The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses domestic abuse, sexual assault, and gun violence.

Misogyny is a theme that permeates the novel, and the feminine rage of the women who encounter it is important to understanding the characters and the plot. Violent misogyny in the past is what drives the events of the narrative. Salvatore D’Amato is abusive to his wife, Betsy, and beats her so brutally that she dies shortly after giving birth to their daughter. Louise and George run a whisper network that helps women escape abusive situations and were helping Betsy get out, and Louise promised to take care of the baby if anything happened to Betsy. To honor that promise, Louise kidnaps and adopts the baby, Jules, to save her from a life of abuse. Though never explicitly stated in the text, it’s clear that Louise got involved in the whisper network with George after witnessing her mother’s abuse at the hands of her stepfather and experiencing leering gazes from her stepfather and the threat of sexual abuse. This is also the root of Louise’s anger, anger that she deems justifiable, as any woman who isn’t angry isn’t paying attention to the societal situation and the way that women are treated in the world.