Match BookMy Absolute Darling
Gabriel Tallent
2017 · 417 pages · Literary fiction
How it reads
My Absolute Darling is literary fiction (psychological literary fiction, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. It's a slow burn: character-driven, with a payoff that comes from accumulation rather than twists. It rewards attention and suits unhurried reading more than five-minute gaps.
It's set in the wilderness or at sea, in the present day, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are survival, family and identity. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is dark — no rescue, no neat bow. At 417 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something dark
- you have time to settle in
- you want something to chew on
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy, heartwarming or funny
- you're reading in five-minute gaps
- you need a happy ending
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- literary fiction
- Author gender
- male
- Author experience
- debut
- Setting: place
- wilderness or sea
- Setting: time
- contemporary
- Mood / feeling
- dark
- Pace
- slow burn
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- first person, one narrator
- Publication era
- recent
- Popularity
- well known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Ending style
- dark
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
The WhispersAshley AudrainShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
Why the Tree Loves the AxJim LewisShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, psychological literary fiction
HausfrauJill Alexander EssbaumShares: literary fiction, heavy and literary tone, psychological literary fiction, slow burn- Of Cattle and MenAna Paula MaiaShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
- Bastard Out of CarolinaDorothy AllisonShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
The Boatman's DaughterAndy DavidsonShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, contemporary setting
Appears in
Find a copy
Reviews on Goodreads ↗Match Book earns a commission on purchases made through these links, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, Match Book earns from qualifying purchases.