Genre Fiction
![Hanna Halperin - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B09379NL6B.jpg)
Something Wild: A Novel
"Propulsive . . . . Good books sometimes cut to the bone, and this one feels like a scythe." -The New York Times Book Review
"This wise, brilliant novel is so special, so overflowing with honesty and love-about motherhood, sisterhood, what it's like to be a woman-that every paragraph feels like an epiphany. Hanna Halperin knows the fierce love that can exist especially among broken things. Something Wild moved me deeply."
-Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Untamed
A searing novel about the love and contradictions of sisterhood, the intoxicating desires of adolescence, and the traumas that trap mothers and daughters in cycles of violence
One weekend, sisters Tanya and Nessa Bloom pause their respective adult lives and travel to the Boston suburbs to help their mother pack up and move out of their childhood home. For the first time since they were teenagers sharing a bunk bed over a decade ago, they find themselves in the place where long-kept secrets were born, where jealousy, comfort, anger, forgiveness, and repulsion coexist with the fiercest love and loyalty. What they don't expect is for their visit to expose a new, horrifying truth: their mother, Lorraine, is in a violent relationship.
As Tanya urges Lorraine to get a restraining order, Nessa struggles to reconcile her fondness for their stepfather with his capacity for brutality. Their differing responses to the abuse bring up the sisters' shared secret-a traumatic, unspoken experience from their adolescence has shaped their lives, their sense of selves, and their relationship with each other and the men in their life. In the midst of this family crisis, they have no choice but to reckon with the past and face each other in the present, in the hope that there's a way out of the violence so deeply ingrained in the Bloom family.
Told in alternating perspectives that deftly interweave past and present, Something Wild is a magnetic, unflinching portrait of the bond between sisters, as well as a psychologically acute exploration of the legacy of divorce, the ways trauma reverberates over generations, and how it might be possible to overcome the past.
"This wise, brilliant novel is so special, so overflowing with honesty and love-about motherhood, sisterhood, what it's like to be a woman-that every paragraph feels like an epiphany. Hanna Halperin knows the fierce love that can exist especially among broken things. Something Wild moved me deeply."
-Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Untamed
A searing novel about the love and contradictions of sisterhood, the intoxicating desires of adolescence, and the traumas that trap mothers and daughters in cycles of violence
One weekend, sisters Tanya and Nessa Bloom pause their respective adult lives and travel to the Boston suburbs to help their mother pack up and move out of their childhood home. For the first time since they were teenagers sharing a bunk bed over a decade ago, they find themselves in the place where long-kept secrets were born, where jealousy, comfort, anger, forgiveness, and repulsion coexist with the fiercest love and loyalty. What they don't expect is for their visit to expose a new, horrifying truth: their mother, Lorraine, is in a violent relationship.
As Tanya urges Lorraine to get a restraining order, Nessa struggles to reconcile her fondness for their stepfather with his capacity for brutality. Their differing responses to the abuse bring up the sisters' shared secret-a traumatic, unspoken experience from their adolescence has shaped their lives, their sense of selves, and their relationship with each other and the men in their life. In the midst of this family crisis, they have no choice but to reckon with the past and face each other in the present, in the hope that there's a way out of the violence so deeply ingrained in the Bloom family.
Told in alternating perspectives that deftly interweave past and present, Something Wild is a magnetic, unflinching portrait of the bond between sisters, as well as a psychologically acute exploration of the legacy of divorce, the ways trauma reverberates over generations, and how it might be possible to overcome the past.
Editorial Reviews
I.
Frankly, Tanya Bloom doesn't have time to drive up to Massachusetts and clean out her childhood house. She has dozens of cases to work on and though she'll bring her computer, the chance of getting anything done is slim. Moving her mother out of 12 Winter Street is a daunting job, and Nessa will be no help. Really, it would be easier to send her mother and her sister off into Boston for the day, so Tanya could do it herself, go through the house with industrial-sized trash bags, throw the majority of everything away. Her mother has a hard time saying goodbye to almost anything.
The move makes no sense. The so-called property in New Hampshire that her stepfather, Jesse, recently inherited is nothing more than a dusty patch of rubble. The house itself is so bleak and dated Tanya could barely scroll through all six photos on her phone before calling her mother to talk her out of it.
"Jesse's going to fix it up. We have big plans for it!" Lorraine kept repeating in such a psychotically cheerful voice that Tanya realized Jesse must have been sitting right there beside her mother. The conversation hadn't lasted more than three minutes.
Tanya is taking two personal days off from work to make the trip-Thursday and Friday, the first personal days she's taken since starting her job as ADA in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, one year ago.
"What will you do without me this weekend?" Tanya asks Eitan, her husband, that morning. "You should take Will out," she says. "Help him meet somebody new." It's six thirty, the latest they've both stayed in bed together for a long time-months, at least. On any other Thursday, Tanya would've already been coming home from the gym by this time, ready to jump in the shower and begin the mad dash of getting dressed in order to get to the Seventy-Ninth Street subway stop no later than 7:50 a.m.
Eitan makes a face. "It's too soon," he says. "Besides, Will's too soft for New York women."
"His ex was from New York." Tanya rolls over on her side and looks at Eitan. She likes him best this way: before he's showered or shaved or brushed his teeth, blurred around the edges with sleep. No one else in the world gets to see him like this.
"Even so, he needs someone kind," Eitan says. "Maybe someone from the Midwest."
"Do we know any kind people?"
"Not really," Eitan says, smiling. He reaches for her hand. "Hey, what about your sister?"
"I think she's seeing some deadbeat she met at work. And, there's no way I'd let you set Will up with Nessa."
"Why not?"
"He's too nice for her. Or maybe she's too nice for him." Though nice isn't...
Frankly, Tanya Bloom doesn't have time to drive up to Massachusetts and clean out her childhood house. She has dozens of cases to work on and though she'll bring her computer, the chance of getting anything done is slim. Moving her mother out of 12 Winter Street is a daunting job, and Nessa will be no help. Really, it would be easier to send her mother and her sister off into Boston for the day, so Tanya could do it herself, go through the house with industrial-sized trash bags, throw the majority of everything away. Her mother has a hard time saying goodbye to almost anything.
The move makes no sense. The so-called property in New Hampshire that her stepfather, Jesse, recently inherited is nothing more than a dusty patch of rubble. The house itself is so bleak and dated Tanya could barely scroll through all six photos on her phone before calling her mother to talk her out of it.
"Jesse's going to fix it up. We have big plans for it!" Lorraine kept repeating in such a psychotically cheerful voice that Tanya realized Jesse must have been sitting right there beside her mother. The conversation hadn't lasted more than three minutes.
Tanya is taking two personal days off from work to make the trip-Thursday and Friday, the first personal days she's taken since starting her job as ADA in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, one year ago.
"What will you do without me this weekend?" Tanya asks Eitan, her husband, that morning. "You should take Will out," she says. "Help him meet somebody new." It's six thirty, the latest they've both stayed in bed together for a long time-months, at least. On any other Thursday, Tanya would've already been coming home from the gym by this time, ready to jump in the shower and begin the mad dash of getting dressed in order to get to the Seventy-Ninth Street subway stop no later than 7:50 a.m.
Eitan makes a face. "It's too soon," he says. "Besides, Will's too soft for New York women."
"His ex was from New York." Tanya rolls over on her side and looks at Eitan. She likes him best this way: before he's showered or shaved or brushed his teeth, blurred around the edges with sleep. No one else in the world gets to see him like this.
"Even so, he needs someone kind," Eitan says. "Maybe someone from the Midwest."
"Do we know any kind people?"
"Not really," Eitan says, smiling. He reaches for her hand. "Hey, what about your sister?"
"I think she's seeing some deadbeat she met at work. And, there's no way I'd let you set Will up with Nessa."
"Why not?"
"He's too nice for her. Or maybe she's too nice for him." Though nice isn't...
Readers Top Reviews
WINTHROP SMITHZachar
It might be because I have lived in NYC, but the locations are also in New England. At the center is something which you, as reader, know, because the author has brought you into the lives of a mother, two daughters, and the other relationships so well that they aren't characters any longer. This is both why it's painful to read, and why you can read it.
Kindle
This book was very well written. The subject matter was disturbing and very sad. It broke my heart in places. I actually cried in some parts. Although Ive only gone through mild physical abuse, years ago I did go through emotional abuse so some of the things that happened in the book were familiar to me. I highly recommend this book. Is is my first by this author but definitely not my ladt.
Ann S. Epstein
Hanna Halperin’s novel Something Wild is about female desire and the fraught relationship between women and men, but mostly about the complex connections between women: mothers and daughters, and sisters. If the book has a flaw, it’s that the men are one dimensional. Yet, in a sense, these stereotypical men only highlight how complex and worthy the women are. Halperin questions what draws them close, what drives them apart, and what ultimately pulls them back together. Sisters Tanya and Nessa, close as children, became distanced from each other after a traumatic sexual encounter as teenagers. As adults, they discover that their stepfather Jesse is abusing their mother Lorraine. Sex and violence — something wild — simmer below the surface of every page and, inevitably, erupt. Yet, despite these big events, the book’s impact lies in its small moments: a big sister showing her little sister how to insert a tampon; the women warming each other’s feet under a treasured blanket. Halperin throws rocks into the water, but waits to watch the ripples they generate. Not that the book lacks for plot — its momentum never flags— but it plumbs the depths rather skimming the surface. As a writer who also observes ripples rather than hurling rocks (see my Amazon author page www.amazon.com/author/asewovenwords), I appreciated her ability to linger, to wonder whether calm can ever be restored after a traumatic or tragic event. In this scary and scarring account, sisterly love is the salve that heals.
Tina. Schaefer
My mother was the victim of domestic violence and I must say this book gets it right. The vicious circle the victims are trapped in and the dependence that makes getting away nearly impossible as it was for Lorraine are very much the reality of abused women. I loved this book read it in 24 hours The characters are so well drawn; each one was unique and unforgettable. I empathized with the sisters because I too did all I could to end my mother’s abusive situation but no avail. The tragedy was expected yet I still cried a river when it happened. I have nothing but praise for this author’s debut novel. It is perfect. It’s sad, suspenseful, lyrical, well paced, and exactly the right length.
carilynp
Two sisters, Tanya and Nessa, are called home to their mother’s house, to help her and their stepfather move out of their family home. Neither is very excited about the task, nor do they understand why their mom wants to sell their childhood house. Be that as it may, it’s a done deal. The sisters are close, and they were even closer when they were younger. They had to be. Their parents divorced when they were young and not only did their mother cling to them, but they did to each other. Dad moved on – new life, new wife. Mom eventually remarried and what they soon find out when they come home to assess things, is that their stepfather has been abusing her. Sensing the immediate danger that their mother is in; the sisters form a plan. The problem is their mother is not ready to comply. When tragedy strikes, Tanya and Nessa experience unimaginable trauma. They are left, once again, to fend for themselves. As a reader, I was seized with intense feelings of grief, anger, and sadness. My fury propelled me to read on. SOMETHING WILD is a powerfully told complex story about the relationship between mothers and daughters, of secrets hidden for far too long, the emotional toll of abuse, the strain between sisters, and the lingering effects of divorce on a family.
Short Excerpt Teaser
I.
Frankly, Tanya Bloom doesn't have time to drive up to Massachusetts and clean out her childhood house. She has dozens of cases to work on and though she'll bring her computer, the chance of getting anything done is slim. Moving her mother out of 12 Winter Street is a daunting job, and Nessa will be no help. Really, it would be easier to send her mother and her sister off into Boston for the day, so Tanya could do it herself, go through the house with industrial-sized trash bags, throw the majority of everything away. Her mother has a hard time saying goodbye to almost anything.
The move makes no sense. The so-called property in New Hampshire that her stepfather, Jesse, recently inherited is nothing more than a dusty patch of rubble. The house itself is so bleak and dated Tanya could barely scroll through all six photos on her phone before calling her mother to talk her out of it.
"Jesse's going to fix it up. We have big plans for it!" Lorraine kept repeating in such a psychotically cheerful voice that Tanya realized Jesse must have been sitting right there beside her mother. The conversation hadn't lasted more than three minutes.
Tanya is taking two personal days off from work to make the trip-Thursday and Friday, the first personal days she's taken since starting her job as ADA in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, one year ago.
"What will you do without me this weekend?" Tanya asks Eitan, her husband, that morning. "You should take Will out," she says. "Help him meet somebody new." It's six thirty, the latest they've both stayed in bed together for a long time-months, at least. On any other Thursday, Tanya would've already been coming home from the gym by this time, ready to jump in the shower and begin the mad dash of getting dressed in order to get to the Seventy-Ninth Street subway stop no later than 7:50 a.m.
Eitan makes a face. "It's too soon," he says. "Besides, Will's too soft for New York women."
"His ex was from New York." Tanya rolls over on her side and looks at Eitan. She likes him best this way: before he's showered or shaved or brushed his teeth, blurred around the edges with sleep. No one else in the world gets to see him like this.
"Even so, he needs someone kind," Eitan says. "Maybe someone from the Midwest."
"Do we know any kind people?"
"Not really," Eitan says, smiling. He reaches for her hand. "Hey, what about your sister?"
"I think she's seeing some deadbeat she met at work. And, there's no way I'd let you set Will up with Nessa."
"Why not?"
"He's too nice for her. Or maybe she's too nice for him." Though nice isn't exactly the word Tanya's looking for.
"What's wrong with that?" Eitan asks.
"Two really nice people can't be together. They'd get bored. There'd be no tension."
"So I take it I'm the nice one in our relationship?"
"Of course you are. You're one big giant pushover." Tanya pats his stomach.
Her phone vibrates on the nightstand and Tanya leans over Eitan to check. It's a text message from Nessa.
Fuck I think I have a UTI
An ellipsis appears and several more texts follow in quick succession.
Is it normal to pee 7 times in 1 hour???
My vagina feels like it's going to fall off
Not normal, she texts back. Do you want Eitan to write you a rx?
Yes please!! Nessa responds.
K, Tanya writes. Hydrate
Tanya puts the phone down. "Nessa needs you to write her a prescription for antibiotics. She has a urinary tract infection."
"She should really get a urine sample before-"
"Eitan, a woman knows when she has a UTI."
"It's so that she can be prescribed the correct type of antibiotics."
"Write what you usually write," Tanya says. "Don't be annoying about it."
"Fine." Eitan pulls Tanya's hand to his mouth and kisses it. "So," he says. "You're really not going to tell them. Not even Nessa?"
Tanya shakes her head.
"You don't think they'll be able to tell?"
"No," she says flatly. The only person who knows Tanya's body well enough to notice anything different is Eitan. She'll start showing soon, though, according to the books and to her doctor, and the thought terrifies her.
Tanya met Eitan three years prior while she was in her second year at Columbia Law and he was in his third year of medical school at Mount Sinai. SheÕd been taken ...
Frankly, Tanya Bloom doesn't have time to drive up to Massachusetts and clean out her childhood house. She has dozens of cases to work on and though she'll bring her computer, the chance of getting anything done is slim. Moving her mother out of 12 Winter Street is a daunting job, and Nessa will be no help. Really, it would be easier to send her mother and her sister off into Boston for the day, so Tanya could do it herself, go through the house with industrial-sized trash bags, throw the majority of everything away. Her mother has a hard time saying goodbye to almost anything.
The move makes no sense. The so-called property in New Hampshire that her stepfather, Jesse, recently inherited is nothing more than a dusty patch of rubble. The house itself is so bleak and dated Tanya could barely scroll through all six photos on her phone before calling her mother to talk her out of it.
"Jesse's going to fix it up. We have big plans for it!" Lorraine kept repeating in such a psychotically cheerful voice that Tanya realized Jesse must have been sitting right there beside her mother. The conversation hadn't lasted more than three minutes.
Tanya is taking two personal days off from work to make the trip-Thursday and Friday, the first personal days she's taken since starting her job as ADA in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, one year ago.
"What will you do without me this weekend?" Tanya asks Eitan, her husband, that morning. "You should take Will out," she says. "Help him meet somebody new." It's six thirty, the latest they've both stayed in bed together for a long time-months, at least. On any other Thursday, Tanya would've already been coming home from the gym by this time, ready to jump in the shower and begin the mad dash of getting dressed in order to get to the Seventy-Ninth Street subway stop no later than 7:50 a.m.
Eitan makes a face. "It's too soon," he says. "Besides, Will's too soft for New York women."
"His ex was from New York." Tanya rolls over on her side and looks at Eitan. She likes him best this way: before he's showered or shaved or brushed his teeth, blurred around the edges with sleep. No one else in the world gets to see him like this.
"Even so, he needs someone kind," Eitan says. "Maybe someone from the Midwest."
"Do we know any kind people?"
"Not really," Eitan says, smiling. He reaches for her hand. "Hey, what about your sister?"
"I think she's seeing some deadbeat she met at work. And, there's no way I'd let you set Will up with Nessa."
"Why not?"
"He's too nice for her. Or maybe she's too nice for him." Though nice isn't exactly the word Tanya's looking for.
"What's wrong with that?" Eitan asks.
"Two really nice people can't be together. They'd get bored. There'd be no tension."
"So I take it I'm the nice one in our relationship?"
"Of course you are. You're one big giant pushover." Tanya pats his stomach.
Her phone vibrates on the nightstand and Tanya leans over Eitan to check. It's a text message from Nessa.
Fuck I think I have a UTI
An ellipsis appears and several more texts follow in quick succession.
Is it normal to pee 7 times in 1 hour???
My vagina feels like it's going to fall off
Not normal, she texts back. Do you want Eitan to write you a rx?
Yes please!! Nessa responds.
K, Tanya writes. Hydrate
Tanya puts the phone down. "Nessa needs you to write her a prescription for antibiotics. She has a urinary tract infection."
"She should really get a urine sample before-"
"Eitan, a woman knows when she has a UTI."
"It's so that she can be prescribed the correct type of antibiotics."
"Write what you usually write," Tanya says. "Don't be annoying about it."
"Fine." Eitan pulls Tanya's hand to his mouth and kisses it. "So," he says. "You're really not going to tell them. Not even Nessa?"
Tanya shakes her head.
"You don't think they'll be able to tell?"
"No," she says flatly. The only person who knows Tanya's body well enough to notice anything different is Eitan. She'll start showing soon, though, according to the books and to her doctor, and the thought terrifies her.
Tanya met Eitan three years prior while she was in her second year at Columbia Law and he was in his third year of medical school at Mount Sinai. SheÕd been taken ...
