post reading. Massive trigger warnings for: rape, sodomy, transphobia, rape culture, toxic masculinity, toxic feminism, and bestiality.

    Ladies you will not like this book. Feminists you will not like this book. You are not supposed to. It holds an uncomfortable mirror up to the world and how we treat rape survivors. Specifically how many women view it as proper and acceptable to ask of male survivors the very questions that we view indecent to be asked of female survivors.

    Things like "but was it rape if he got hard?". The answer is yes. Emphatically yes. the human body is complex and in both men and women wired to respond to certain stimuli in a specific manner despite us not wanting that thing to happen. It is never your fault. I have rated this book three stars to acknowledge its importance, but only three stars because it really wasn't my cup of tea to read this kind of fiction.