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The Absolutes
A moving, suspenseful, beautifully atmospheric novel about a young woman's affair with an Italian aristocrat that leaves her spiraling in the face of love, danger, and obsession.
When Nora, an anxious and withdrawn American teenager, is sent to live with relatives in Turin, she meets Nicola, the enigmatic son of the most powerful aristocratic family in Italy. They forge a sudden, powerful connection in a chairlift several hundred feet above the Alps, where Nicola, brimming with old-world wealth and secrets, eases Nora back from the verge of a panic attack. In an instant, Nora forgets the feelings she's been harboring for her host sister since arriving in Italy, and a sharper, more reckless feeling takes hold: blind trust and insatiable desire for Nicola.
Years later in New York, when Nicola becomes enmeshed in a covert, high-stakes business venture at the company where Nora works, the two begin an affair. But Nora is unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, when unrelenting currents of obsession, control, and revenge intensify their passion and entangle her in a secret plot to overthrow Nicola's corrupt father. Soon, she must decide for herself what makes a person truly evil and what she's willing to excuse for a chance at total intimacy.
Utterly seductive, fiercely intelligent, and achingly beautiful, The Absolutes is a revealing portrait of a relationship that is as intoxicating as it is disquieting. Molly Dektar has crafted a hypnotic, provocative, and profound study of desire.
When Nora, an anxious and withdrawn American teenager, is sent to live with relatives in Turin, she meets Nicola, the enigmatic son of the most powerful aristocratic family in Italy. They forge a sudden, powerful connection in a chairlift several hundred feet above the Alps, where Nicola, brimming with old-world wealth and secrets, eases Nora back from the verge of a panic attack. In an instant, Nora forgets the feelings she's been harboring for her host sister since arriving in Italy, and a sharper, more reckless feeling takes hold: blind trust and insatiable desire for Nicola.
Years later in New York, when Nicola becomes enmeshed in a covert, high-stakes business venture at the company where Nora works, the two begin an affair. But Nora is unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, when unrelenting currents of obsession, control, and revenge intensify their passion and entangle her in a secret plot to overthrow Nicola's corrupt father. Soon, she must decide for herself what makes a person truly evil and what she's willing to excuse for a chance at total intimacy.
Utterly seductive, fiercely intelligent, and achingly beautiful, The Absolutes is a revealing portrait of a relationship that is as intoxicating as it is disquieting. Molly Dektar has crafted a hypnotic, provocative, and profound study of desire.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published July 11, 2023
34 people are currently reading
10310 people want to read
About the author
Molly Dektar
3 books195 followersMolly Dektar is from North Carolina and lives in Brooklyn. The Ash Family (Simon and Schuster, 2019) is her first novel. Her second novel, The Absolutes, is forthcoming from Mariner in 2023.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
April 9, 2023
2 stars
Vapid and confusing, The Absolutes suffers from a case of identity crisis: is this meant to be a literary character study? A mafia romance? Or an erotic thriller? I'm all for mixing highbrow and lowbrow material, but the author seems to have no clue what kind of audience she is writing for.
The initial setting has my attention: Turin during the 2006 Winter Olympics. I enjoy its specificity, especially being a time frame/event I don't encounter often in fiction. It is too bad the novel quickly moves pass this and settles on something generic and common (yet another story taking place in Manhattan). Even though it is told in first person, the writing is hollow and meandering, overly emphasizing atmospheric prose rather than stating anything substantial. It's ironic when the story is about a woman's fatalistic obsession towards a mysterious Italian, yet this is one of the most emotionally empty telling I've read in a long while.
The marketing pitch calls it "A moving, suspenseful, beautifully atmospheric novel ", making me question if I have picked up the wrong book, as I experienced none of those adjectives. The Absolutes is like a self-proclaimed 'art film' that's obsessed with gimmick, but contains no substance. The writing tries to be avant-garde and censorial, but ends up with characters spitting out over-processed, stilted dialogs. It tries to be 'edgy' by toying with BDSM concept and the role of dom/sub, but Fifty Shades and indie dark romances dive deeper and hold more raw, emotional punches. Even the protagonist herself is a murky shadow, poorly realized and incomprehensible — piling on a bunch of human flaws (sexual confusion/frustration, loss of identity, eating disorder) does not a relatable character make.
Oftentimes, even when a novel has limited mainstream appeal, I can still see it being favored by certain niche readers; unfortunately I can't say the same for The Absolutes: too pretentious for literary fiction readers, too emotionally stunted for romance readers, and too timid for erotica readers. Ya... not sure about this one...
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**
Vapid and confusing, The Absolutes suffers from a case of identity crisis: is this meant to be a literary character study? A mafia romance? Or an erotic thriller? I'm all for mixing highbrow and lowbrow material, but the author seems to have no clue what kind of audience she is writing for.
The initial setting has my attention: Turin during the 2006 Winter Olympics. I enjoy its specificity, especially being a time frame/event I don't encounter often in fiction. It is too bad the novel quickly moves pass this and settles on something generic and common (yet another story taking place in Manhattan). Even though it is told in first person, the writing is hollow and meandering, overly emphasizing atmospheric prose rather than stating anything substantial. It's ironic when the story is about a woman's fatalistic obsession towards a mysterious Italian, yet this is one of the most emotionally empty telling I've read in a long while.
The marketing pitch calls it "A moving, suspenseful, beautifully atmospheric novel ", making me question if I have picked up the wrong book, as I experienced none of those adjectives. The Absolutes is like a self-proclaimed 'art film' that's obsessed with gimmick, but contains no substance. The writing tries to be avant-garde and censorial, but ends up with characters spitting out over-processed, stilted dialogs. It tries to be 'edgy' by toying with BDSM concept and the role of dom/sub, but Fifty Shades and indie dark romances dive deeper and hold more raw, emotional punches. Even the protagonist herself is a murky shadow, poorly realized and incomprehensible — piling on a bunch of human flaws (sexual confusion/frustration, loss of identity, eating disorder) does not a relatable character make.
Oftentimes, even when a novel has limited mainstream appeal, I can still see it being favored by certain niche readers; unfortunately I can't say the same for The Absolutes: too pretentious for literary fiction readers, too emotionally stunted for romance readers, and too timid for erotica readers. Ya... not sure about this one...
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**
to-read-maybe
January 24, 2023part of me does wish that american authors were able to write about italians without portraying them as criminal and/or corrupt (in a way that sometimes romanticizes the mafia and other criminal activities/groups)...
June 20, 2023
The Absolutes is incredibly written and observed in its portrayal of the intricacies of obsession and power. It could be compared to Normal People or What Belongs to You, but it is also unique. I loved this brave book and wish I could write with Dektar's clarity and feeling.
July 24, 2023
This veered too much into the romance genre for my taste - which is not a criticism of the book.
It is the story of a young American woman who becomes infatuated with an Italian aristocrat, whom she meets in Turin as a troubled teenager and then runs into again many years later in New York. She finds him mysterious and irresistible, but I rather found him arrogant and lacking in social skills and I wasn't willing to go along with the obsession.
I had exactly the same difficulty when reading Annie Ernaux's Simple Passion, finding it hard to believe that an intelligent and independent woman - albeit admittedly with a propensity to the dangerous - could be so powerless and make such irrational choices...
I loved the setting in Turin by the way, very well done and a very special city indeed.
It is the story of a young American woman who becomes infatuated with an Italian aristocrat, whom she meets in Turin as a troubled teenager and then runs into again many years later in New York. She finds him mysterious and irresistible, but I rather found him arrogant and lacking in social skills and I wasn't willing to go along with the obsession.
I had exactly the same difficulty when reading Annie Ernaux's Simple Passion, finding it hard to believe that an intelligent and independent woman - albeit admittedly with a propensity to the dangerous - could be so powerless and make such irrational choices...
I loved the setting in Turin by the way, very well done and a very special city indeed.
January 28, 2023
“the absolutes” is the story of obsession and abuse, both emotional and physical. the novel begins with nora, a troubled teen, sent by her parents to italy. the first time she sees nicola, the obsession begins. years later, in new york city, they meet again, this time as business partners. however, nicola is married.
nora is a lost soul with a good heart, but a propensity for deep obsession. as we watch her make mistakes and do the wrong thing, we can’t help but feel bad for her. dektar writes her characters in a way that allows us to accept the horrible things they have done while also feel empathic. while the first three quarters of the novel were excellent and gripping, the last was a bit hastily wrapped up. this is a lovely literary fiction novel that leaves a sour taste in your mouth in the best way. however, i do feel it romanticizes abuse if it is marketed as romance.
nora is a lost soul with a good heart, but a propensity for deep obsession. as we watch her make mistakes and do the wrong thing, we can’t help but feel bad for her. dektar writes her characters in a way that allows us to accept the horrible things they have done while also feel empathic. while the first three quarters of the novel were excellent and gripping, the last was a bit hastily wrapped up. this is a lovely literary fiction novel that leaves a sour taste in your mouth in the best way. however, i do feel it romanticizes abuse if it is marketed as romance.
July 10, 2023
Nora, an aspiring artist with wavering mental health, becomes obsessed with Nicola, an Italian businessman with a corrupt and complicated family history, to the point where she absolves her self and let’s him consume her identity whole. the content warnings are heavy with this one!
3.25 stars!
3.25 stars!
September 12, 2024
Due to reviews and my boredom, DNFing at 27%
June 17, 2025
at what point do we as society realize we no longer need any more books about obsessive women and their affairs with lackluster men and their power trips?
Read
July 17, 2023dnf at 150 pages, I could probably finish and give this like 3 stars but I’d rather read something else
July 29, 2023
abasement city!! annie ernaux//jane eyre//almost kafka vibes??? very curious to know how this one originated
June 21, 2025
5 stars
Ima keep it a buck with you Goodreads, I must not have read the same book y’all did (but the opposite version it normally is) because I LOVED LOVED LOVEDDDDD this book. Imagine my shock when I see it has LESS THAN THREE STARS?? as its average rating!
Immediately when I began this, I was captivated by Molly Dektar’s writing. I’m a pretty fast reader, but I found myself slowly reading and re-reading through paragraphs just to take in every single word, almost like licking the plate after a delicious meal. That being said, it was so good I still had to devour it in one sitting! Dektar’s writing was beautiful and descriptive in a way that oddly scratched my brain the same way My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell did.
Nora’s obsession with Nicola and their power imbalance was so well-written throughout the entirety of this novel and, at least to me, was extremely clear in that it was not meant to be romanticized like some reviews of this book accuse, but instead meant to serve as a haunting warning of the dangers of abusive, manipulative relationships.
While I am not in the majority opinion on this one, I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who wants to stomach a disturbing story of two extremely broken people and their relation to one another.
Ima keep it a buck with you Goodreads, I must not have read the same book y’all did (but the opposite version it normally is) because I LOVED LOVED LOVEDDDDD this book. Imagine my shock when I see it has LESS THAN THREE STARS?? as its average rating!
Immediately when I began this, I was captivated by Molly Dektar’s writing. I’m a pretty fast reader, but I found myself slowly reading and re-reading through paragraphs just to take in every single word, almost like licking the plate after a delicious meal. That being said, it was so good I still had to devour it in one sitting! Dektar’s writing was beautiful and descriptive in a way that oddly scratched my brain the same way My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell did.
Nora’s obsession with Nicola and their power imbalance was so well-written throughout the entirety of this novel and, at least to me, was extremely clear in that it was not meant to be romanticized like some reviews of this book accuse, but instead meant to serve as a haunting warning of the dangers of abusive, manipulative relationships.
While I am not in the majority opinion on this one, I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who wants to stomach a disturbing story of two extremely broken people and their relation to one another.
February 22, 2023
Maybe you just have to be a woman who's been obsessed with a man to the point of total debasement to fully appreciate Molly Dektar's “The Absolutes,” though I would think even such a woman would find her patience tested by Dektar’s Nora, who continues to be obsessed with a man who would have her believe, like Michael Corleone claimed to Kay, that he’s different from his gangster-like father but increasingly shows himself to be cut from the same cloth. Not exactly showing different stripes, for instance, when he pushes Nora into watching him have sex with another woman and even physically abuses her. Enough, you'd think, to have her hightailing it out the door, yet she persists so unwaveringly in her obsession as to put me in mind of another such novel I read some years ago in which a woman is similarly taken with a man so vile that he urinates on her and ends up killing her. And there was Muriel Davidson’s novel of a few years back, "The Thursday Woman," in which a woman becomes obsessed enough by a man on trial for murder that she gets herself involved with him to no good end. So perhaps more understandable to some women than I might think, such extremity of attraction, though as a male who’s always tried to do right by women I couldn’t help finding Nora’s obsession increasingly exasperating and, frankly, something of a chore to read. Still, the novel is extremely well-written (it’s what kept me turning pages) and on that count anyway I can recommend it to anyone whose tastes run to literary fiction. Just be forewarned that it is very much a literary novel and not, as you might be led to think from some of the blurbs about it, also something of a woman-in-peril story in the way of still another novel I read a few years back in which a new bride is puzzled enough by her new husband's aversion to his family – he won't even introduce them to her -- that she seeks them out on her own and provokes an admittedly unrealistic but nevertheless dramatically satisfying climax. No such dramatically satisfying resolution, however, to Dektar’s depiction of unrelenting obsession.
April 13, 2023
*Thanks to the publisher, Mariner Books, and #netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC of The Absolutes. Greatly appreciated."
First off, I have to say that this book is not for the light or easily distracted reader--not only because of the overwhelming themes of abuse, deception, manipulation, and self-loathing, but also because of the excessive philosophical musings and observations, which I found myself having to reread several times to make sense.
Secondly, there is no likeable character in this book. Nora, the protagonist, is an attention-seeking, self-loathing, and weak character, despite her lover's attempts to further weaken and control her by convincing her that she is a strong, self-assured woman to be reckoned with. At a point, I really wanted to cheer for her apparent "coming to" from the state of deep-rooted obsession and oblivion where she exists for most of the novel. However, this period of self-realization is short-lived. The fact that she places herself back under the control of this manipulative, abusive lover within the final pages just really pisses me off. I desperately wanted Nora to reach a level of self-actualization and come away stronger and more experienced for it. She let me down.
Nicola, the lover, while a complex character in some ways, is also ultimately a victim under someone's control--his father's. Like Nora, he can't (or perhaps isn't willing to) break his chains of captivity and, therefore, takes great pleasure in exercising his control over Nora, often in debasing, humiliating, and physically abusive ways.
There is beautiful language and detail in this story, especially in the descriptions of Italy and Nora's observance of nature in general. However, this back-and-forth, push-and-pull relationship between these two obviously mentally ill characters could have been achieved in less than 40 chapters. After awhile, the story simply becomes exhausting and infuriating.
First off, I have to say that this book is not for the light or easily distracted reader--not only because of the overwhelming themes of abuse, deception, manipulation, and self-loathing, but also because of the excessive philosophical musings and observations, which I found myself having to reread several times to make sense.
Secondly, there is no likeable character in this book. Nora, the protagonist, is an attention-seeking, self-loathing, and weak character, despite her lover's attempts to further weaken and control her by convincing her that she is a strong, self-assured woman to be reckoned with. At a point, I really wanted to cheer for her apparent "coming to" from the state of deep-rooted obsession and oblivion where she exists for most of the novel. However, this period of self-realization is short-lived. The fact that she places herself back under the control of this manipulative, abusive lover within the final pages just really pisses me off. I desperately wanted Nora to reach a level of self-actualization and come away stronger and more experienced for it. She let me down.
Nicola, the lover, while a complex character in some ways, is also ultimately a victim under someone's control--his father's. Like Nora, he can't (or perhaps isn't willing to) break his chains of captivity and, therefore, takes great pleasure in exercising his control over Nora, often in debasing, humiliating, and physically abusive ways.
There is beautiful language and detail in this story, especially in the descriptions of Italy and Nora's observance of nature in general. However, this back-and-forth, push-and-pull relationship between these two obviously mentally ill characters could have been achieved in less than 40 chapters. After awhile, the story simply becomes exhausting and infuriating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 24, 2023
Nora, the self-harming would-be writer protagonist, is a familiar type: unsatisfied with her staid, responsible, caring boyfriend; enthralled by a man who controls her. In less capable hands she'd be a cliché, or maybe fodder for an incel tract about how nice guys finish last.
But Dektar is incredibly skilled at building interiors, and so as much as one worries for Nora and despairs over her choices, one also deeply understands the role Nicola fills in her life. At one point, Nora notes that she refused to attend parties in college unless invited three times. It's not a coincidence that Nicola only becomes a fixture in her life on their third meeting. She has fantasized about finding people who will push through and insist on being close to her, and Nicola serves that role and then some.
It's an incredibly thoughtful work on control and submission, wealth and taste, power and desire.
But Dektar is incredibly skilled at building interiors, and so as much as one worries for Nora and despairs over her choices, one also deeply understands the role Nicola fills in her life. At one point, Nora notes that she refused to attend parties in college unless invited three times. It's not a coincidence that Nicola only becomes a fixture in her life on their third meeting. She has fantasized about finding people who will push through and insist on being close to her, and Nicola serves that role and then some.
It's an incredibly thoughtful work on control and submission, wealth and taste, power and desire.
February 21, 2023
This was just the type of book I needed to escape the winter blues. I loved the NYC and Italy settings. The character of Nora was interesting to read about - heartbreaking at times but also intriguing. Dektar writes in a descriptive way and I was all for it. I'm giving it five stars. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for the purpose of this review.
September 10, 2024
Trying to intellectualize what is effectively a sadomasochistic mafia romance is a task.
Don't get me wrong, it can be done. It may even be possible to do well.
Dektar did not succeed in doing it well...
It's always a good idea to explore and destigmatize sadomasochistic desire and female power dynamic fantasies, and I'm of the controversial opinion that you don't even have to resolve these with a moral or a healthy twist at the end. So, I don't have beef with this book because the dynamic is unhealthy. I have beef with the book because intellectualizing an unhealthy dynamic doesn't make it unique. It's the same smutty fantasy stuff you could find in a mass market paperback romance -- this one was just written by someone with an MFA.
That being said, there was a moment entirely unrelated to the plot that tickled my English major brain: "What paint is to painting, noticing is to realism. The speed of fiction is the speed of noticing as it is remembered. We always wondered: to what extent does the author's intention matter? Maybe to the same degree that you can intend to notice."
Also, side note: Nora panicking because she has difficulty finishing with partners and then inexplicably, "suddenly" doing so with a man the first time she hooks up with him is absolutely BONKERS.
Don't get me wrong, it can be done. It may even be possible to do well.
Dektar did not succeed in doing it well...
It's always a good idea to explore and destigmatize sadomasochistic desire and female power dynamic fantasies, and I'm of the controversial opinion that you don't even have to resolve these with a moral or a healthy twist at the end. So, I don't have beef with this book because the dynamic is unhealthy. I have beef with the book because intellectualizing an unhealthy dynamic doesn't make it unique. It's the same smutty fantasy stuff you could find in a mass market paperback romance -- this one was just written by someone with an MFA.
That being said, there was a moment entirely unrelated to the plot that tickled my English major brain: "What paint is to painting, noticing is to realism. The speed of fiction is the speed of noticing as it is remembered. We always wondered: to what extent does the author's intention matter? Maybe to the same degree that you can intend to notice."
Also, side note: Nora panicking because she has difficulty finishing with partners and then inexplicably, "suddenly" doing so with a man the first time she hooks up with him is absolutely BONKERS.
September 25, 2023
one of those slow, quiet, hateable, beautifully written words of literary fiction that just makes the world go 'round for me.
molly dektar i love you i am also from north carolina living in brooklyn do you want to hang out
molly dektar i love you i am also from north carolina living in brooklyn do you want to hang out
August 21, 2023
Overall: ☆☆☆(2.6)
Writing style: ☆☆☆
Entertainment ☆☆☆
Characters ☆☆
Plot: ☆☆
Ending:☆☆☆
Writing style: ☆☆☆
Entertainment ☆☆☆
Characters ☆☆
Plot: ☆☆
Ending:☆☆☆
June 10, 2024
Art-house-style novel. Beautiful and ugly, both substantial and sparse. Very dark.
July 22, 2024
This is genuinely the worst book I’ve ever read. There was no flow to it and the dialogue was strained.
June 6, 2023
Thanks very much to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the eARC of this gorgeously written novel.
In many ways this book reminded me of Annie Ernaux's Simple Passion: a portrait of an intelligent, independent woman who winds up doing nothing but waiting for a man (to paraphrase Ernaux) and upending her whole life in the process. American Nora first meets Nicola--wealthy, handsome, mysterious, possibly dangerous--as a troubled exchange student in her teens in Turin, Italy during a time that overlapped with the Winter Olympics there. She encounters him again in college and later connects with him a third time through her job in her twenties, ultimately falling into an affair. Like much literary fiction, this is a book that simply must be experienced, as a plot summary can only do so much. I enjoyed the cast of vividly drawn, complex characters and the stunning prose. I suspect I will be re-reading this novel before long.
ETA: It’s worth reading just for the head-exploding final couple of lines alone. I do love a snappy ending.
In many ways this book reminded me of Annie Ernaux's Simple Passion: a portrait of an intelligent, independent woman who winds up doing nothing but waiting for a man (to paraphrase Ernaux) and upending her whole life in the process. American Nora first meets Nicola--wealthy, handsome, mysterious, possibly dangerous--as a troubled exchange student in her teens in Turin, Italy during a time that overlapped with the Winter Olympics there. She encounters him again in college and later connects with him a third time through her job in her twenties, ultimately falling into an affair. Like much literary fiction, this is a book that simply must be experienced, as a plot summary can only do so much. I enjoyed the cast of vividly drawn, complex characters and the stunning prose. I suspect I will be re-reading this novel before long.
ETA: It’s worth reading just for the head-exploding final couple of lines alone. I do love a snappy ending.
July 22, 2023
I wrote a line in my journal the other day about troubled men: "they're only sexy when you're writing a book dissecting them to be a NYT best-selling author." This book totally misses the mark on making troubled men sexy. And many other things. This book was astoundingly boring and incredibly confusing. It runs around itself in circles trying to make Nicola seem sexy and interesting and maniacal, so we can justify the main character's prolonged limerence with him while she sabotages her relationships and cries and whines. Other people call her out on it! She continues to exist in her Nicola-trance. This could have been a wonderful case study of limerence too, if it wasn't so pretentious and self-important and trying so hard to be cool. Instead it was a bunch of unbearable people talking about sex in incredibly vague terms, looking at art (and saying NOTHING about it. not only did they not say anything important, they just didn't say anything at all), and never actually making any conclusions that pretentious, well-loved books are famous for (anything by Donna Tartt, for example). It's a subpar book with passable writing, but not troubled or not troubled enough to say anything news-worthy.
Thank you to the author and NetGalley for an ARC!
Thank you to the author and NetGalley for an ARC!
January 10, 2024
Like other reviews have stated, this is neither an effective romance novel nor a successful piece of literary fiction. It was bold of the author to think she could make what is essentially a dark mafia romance seem…I don’t know…philosophical? The basic premise of the book is that 29-year-old Nora has an affair with a corrupt Italian nepo baby. She becomes obsessed, compromises all of her morals, and allows herself to be totally manipulated. I did not enjoy being in this narrator’s head; she was such a weak character. I also felt that the writing style did not match the content of the book. It seemed like the author was trying too hard to sound deep and introspective, but it only made the story boring and the characters unrealistic. I found it very tiresome to follow the “love interests” attempt to communicate through vague, immaterial statements. Also, there were too many pretenious art references and too many Italian words with no translation. Happy to be done with this one—would not recommend.
June 27, 2023
This is not a novel about lust, obsession, affairs, or love. This is a book about an extremely mentally unwell woman who becomes the victim of mental, emotional, and physical abuse at the hands of a violent man. At first I thought the character arc would bend towards help and treatment and hopefully becoming well -but instead it's exploitative case of female misogyny. Besides the plot feeling like it's leading up to snuff film, the dialog is grossly unrealistic and practically unreadable. The prose feels like a madlib of ungermane adjectives. It was a struggle to finish, but I believe in fulling reading the ARCs sent to me before rating. I literally threw my copy in the dumpster in effort to keep anyone else from being subject to this book.
November 28, 2023
Wow. I really did not like this book.
Would. Not. Recommend. At. All.
I’d give it a 0 if Good Reads would let me.
This book started slow but an intriguing plot line of a girl who gets sent to Italy to help curb her destructive behaviour had me interested to see how the story would unfold. After the first few chapters it just started to flop more and more into a shitty story with no plot. All the characters were underdeveloped and people I would never want in my life. The rest of the plot became about an abusive relationship that was glorified til the very last page. When I got to the end of the book, I literally said “wtf” out loud and could not believe how poorly written this was. Only finished it because it was a quick read- but spare yourself please.
Would. Not. Recommend. At. All.
I’d give it a 0 if Good Reads would let me.
This book started slow but an intriguing plot line of a girl who gets sent to Italy to help curb her destructive behaviour had me interested to see how the story would unfold. After the first few chapters it just started to flop more and more into a shitty story with no plot. All the characters were underdeveloped and people I would never want in my life. The rest of the plot became about an abusive relationship that was glorified til the very last page. When I got to the end of the book, I literally said “wtf” out loud and could not believe how poorly written this was. Only finished it because it was a quick read- but spare yourself please.
February 22, 2023
I didn’t care for this book at all.
May 17, 2025
To me, the primary fantasy of submission is total self-obliteration. This is, of course, an unrealistic fantasy, and among other reasons, that's why we have erotica. You can't really do what Story of O does in real life, and dominant people worth consorting with don't actually mind-read; "real" BDSM is full of a lot more silly and boring conversations than fantasy BDSM, which often doesn't even identify itself as such and exists in the abstract, power-laden wishy-washy world of boundaries being pushed, desires being fulfilled, promises being kept or broken.
I don't really pay much attention to the mainstream value system of what makes a good romance novel or sexy book; I think somewhere in the wake of trendy literary fiction going kinky, when people who have never read the actual how-to books or had a really goofy conversation with their partner about what Fetlife tags to use started treating airport novels or fanfiction with the serial numbers scrubbed off as their how-tos, we've lost the plot on the basic fact that erotica is literature, and that really good erotic books are not instruction manuals but have their own literary tradition, one that's weirder and much more fun than real life, deferring to fantasy rather than moral structure.
For example: in the erotic novel of submission, that fantasy of self-obliteration I mentioned is reached, or approached, through escalating scenes–a transformation, a rush to the finish that is impossible in real life but devastatingly hot to imagine. At its best, the entire novel will feel erotic not because it's full of sex, but because (like the state we exist in when we're in love or in lust) it is a maze of anticipations, escalations, and denouements that make the eventual explicit scenes impactful. Everything drips with meaning.
In most novels of submission I've read, this self-obliteration is physical and becomes emotional; what escalates is the physical intensity of the scenes; your character goes more "full lifestyle," so to speak, cedes progressive ground until their body is completely possessed, and then you get flashes of how they might cope with that. You've maybe read those. What's interesting to me about The Absolutes is that Dektar sets this self-obliteration in motion entirely in the internal, emotional, and most interestingly the memory-driven realm. I found this self-obliteration of a very internal character who's sort of floating around in a state of perpetual reverie and self-constitution to be interesting and compelling, and for that reason I liked this book a lot and would consider it a success.
Maybe people disagree. Personally, I think the elements I see people disliking about this book are in service to that main end and you shouldn't give them the wrong emphasis. There are certainly tropes common to literary fiction about neurotic women that pop up here: you have the eating disorder, the art job that isn't an art job, the sea of middle-class Brooklynites who enter and exit with their safe and uninteresting lives, set against the roiling drama of THE woman, the woman who hates herself and wants it all to change. A lot of other novels are full of those elements and then also try to say something about sex, end up making a choice between sexiness and slice-of-life incisiveness/character study. Most people choose the latter. I would argue that The Absolutes doesn't do those tropes better per se; I think that it's not really doing them at all and has different priorities.
Like I said, it's a novel of submission, and those at their best are larger-than-life; of course the desired subject here is an Italian nobleman, of course he has unlimited resources and is supernaturally beautiful, of course it's all vague and almost makes no sense and the only thing that seems real is the relationship. That's how it is! There's an edge here of emotional realism here which I found sort of shocking and sharp, and, finally, yes, relatable, because I have absolutely (ha!) been this character before, at least in the emotional sense. Maybe I really am just the target audience; personally when I'm in a state of desire or crushed-by-a-crush, I've felt every subtle dynamic, every social button you could press in the hopes that you get the emotional attention you crave, and also realized I could lose myself in the process of trying to hand someone else full responsibility of my self-loathing. I don't think that is everyone's cup of tea, but those myopic litfic projects we're all sick of that veer into bleak self loathing exist for a reason: because a lot of people exist this way in relationships today, in some regard. Usually those books bore me, but this one didn't, because turning that into a submissive fantasy where the character's obsessive internality IS her undoing is very interesting. I'll return to The Absolutes whenever I'm thinking over those problems of desire, scale, misery, and memory.
I don't really pay much attention to the mainstream value system of what makes a good romance novel or sexy book; I think somewhere in the wake of trendy literary fiction going kinky, when people who have never read the actual how-to books or had a really goofy conversation with their partner about what Fetlife tags to use started treating airport novels or fanfiction with the serial numbers scrubbed off as their how-tos, we've lost the plot on the basic fact that erotica is literature, and that really good erotic books are not instruction manuals but have their own literary tradition, one that's weirder and much more fun than real life, deferring to fantasy rather than moral structure.
For example: in the erotic novel of submission, that fantasy of self-obliteration I mentioned is reached, or approached, through escalating scenes–a transformation, a rush to the finish that is impossible in real life but devastatingly hot to imagine. At its best, the entire novel will feel erotic not because it's full of sex, but because (like the state we exist in when we're in love or in lust) it is a maze of anticipations, escalations, and denouements that make the eventual explicit scenes impactful. Everything drips with meaning.
In most novels of submission I've read, this self-obliteration is physical and becomes emotional; what escalates is the physical intensity of the scenes; your character goes more "full lifestyle," so to speak, cedes progressive ground until their body is completely possessed, and then you get flashes of how they might cope with that. You've maybe read those. What's interesting to me about The Absolutes is that Dektar sets this self-obliteration in motion entirely in the internal, emotional, and most interestingly the memory-driven realm. I found this self-obliteration of a very internal character who's sort of floating around in a state of perpetual reverie and self-constitution to be interesting and compelling, and for that reason I liked this book a lot and would consider it a success.
Maybe people disagree. Personally, I think the elements I see people disliking about this book are in service to that main end and you shouldn't give them the wrong emphasis. There are certainly tropes common to literary fiction about neurotic women that pop up here: you have the eating disorder, the art job that isn't an art job, the sea of middle-class Brooklynites who enter and exit with their safe and uninteresting lives, set against the roiling drama of THE woman, the woman who hates herself and wants it all to change. A lot of other novels are full of those elements and then also try to say something about sex, end up making a choice between sexiness and slice-of-life incisiveness/character study. Most people choose the latter. I would argue that The Absolutes doesn't do those tropes better per se; I think that it's not really doing them at all and has different priorities.
Like I said, it's a novel of submission, and those at their best are larger-than-life; of course the desired subject here is an Italian nobleman, of course he has unlimited resources and is supernaturally beautiful, of course it's all vague and almost makes no sense and the only thing that seems real is the relationship. That's how it is! There's an edge here of emotional realism here which I found sort of shocking and sharp, and, finally, yes, relatable, because I have absolutely (ha!) been this character before, at least in the emotional sense. Maybe I really am just the target audience; personally when I'm in a state of desire or crushed-by-a-crush, I've felt every subtle dynamic, every social button you could press in the hopes that you get the emotional attention you crave, and also realized I could lose myself in the process of trying to hand someone else full responsibility of my self-loathing. I don't think that is everyone's cup of tea, but those myopic litfic projects we're all sick of that veer into bleak self loathing exist for a reason: because a lot of people exist this way in relationships today, in some regard. Usually those books bore me, but this one didn't, because turning that into a submissive fantasy where the character's obsessive internality IS her undoing is very interesting. I'll return to The Absolutes whenever I'm thinking over those problems of desire, scale, misery, and memory.
July 22, 2023
I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review
I looked for ways to be her dog.
Told all from Nora's point-of-view, your enjoyment of The Absolutes is going to depend on how long you can swim around in lit fic with an “artist temperament” vibe for a little over three hundred pages. Nora has been sent to Turin, Italy by her parents to spend time with some cousins because at fifteen years old, she's been self-harming (cutting on her thigh) and seems to be in a general malaise. There, she grows an attachment to her cousin Federica and her emotions swirl around wanting to control, be controlled, and sexual attraction. There's some felt tension there between the girls and as we don't have Federica's pov, we never really know how much Nora is creating in her own mind or interpreting correctly. When Nora starts to have a panic attack on the slopes, a man comforts her out of it. Federica says the man's name is Nicola and he comes from one of the most dangerous families in Italy.
Maybe he was creating the truth and then I had to live in it; we were opposites.
This was broken into three parts, the first with Nora in Italy and giving readers a look at how her submissive tendencies were taking form and how she imprinted on Nicola. There's some time jump with Nicola in college and then seeing Nicola again at a party, only strengthening her obsession with him as he seems like such an unknown quantity. The second half has Nora aged up to twenty-eight and now working for a friend named Patrick, who also happens to know Nicola, and living with a man named Leif. The second half delivers on the predictable dancing around if Nora and Nicola are going to have an affair but tries to make it interesting by cloaking it in Nora's artist temperament and dangerous undertones of Nicola's relationship with his father and the unsaid fact that they are mafia.
I wondered as I did so often whether he was finding me or inventing me.
I felt this was too long, I drowned in the lit fic-ness of it all and the “Nora is so Different than all other plebs”. It really is a story of a young girl that book clubs could argue about if she has mental health issues that need to be helped with or if she is someone who has a very submissive personality and needs and craves that kind of handling. Even though we never get Nicola's thoughts, I could see book clubs discussing if he was manipulating Nora, by acting out what he thinks she wanted or if he really was the personality that meshed with Nora. If some of the long winding self-indulgent passages had been edited, this could have come across sharper. The third part shed some light on the truth of the manipulation for me and an ending with the road Nora seems to be firmly on. Nora was an interesting character but adding in some of the mafia plot with Nicola and wallowing in how everyone else as too blah made the story drag.
I looked for ways to be her dog.
Told all from Nora's point-of-view, your enjoyment of The Absolutes is going to depend on how long you can swim around in lit fic with an “artist temperament” vibe for a little over three hundred pages. Nora has been sent to Turin, Italy by her parents to spend time with some cousins because at fifteen years old, she's been self-harming (cutting on her thigh) and seems to be in a general malaise. There, she grows an attachment to her cousin Federica and her emotions swirl around wanting to control, be controlled, and sexual attraction. There's some felt tension there between the girls and as we don't have Federica's pov, we never really know how much Nora is creating in her own mind or interpreting correctly. When Nora starts to have a panic attack on the slopes, a man comforts her out of it. Federica says the man's name is Nicola and he comes from one of the most dangerous families in Italy.
Maybe he was creating the truth and then I had to live in it; we were opposites.
This was broken into three parts, the first with Nora in Italy and giving readers a look at how her submissive tendencies were taking form and how she imprinted on Nicola. There's some time jump with Nicola in college and then seeing Nicola again at a party, only strengthening her obsession with him as he seems like such an unknown quantity. The second half has Nora aged up to twenty-eight and now working for a friend named Patrick, who also happens to know Nicola, and living with a man named Leif. The second half delivers on the predictable dancing around if Nora and Nicola are going to have an affair but tries to make it interesting by cloaking it in Nora's artist temperament and dangerous undertones of Nicola's relationship with his father and the unsaid fact that they are mafia.
I wondered as I did so often whether he was finding me or inventing me.
I felt this was too long, I drowned in the lit fic-ness of it all and the “Nora is so Different than all other plebs”. It really is a story of a young girl that book clubs could argue about if she has mental health issues that need to be helped with or if she is someone who has a very submissive personality and needs and craves that kind of handling. Even though we never get Nicola's thoughts, I could see book clubs discussing if he was manipulating Nora, by acting out what he thinks she wanted or if he really was the personality that meshed with Nora. If some of the long winding self-indulgent passages had been edited, this could have come across sharper. The third part shed some light on the truth of the manipulation for me and an ending with the road Nora seems to be firmly on. Nora was an interesting character but adding in some of the mafia plot with Nicola and wallowing in how everyone else as too blah made the story drag.
November 18, 2023
The set-up of The Absolutes is this: what if you met again, years later, someone you had met twice before and had felt an instant connection and attraction to? Most people can probably relate to the instant connection or attraction part, but not to the "second chance due to yet another chance encounter" part. It usually doesn't happen. But in this novel it does happen to Nora, and Molly Dektar takes that premise and runs with it. It is an interesting book, because while at times it feels like the book is having an identity crisis--is it a story of the Italian mob, of obsession, of mental illness? Is it an erotic thriller? It has aspects of all these things, and for me, all of this made it feel a little more grounded in reality. If the character of Nora seems a bit vacant, maybe that's because her obsession with Nicola subsumes her and alters her personality. I think that's kind of the point. I do feel that the novel was just a smidge too long, and as a reader I did get a bit impatient with Nora and her obsession with someone who isn't any good for her. The relationship is kind of toxic. "Toxic light." Which isn't to make light of the situation, it really is the most accurate way I can think to describe it. Nora is submissive to Nicola, and he seems almost as caught up in her as she is in him, but there is a definite power imbalance in their relationship. Nicola really doesn't do anything manipulative initially, but the relationship, once it begins, is not a healthy one. There's some very light BDSM as well. It felt to me more like a frustrated expression of overwhelming desire than a true fetish? Maybe I'm misreading. Although it reoccurs several times throughout the book, it seems like such a small part of it all. I liked Nora's slightly detached narration. For me, it still manages to be quite literary. The book has its flaws, sure, but the writing is very good, and this elevates it. It isn't overly descriptive, but it is elegantly formed and for me, very often evocative:
"But what Nicola was proposing felt to me like a column of light that throws off images as it goes. A fissioning, irregular beam, like a solar flare."
"He said he'd never had much awareness of his body, just as the seasons changing didn't thin out the layers of time the way they did for me, didn't allow the startlingly transparent evocation of memories from years ago."
"I understood now the vulgarity of speaking directly of things."
"The air smelled like cigarettes and sage and bitter orange. I surely had never breathed before."
"But what Nicola was proposing felt to me like a column of light that throws off images as it goes. A fissioning, irregular beam, like a solar flare."
"He said he'd never had much awareness of his body, just as the seasons changing didn't thin out the layers of time the way they did for me, didn't allow the startlingly transparent evocation of memories from years ago."
"I understood now the vulgarity of speaking directly of things."
"The air smelled like cigarettes and sage and bitter orange. I surely had never breathed before."
May 21, 2023
Nora is young, fearless, and ready to explore what Italy has to offer... and she definitely finds far more than she bargained for. When she meets an older aristocrat, she instantly becomes enamored by him, and with each encounter they have the deeper her obsession with him grows. She wants him for herself and will take him any way she can have him... even if it means being treated poorly. Nicola is a dangerous man that comes from an even more dangerous world and she has no idea what she has just gotten herself into...
The Absolutes is a mesmerizing and suspenseful tale of a young woman who wanders into a dangerous world and falls completely prey to it... to the point of losing herself. Watching Nora fall for Nicola and become so utterly obsessed with him was downright disturbing at times and her innocence was also a bit frustrating too. She completely allowed him to walk all over her, take what he wanted, and never really asked for anything in return or stood up for herself. She was lost to him and it broke my heart to see her settle for it. It took me a while to wrap my head around her obsession and lengths she went to, but in the end everything fell right into place and made perfect sense.
This read had me straying a bit from my norm, it pushed boundaries, made me uncomfortable, and had me shaking my head more than a few times. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it, it just left me rattled in a way I haven't gotten over yet. I would suggest it to those who enjoy their reads dark in nature... as Nora's world is definitely a dark and dangerous one that requires some bravery to enter! Highly recommend!
I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest and unbiased opinion.
The Absolutes is a mesmerizing and suspenseful tale of a young woman who wanders into a dangerous world and falls completely prey to it... to the point of losing herself. Watching Nora fall for Nicola and become so utterly obsessed with him was downright disturbing at times and her innocence was also a bit frustrating too. She completely allowed him to walk all over her, take what he wanted, and never really asked for anything in return or stood up for herself. She was lost to him and it broke my heart to see her settle for it. It took me a while to wrap my head around her obsession and lengths she went to, but in the end everything fell right into place and made perfect sense.
This read had me straying a bit from my norm, it pushed boundaries, made me uncomfortable, and had me shaking my head more than a few times. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it, it just left me rattled in a way I haven't gotten over yet. I would suggest it to those who enjoy their reads dark in nature... as Nora's world is definitely a dark and dangerous one that requires some bravery to enter! Highly recommend!
I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest and unbiased opinion.
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