ON THE SAVAGE SIDE by Tiffany McDaniel

I received this book for free from the Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel
Published by Knopf on February 14 2023
Genres: Adult, Coming of age, Family drama, Literary fiction
Pages: 464
Format: eARC
Source: Author
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The nitty-gritty: An devastating exploration of woman’s place in a world ruled by men, On the Savage Side will haunt you long after the final page is turned.

“I touched the water with my bare hands, and the river touched me back with hers. I wanted to leave my old life behind as easy as leaving a cup on the counter and walking off. I asked the river if this was possible. And she said everything but the word yes and the word no. Instead, she was a friend, a sister, an other who then became myself. I knew then that the migration of us was tied to the migration of the ripples.”

Tiffany McDaniel has once again crafted a beautiful, moving, heartbreaking story that takes place in her home state of Ohio. On the Savage Side has many of the same qualities and themes as her last book, Betty, but this time the author focuses on heroin addiction and prostitution, framing her story as an homage to six women who were violently murdered in Chillicothe, Ohio in 2014, murders that were never solved. I’m not going to lie, this was a tough book to read at times. McDaniel never flinches from the realities of innocent women caught up in the neverending cycle of addiction and recovery, but her female characters shine with a fierceness that elevates them above the horrors they experience. Some readers may appreciate a list of trigger warnings, so do be aware that On the Savage Side contains the following content: drug use, death by overdose, pedophilia, rape, miscarriage, torture, abuse and murder. However, there is plenty of beauty in this story as well, and I would not have given this book five stars without that balance. 

The story follows twin sisters Arcade (Arc) and Daffodil (Daffy) Doggs, born with fiery red hair and mismatched eyes (each girl has one green eye and one blue eye). Both parents struggle with heroin addiction, and in 1979 when the girls are six, their father dies of an overdose. Raised by their mother Adelyn and their Aunt Clover, their unpredictable homelife is balanced out by the loving attention of Mamaw Milkweed, Arc’s and Daffy’s beloved grandmother. It’s Mamaw who teaches them to crochet, explaining that the underside of the crochet square, where the yarn is tied off and hangs down, is the “savage side,” but by pushing the strings back up, you can make it the “beautiful side.” This philosophy follows the girls into adulthood as they compare their lives to both sides and strive to have more “beautiful” moments.

By the time the girls turn twenty, they’ve fallen into the same destructive patterns as Adelyn and Clover, working at the Blue Hour turning tricks for drug money. It’s during one of their trips to the river to shoot up with their friends Sage Nell and Thursday that Arc discovers a dead woman floating in the river. Her name is Harlow, and she’s the first of six dead women to be found there. Eventually the press dubs the killer the River Man. But who is he? There are a host of suspects, like Highway Man, the local tattoo artist and drug dealer, or Spider, the man Arc and Daffy met as children who changed their lives forever. There’s also John Theresa, who helped the girls hide at a low point in their lives and gave them access to a swimming pool, where Daffy discovered her love of swimming. Even a man named Welt, who rescued Arc from a violent encounter, seems to be hiding something.

As Arc and Daffy spiral ever downwards, and the killer gets closer and closer, the girls wonder if there’s any escape from the savage side, or if the beautiful side will forever be out of reach.

McDaniel beautifully describes the small town of Chillicothe, a town that lives in the shadow of the local paper mill. Day and night, the mill spews poisonous smoke into the air, and this is how Arc and Daffy grow up. The river plays an important role in the story as well, in fact, it’s almost another character. Not only is the river where the killer dumps the bodies, but for Arc and Daffy it’s a place where they can go to escape their lives. No matter that they’re “wearing crowns” down by the river (their term for getting high), but it’s where they can be with their friends, Sage Nell and Thursday, far from the men who hurt them. The author  also inserts short passages told from the river’s POV, passages that describe what happens to the murdered women after they’ve been dumped in the river. It sounds macabre, but I loved the idea that the river was tenderly cradling the bodies, as if to give them dignity after their suffering.

Arc and Daffy grow up in poverty, made worse by their parents drug addiction, and McDaniel describes so many bittersweet moments that broke my heart. For example, the girls never had birthday cakes, so instead they drew pretend cakes for themselves on the floor with markers. The neglect was so hard to read about, as Adelyn is never sober enough to pay attention to her daughters, and when the unthinkable happens to Arc, she neither knows nor cares.

The one shining ray of light in their lives is Mamaw Milkweed, who nurtured their love of stories and art and taught them to crochet. She does her best to protect Arc and Daffy from their parents’ rough lives, but even she can’t keep all the darkness at bay.

The story is full of truly awful men, all of them harmful to the girls in one way or another. Drug dealers, “johns,” men full of violence who go out of their way to hurt innocent women. By the time they are twenty, Arc and Daffy have accepted these men as an inescapable part of life. And as the body count grows, Arc suspects the killer is someone close, someone she knows. The story feels like a murder mystery at times, although solving the killer’s identity isn’t really the point.

The book itself is beautifully designed, and I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy. Drawings are scattered throughout, foreshadowing what’s to come. For example, a “spider” is used as a symbol of danger, and whenever a drawing of a spider appears, you know something bad is coming next. We also get a medical examiner’s report after each body is found, and McDaniel adds a touch of poetry to these reports, which poignantly humanizes each woman:

GENDER: A reflection of herself

OCCUPATION: Rides among the stars

PROBABLE CAUSE OF DEATH: Letting the devil know her name

There are brief moments of hope, like when Daffy discovers a talent for swimming and joins a swim team for a while. Time spent with Mamaw is always happy, and the bond between the sisters is fierce and unbreakable. One of the things I loved so much about this story is the way the way Arc and Daffy and their friends supported each other and never judged. The times spent by the river, despite the fact that they are high on heroin, were sweet moments when they could dream about a different life. Each woman, in her own way, showed a resilience of spirit that made me cheer them on, even as I was brushing tears away.

This book won’t be for everyone, but readers who are looking for an emotional, hard hitting story won’t want to miss On the Savage Side.

Big thanks to the author for providing a review copy.