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Brutalities: A Love Story

Brutalities: A Love Story

by Margo Steines

W. W. Norton & Company ·2023 ·288 pages
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56/99
Near the Top

55/99

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Near the Top

58/99

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About This Book

" Brutalities is electric with insight, riveted by its commitments―to love and bewilderment, to bearing witness―and utterly propulsive." ―Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams A searing, vivid memoir that investigates the dynamics of violence, power, desire, and a body pushed to the brink. Quarantined in a southwestern desert city in the midst of her high-risk pregnancy, Margo Steines felt her life narrow around her growing body, compelling her to reckon with the violence entangled in its history. She was a professional dominatrix in New York City, a homestead farmer in a brutal relationship, a welder on a high-rise building crew, and a mixed martial arts enthusiast; each of her many lives brought a new perspective on how power and masculinity coalesce―and how far she could push her body toward the brink. With unflinching candor, Steines searches for the roots of her erstwhile attraction to pain while charting the complicated triumph of gentleness and love. 1 photograph


Reviews

"What elevates Steines's book above the difficult, often extreme experiences she shares is her willingness to look honestly and objectively at her desires ..."

Casey Schwartz· The New York Times Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Through her explorations, she gains new understanding about relating to others and to her own body, harboring no regrets for the violence in her past, as it leads her to understand the power of gentle love."

Bridget Thoreson· Booklist Read review ↗ Near the Top

"The author's skillful prose expresses pain clearly and can be challenging to read, but this discomfort is tempered by her clearheaded insights and retroactive self-empathy ..."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

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