Review: On the wild side

Book review of “On the Wild Side” by Tiffany McDaniel.
By Rebeca Aguilar.

The novel is narrated by Arc, who tells us about his life through his childhood and youth memories.

Born to heroin-addicted parents, Arc and his twin Cisi grow up in absolute destitution, with drugs within their reach and nightly visits from their mother and aunt’s clients. They call them “johns.” Their escape route is the stories of their grandmother Asclepia, which feed their imagination. They hope that one day the wild side of their life will end up becoming a beautiful side, and not just in a fictional way like in those cartoons where they invent a happy family because “in cartoons you don’t need to tell the truth.”

On the other hand, the story moves forward a few years to show us how the twins have ended up irremediably dragged by the wheel of addiction. They are junkies and prostitutes. Like their mother. Like their aunt Clover. Their attempts to lead a healthy and normal life, represented by a newborn cat that they decide to take in and care for, are crushed again and again. When you are born in such a marked context, it is very difficult to stand up to what is expected of you, which is nothingness. It is very difficult to get out of that spiral.

That’s when the lifeless bodies of her companions begin to appear in a river that until then had served as an escape route for the girls, and that suddenly becomes a source of horror and danger. And we begin to suspect all the men in the lives of Arc, Cisi, Nell Salvia, Indigo, and all the others. Because if anything is clear in this book, it’s that the only beings who approach such vulnerable women are those with dark intentions. Authentic predators in search of easy prey. They know that they will never seek help from an authority that despises them as if they were human remains that deserve that violence for the way of life they have “chosen.”

“On the Wild Side” is an extraordinary novel that does not leave you indifferent. Violent and heartbreaking, but also full of lyrical beauty, this work will make you feel an intense mix of emotions. Its crudeness can cause helplessness and even physical discomfort, especially due to its level of graphic violence, which is shocking. There are scenes of almost unbearable sadism, forcing you to stop, to take a breath, before moving forward. Because reality, as reflected in these pages, is not always as pretty as Mr. Wonderful’s optimistic messages suggest.

The novel confronts us with the harsh truth that there are people who are born, live and die in conditions of extreme poverty. However, that does not take away the value of their lives, nor does it diminish the importance of their dreams and desires. At the end of the day, we all share the same desire to live, to love and to be loved, regardless of the context in which we are born.

The six protagonists of this story will not only captivate you with their lives, but will also break your heart. Through them, the novel reminds you that, although the world is cruel to some, their lives and experiences are just as significant as those of anyone else.