What is Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan about?

Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan is a 2021 debut novel about an unnamed Irish woman's toxic, all-consuming relationship with Ciaran, an aloof Danish writer. The book explores love addiction and emotional abuse as the narrator becomes obsessed with securing Ciaran's love despite his manipulative and controlling behavior. Through brutally honest prose, Megan Nolan examines female desire, self-destruction, and the devastating cost of seeking validation through romantic relationships.

Who should read Acts of Desperation?

Acts of Desperation is ideal for readers who appreciate dark, introspective literary fiction exploring toxic relationships and female psychology. Fans of Sally Rooney, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Naoise Dolan will find Megan Nolan's unflinching examination of love addiction compelling. This book suits those comfortable with emotionally intense content covering abuse, alcoholism, eating disorders, and self-harm. Readers seeking hopeful or redemptive narratives should approach cautiously, as Acts of Desperation offers raw honesty over comfort.

Is Acts of Desperation worth reading?

Acts of Desperation received overwhelmingly positive reviews, earning a "Rave" rating from critics. Megan Nolan's debut showcases stunning prose and fearless exploration of uncomfortable truths about relationships and female suffering. The novel's strength lies in its psychological depth and refusal to romanticize pain, making the narrator's desperation painfully relatable. While emotionally challenging, Acts of Desperation offers profound insights into why people remain in destructive relationships, making it a worthwhile though difficult read.

Who is Megan Nolan and what inspired Acts of Desperation?

Megan Nolan is an Irish writer whose 2021 debut novel Acts of Desperation established her as a significant literary talent. Critics note that Nolan should not be dismissed as "another Sally Rooney" but recognized as a unique voice bringing rare intelligence and courage to examining female experience. The novel draws on authentic experiences of toxic relationships, with reviewers describing it as an "extraordinary likeness" of emotionally abusive dynamics. Nolan's background as a writer herself informs the book's literary quality and psychological precision.

Why is the narrator unnamed in Acts of Desperation?

The narrator's namelessness in Acts of Desperation serves as a powerful literary device emphasizing her lack of self-worth and lost identity. Megan Nolan deliberately withholds this detail while revealing every other intimate aspect of the narrator's life, highlighting how she exists only for Ciaran rather than herself. The unnamed narrator also functions as a mirror reflecting broader female experiences with desire and suffering. This anonymity allows readers to see themselves in her desperation while underscoring her inability to achieve "the impossibility of being known".

What makes the relationship in Acts of Desperation toxic?

The relationship between the narrator and Ciaran in Acts of Desperation features classic emotional abuse patterns including excessive control, manipulation, silent treatment as punishment, and isolating behavior. Ciaran displays anger issues and uses psychological tactics that leave the narrator constantly repenting for unidentified wrongs. Despite his mediocrity, the narrator worships him with "violent need," performing exhaustive domestic labor and abandoning friends and family to secure his love. The toxicity stems from power imbalance, with Ciaran incapable of genuine love while the narrator sacrifices her entire identity.

What are the main themes in Acts of Desperation?

Acts of Desperation explores **love addiction** as its central theme, examining how desperate need for validation destroys the self. The novel tackles **female suffering** without romanticizing pain, presenting it as inherently ugly rather than virtuous. Other major themes include: * **domestic labor and gender roles** in heterosexual relationships * **mental health struggles** including alcoholism and eating disorders * **power dynamics in intimate partnerships** Megan Nolan also addresses **identity loss, self-worth, and the violence of obsessive love**, creating a complex portrait of modern female experience.

How does Acts of Desperation compare to Sally Rooney's novels?

While Acts of Desperation shares Sally Rooney's focus on young Irish women navigating complex relationships, Megan Nolan's debut is notably darker and more unflinching. Unlike Rooney's emotionally intelligent characters, Nolan's narrator exhibits more extreme self-destruction and lacks the analytical distance Rooney provides. Acts of Desperation leans toward the rawness of Ottessa Moshfegh rather than Rooney's precise social observations. Critics emphasize that Nolan is not "another Sally Rooney" but rather a distinct voice offering more brutal honesty about toxic love and female desperation.

절박한 행위 요약

메건 놀런

3.7(42010 Reviews)

절박한 행위 요약 개요

놀란의 "절망의 행위들(Acts of Desperation)"은 로맨틱한 집착을 가차 없는 정밀함으로 해부합니다. 14개 언어로 번역되고 칼 오베 크나우스고르로부터 "거대한 문학적 재능"의 산물이라는 찬사를 받은 이 베스트셀러 데뷔작은 우리에게 묻습니다. 우리는 욕망에 관한 어떤 자기 파괴적인 진실을 마주하기 두려워하고 있는가?

전달 방식을 선택하세요

다양한 학습 방식으로 절박한 행위 요약 살펴보기

절박한 행위의 같은 아이디어를 담았습니다. 나에게 맞는 목소리, 깊이, 속도를 고르고 언제든 바꿔 보세요.

1장

When Desperation Masquerades as Love

The first time I saw Ciaran at that Dublin art gallery in April 2012, I knew he was different. It wasn't just his exceptional beauty-his "downy, darkening blond" hair, large grey eyes, crooked Roman nose, and perfect cherubic mouth. What truly struck me was the unusual "immense stillness radiating from his body," a wholeness and self-containment that seemed almost otherworldly in the social chaos of the gallery. Megan Nolan's debut novel has been heralded as one of the most visceral explorations of toxic love in contemporary fiction. Praised by Sally Rooney as "a dark, intense account of an obsessive relationship," it shot to bestseller status across Europe upon its 2021 release. The raw examination of feminine desire, self-destruction, and the desperation for validation resonated deeply with millennial readers, particularly women who recognized themselves in the unnamed narrator's unflinching confessions. The novel's success catapulted Nolan from her position as a respected essayist to one of Ireland's most compelling literary voices, drawing comparisons to the emotional intensity of Elena Ferrante and the sexual frankness of Catherine Millet.

2장

The Intoxicating Beginnings of Obsession

The narrator's first encounter with Ciaran at the art gallery sets the stage for what will become a consuming obsession. Her reaction to him transcends mere sexual attraction-it's "grave and troubling pity," an intense tenderness for his human condition. She acknowledges that Ciaran became the first man she worshipped, his body "a site of prayer." This immediate elevation of him to something sacred foreshadows the unhealthy dynamic that will develop. Their first conversation reveals fundamental differences in their personalities. When discussing art, she admits feeling uncertain while he finds freedom in art's lack of fixed meaning. Before leaving, Ciaran gives her his nearly-full beer, asks her to walk with him tomorrow, and writes his number on a napkin-small gestures that take on enormous significance in her mind. The narrator's life before Ciaran is revealed as fractured-happy in public but tormented in private. She explains her need for love as validation: "Being in love blesses you with a sort of grace." Having abandoned religion after childhood, she had cultivated a great faith in love instead, seeing it as the force that would "set ablaze the fields of my life in one go" and make her worthy through its presence. This desperate belief in love's redemptive power creates the perfect conditions for obsession. Despite an awkward first date at the Natural History Museum, she realizes she's already in love with him, "and there wasn't a thing he or anybody else could do to change it." The absoluteness of this declaration reveals how quickly she surrenders her agency to this feeling. What makes this early stage of infatuation so compelling is its universality-that dizzy, all-consuming feeling of new love that transforms the mundane world into something magical. As she later reflects, "getting apples and walking around was the point...that was more than enough." The simple act of walking through Dublin together becomes transcendent through the lens of her adoration.

들리는 모든 단어를 눈으로 확인하세요

절박한 행위 요약의 각 단어가 오디오에 맞춰 실시간으로 강조되어 편하게 따라 읽을 수 있습니다.

3장

Red Flags and Warning Signs

As their relationship develops, warning signs emerge that the narrator willfully ignores. Ciaran's solemn nature gradually reveals an angry side-he becomes furious at perceived slights from strangers and launches into long rants about people who offended him. Rather than seeing this as concerning, the narrator finds his venting oddly bonding and soothes him with exaggerated sympathy until he laughs. A pivotal moment occurs when she invites Ciaran to a reading at a gallery where her friends are performing. Though they've been acting as a couple privately, this is their first public appearance together. Ciaran is visibly displeased throughout the evening-silent, avoiding eye contact, and wearing an expression of extreme disdain during the readings. When confronted about his rudeness, he dismisses the event as "shit" and coldly states that her friends aren't his friends. When she begins crying, he delivers the crushing line: "Did you want me to say I'm falling in love with you? Because I'm not." Another disturbing incident reveals Ciaran's callousness when he enthusiastically shows her a performance art piece called "TV Hijack," where artist Chris Burden held a knife to an unsuspecting female TV host's throat during what she thought would be a normal interview. The narrator contemplates the host's limited options after such an experience: either be remembered as a victim or pretend to appreciate the art and have "a seat at the big boys' table for being such a good sport." Days after their fight at the reading, Ciaran visits the narrator. Instead of breaking up with her as she feared, he appears vulnerable and apologizes. He explains that his relationship with his ex Freja damaged him-she had repeatedly cheated throughout their relationship. Despite everything, he confesses, "the best times of my life were with Freja," explaining that her betrayals stemmed from unhappiness. The narrator silently vows to rebuild his trust, determined to never hurt him as Freja had-setting herself up for a relationship where she'll always be competing with a ghost.

4장

The Illusion of Stability

By November 2012, the narrator has separated her life with Ciaran from her friends, bringing him only to brief public events as he rarely pretends to enjoy social gatherings. Their relationship improves as Ciaran becomes less sullen and angry, occasionally joking about his own cantankerous nature. The narrator moves through their relationship with determined focus, feeling increasingly secure as time passes. She takes comfort in counting the months since April, thinking, "We had passed two whole seasons together and were making good headway on the next." This false sense of security is punctured when Ciaran casually mentions poems he's writing about Freja and their early relationship in Oslo. When the narrator learns he's not only writing about his ex but has sent the poems to Freja herself for feedback, she breaks down. Though trying to maintain composure, she's devastated, realizing the fragility of her emotional state. The narrator later reads Freja's desperate email to Ciaran, which describes their deep past relationship in Norway. Freja claims they were both "lost and hopeless" when they met, sharing a broken part only the other could mend. She insists her infidelity was "only sex" while accusing Ciaran of "playing house" with the narrator. The narrator is horrified by Freja's familiarity and melodrama, thinking "crazy bitch" while feeling sickened by the intimate portrait of their relationship. Despite this betrayal, their relationship improves as Ciaran becomes gentler and more generous, buying her flowers and taking her to dinner. Before Christmas, Ciaran takes her to a French restaurant where they laugh about pretentious artists. As she leaves for Waterford to visit family, he gives her an amber brooch with a note: "You are a beautiful woman and I love you," confirming her belief in their relationship. This period illustrates how toxic relationships can have genuine moments of connection and happiness that keep the participants trapped in the cycle. The narrator describes their relationship as her "most difficult and important building," a "magnificent golden cathedral." After reading Freja's email, she couldn't fully absorb it because she couldn't conceive of their world not continuing.

절박한 행위 요약에서 더 많은 것을 얻으세요

매일 새로운 인사이트를 10만 개 이상의 레슨에서 만나보세요
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5장

The Christmas Abandonment

The narrator's world shatters when Ciaran suddenly stops responding to her calls during Christmas. The dread of abandonment consumes her as she tries comforting herself-maybe he'd lost his phone? But it was still ringing. They hadn't gone this long without talking in months. She calls his office, pretending her phone was broken to ask his boss if Ciaran had been at work. While visiting her father for Christmas, she struggles to appear normal, unable to unburden herself because speaking about it would make it real. She understands objectively how uneven and non-reciprocal her relationship with Ciaran appears, but doesn't feel disturbed by it herself. In the car ride home, when her dad mentions how limited their future time together would be, she turns away in shame at how she's wasting her short life obsessing over someone who doesn't want to offer love, while sitting beside someone who loves her more than life itself. On Christmas morning, she sends Ciaran a message: "Happy Christmas. I love you very much. Please call me." The deliberate "very much" feels manipulative even to her. Throughout Christmas Day, she goes through the motions with her family, but inside she's crumbling. When she returns to Dublin and Ciaran finally arrives at her apartment, his face has completely hardened. He refuses to come in, saying bluntly he's there to end things. She begs him for five minutes, and he reluctantly enters. She shows him the amber gift, screaming that he'd told her he loved her a week ago. He remains cold, saying there's nothing to discuss. This Christmas abandonment creates a wound that never fully heals. The narrator describes her pain as so unendurable it provided strange comfort-if it couldn't be endured, it would end one way or another. Still, she preserves herself-eating well, avoiding self-harm, mostly going to work. She speaks with her friend Lisa most evenings, watching the benign films and shows she sends her. She allows herself controlled moments of grief, sometimes banging her head against the wall just hard enough to manufacture physical displacement.

6장

The Reconciliation and Cohabitation

Three months after their breakup, Ciaran unexpectedly reaches out. After exchanging a few messages, he calls and asks to meet at the Natural History Museum-the site of their first date. When she sees him nervously pulling at his cardigan sleeve, her heart sings. "I thought we could sort of start again," he says before kissing her. She believes she has "won by becoming nothing." Two weeks later, they move in together. The narrator fills their new apartment with "slow, lazy satisfaction." They buy household items together-a blue flannel duvet, a casserole dish, amateur dog paintings. She shudders with "almost erotic thrill" while choosing practical items like vacuum cleaners, proud every time she opens their shared wardrobe. Living together brings new dynamics to navigate. She becomes the one who cooks without discussion, finding it logical since she cooks well and he doesn't. Cooking for Ciaran takes on an almost sacred quality, becoming her way of making amends whenever she upsets him. Along with sex, it becomes how she offers reparations. For a brief, precious time, they seem to overcome all earlier difficulties. Their worst conflicts are playful-him mock-scolding her about leaving a wet sponge in the basin, her squealing and running away until he catches her. They nap constantly in their freezing apartment, bundled in layers of thermals and sweatpants. These moments of physical closeness become her sanctuary: "Even now, I think if I could have lived just in those moments-no friends, family or work intruding-with our bodies welded together in that cold bed, I might still be happy there." By May, golden light fills their home on weekend mornings. They wake late, drink coffee and talk until lunchtime, then read newspapers with pastries, mindlessly touching as they read. She maintains minimal contact with friends, none of whom have visited their flat. She knows what they think of Ciaran but doesn't care to defend him. At work, she's competent but unambitious. Real life begins when she unlocks their door each evening, everything outside rendered dull and irrelevant.

들리는 모든 단어를 눈으로 확인하세요

절박한 행위 요약의 각 단어가 오디오에 맞춰 실시간으로 강조되어 편하게 따라 읽을 수 있습니다.

7장

The Descent into Obsession and Self-Erasure

The narrator's desperation to please Ciaran manifests in her domestic servitude. She is "desperate to perform domestic acts for Ciaran, presenting him with the products of my labor to show my joyful investment in our life." She's happy cooking meals he eats without thanks, washing his smoke-stained clothes, scrubbing toilets on her knees. While some women might despair at disappearing beneath household chores, she finds it "sexy, intimate, even profound." This self-erasure has a strategic element: "If he got something from me, I was taking something too: making him unable to live without me by subsidizing his rent, cooking his food, cleaning his clothes, until he couldn't remember life before me." Her servitude is both submission and a form of control-creating dependency she hopes will secure his love. By June, after three months of living together, the narrator begins seeing women as Ciaran would, inhabiting his gaze. Initially this happens only when they're together-she notices pretty girls, then watches his eyes to see if he notices them too, experiencing each confirmation as betrayal. Soon she finds herself doing this alone, scanning for women he would like-those with delicate features, dreamy eyes, suggestions of frailty and sensuality, long hair, prominent collarbones. She collects these mental images as protection, building a registry of potential threats. The obsession with Freja intensifies when Ciaran calls his ex after a terrorist attack in Malmo where Freja now lives. The narrator checks Freja's social media accounts daily-during her commute, on lunch breaks, searching through her photos, friends, and the places they frequented together. Friday evenings become her ritual when Ciaran goes out with his gallery friends. She savors these solitary nights with wine, cigarettes, and mindless television while obsessively studying Freja online, comparing photos of Freja with Ciaran to photos of herself with him, wondering if he appeared more in love with Freja.

8장

Control, Rebellion, and the Beginning of the End

Ciaran's controlling nature gradually extends beyond their relationship dynamics. He doesn't like the narrator to be drunk-a fact she'd always accepted like his dislike of eggs or modern fiction. When she challenges this by suggesting wine with dinner, he becomes uncomfortable, eventually saying "Do what you want" before stalking away. Rather than weakening his position, this emboldens him. He begins emailing her studies about cirrhosis, counting calories in drinks, and commenting on how alcohol would age her. His health concerns spread to criticizing her transportation choices, suggesting veganism like Freja, and obsessing over dental hygiene-once forcing her head down to look at blood in her spit, saying, "That's disease. That's what happens when you don't floss. Do you see now?" The narrator begins drinking more in front of Ciaran as a form of rebellion, but carefully maintains composure. If she crossed into sloppiness, she'd lose their unspoken game, but by drinking while remaining poised, she can make his disgust seem ridiculous. When he pours her wine down the sink one evening, announcing new house rules that they can only drink and smoke one night per week, she feigns agreement while secretly delighted at his self-sabotage. She begins arriving home early to drink a bottle before he returns, then sitting with a fresh bottle when he arrives. Meanwhile, her sexual desire for Ciaran begins to fade. Though his body remains objectively beautiful, she struggles to feel anything when he touches her. Things that once drove her wild now barely register. She can perform passion convincingly, faking orgasms he can't distinguish from real ones, which leaves her feeling both proud and frightened by her aloneness. When Ciaran uses her computer and forgets to log out, she discovers she can access all his emails, including those to Freja. For days she obsessively reads through them, hoping to be devastated by revelations of ongoing betrayal. Instead, she finds something worse-mundanity. Their correspondence reveals two dependent people unable to imagine different lives, not star-crossed lovers. There are cruel parts-Freja's attempts to undermine her, his reassurances that she is temporary-but nothing shocking enough to justify her invasion.

절박한 행위 요약에서 더 많은 것을 얻으세요

매일 새로운 인사이트를 10만 개 이상의 레슨에서 만나보세요
단어가 강조되어 오디오와 실시간으로 동기화됩니다
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9장

The Breaking Point and Infidelity

The breaking point crystallizes during the narrator's visits to her father in the hospital. Faced with his mortality-tubes snaking across his chest, the antiseptic smell of illness-she finds herself reaching out to Reuben, her first love from her teenage years. Their reconnection isn't merely nostalgic; it serves as a mirror reflecting the depth of what's missing in her current life. When they finally meet, it's as if time has folded in on itself. Their reunion awakens not just memories, but a visceral reminder of what authentic connection feels like. When they sleep together, it feels "like being with a wonderful ghost-touching familiar places and discovering new ones that still felt known." Their intimacy is "soft, easy, almost funny-nothing like sex with Ciaran, which had always been desperate and anguished." The contrast becomes a watershed moment in her understanding of her marriage. The guilt that follows is intense but short-lived, giving way to a kind of reckless liberation. After her father's recovery-a close call that leaves her shaken but somehow emboldened-she begins a calculated series of infidelities. One evening, rather than returning home, she sits alone in a bar, drinking wine and contemplating the distance between her current life and the one she imagined for herself. At a party later that night, she encounters Noah, a peripheral figure from her past who suddenly becomes central to her emotional awakening. Their encounter is electric, raw, and spontaneous-everything her intimacy with Ciaran has ceased to be. Noah emerges as more than just another affair; he becomes a symbol of possibility. He seems "like a miracle, his warmth a stunning contrast to Ciaran's freeze." Unlike Ciaran's careful withholding, Noah shares freely-his thoughts, his meals, his daily observations-without prompting or expectation. "He made the world itself seem good and ready to be embraced, making me feel funny and new and fizzing-and like I wouldn't even need him there for that feeling to be true." His presence in her life highlights everything that's calcified in her marriage. As her marriage continues its slow collapse, she enters a period of deliberate chaos. Her subsequent affairs-with a friend who's always lingered on the periphery of attraction, a colleague whose quiet admiration turns physical, and an artist whose creative energy proves irresistible-become both escape and self-destruction. Her drinking increases, not just in volume but in desperation. Her behavior toward Ciaran becomes erratic-swinging between excessive sweetness and complete absence, disappearing for nights without explanation or apology. She finds herself drawn back to old friends-"the dedicated drunks who maintained our previous pace, carefree yet chronically depressed artists and musicians living on welfare." These reconnections feel like both a regression and a homecoming, a return to a version of herself she'd tried to outgrow but now desperately misses.

10장

The Violent End and Aftermath

The final confrontation occurs on the narrator's twenty-fifth birthday. After a disturbing sexual encounter with an artist who shares Ciaran's studio, she wakes alone, naked under a piece of tarpaulin, her body bruised and bloodied. She realizes that the "good times" with Ciaran were merely relief from pain-relief from his coldness, ignorance, disdain and hatred. She had "suffered and transformed that suffering into something I could consider good, making suffering a kind of work." When she returns to their apartment and tells Ciaran she wants to break up, he mockingly asks why, then leads her to their bedroom where he's arranged all her diaries, exposing everything-who she'd slept with, her feelings about Noah, her boredom with him. He reads aloud her desires to be hurt in ways he never gave her. She apologizes, crying in the corner. He undresses, kisses her, then violently initiates sex. When she cries, he sneers, "This is what you like," repeating it as he assaults her, hatred in his eyes. After this final violation, the narrator escapes to a hotel and later leaves the country. She spends six months in Greece alone, where her "loneliness had transformed into something more permanent and peaceful, something that could be endured forever." This solitude becomes healing rather than punishing. The novel concludes with the narrator watching two elderly twin brothers sunbathing in sync, holding hands in comfortable silence. Everything around her-"the hot dog stand, my beer in the sand, my sour Greek cigarettes"-fills her with happiness. She remembers how much she once loved learning things for their own sake, not to impress anyone. She thinks of all the worry she'd solicited from men with her performances of rage and hurt, believing a man's love would fill the emptiness inside her. But now she is "right inside my life with nobody to say what happened next."

들리는 모든 단어를 눈으로 확인하세요

절박한 행위 요약의 각 단어가 오디오에 맞춰 실시간으로 강조되어 편하게 따라 읽을 수 있습니다.

11장

The Transformative Power of Desperate Love

"Acts of Desperation" offers a profound examination of how love can transform into obsession when it becomes the sole source of meaning and validation in one's life. The narrator's journey from worshipping Ciaran to finding peace in solitude represents a painful but necessary evolution. The novel forces us to confront uncomfortable truths about desire, power, and self-worth. The narrator's willingness to erase herself for Ciaran's love reflects a culturally ingrained belief that a woman's value is determined by her ability to secure and maintain a man's affection. Her desperate acts-the cooking, cleaning, sexual compliance, and emotional contortions-stem from this belief. What makes the novel so powerful is its refusal to offer easy judgments or solutions. The narrator's behavior is often self-destructive, but Nolan portrays it with such raw honesty that we understand the emotional logic behind each choice. The desperate need for connection, the willingness to accept crumbs of affection, the hope that enough love and sacrifice will transform an unequal relationship-these are recognizable human impulses, even when they lead to suffering. By the end, the narrator's liberation comes not from finding a healthier relationship but from discovering she can exist without defining herself through a man's gaze. The final image of her sitting alone on a Greek beach, crying with happiness at her solitude, offers a radical alternative to the conventional romantic narrative. Sometimes the happiest ending isn't finding the right person, but finding yourself after losing the wrong one. In its unflinching portrayal of obsessive love, "Acts of Desperation" reminds us that the most desperate act of all might be surrendering your identity in the hope that someone else will make you whole. True liberation comes from recognizing that you were always complete, even in your brokenness.

★★★★★

절박한 행위 요약 완독을 축하합니다

“23일째 매일 사용하고 있어요. 이제 제 일상의 한 부분이 되었습니다.”

jayallen

절박한 행위 요약의 핵심 주제

toxic codependency
female self-destruction
validation seeking
obsessive infatuation
unrequited emotional labor

절박한 행위 요약의 명문장

Ciaran became the first man she worshipped, his body a site of prayer.
Getting apples and walking around was the point...that was more than enough.
Did you want me to say I'm falling in love with you? Because I'm not.
the best times of my life were with Freja.

절박한 행위 요약의 등장인물

CiaranA beautiful but cold and volatile man.
FrejaCiaran's ex-girlfriend who repeatedly cheated.
Megan NolanThe author and narrator of the book's themes.

저자 소개

메건 놀란(Megan Nolan)은 국제적인 베스트셀러인 『절망의 행위(Acts of Desperation)』의 저자로 찬사받는 아일랜드 작가입니다. 이 작품은 친밀한 관계 속의 욕망, 집착, 그리고 자기 파괴의 복잡성을 탐구합니다. 1990년 아일랜드 워터퍼드에서 태어나 현재 런던에서 활동 중인 놀란은 개인적인 경험을 바탕으로 사랑과 자존감의 어두운 이면을 조사하며, 현대 소설에 가감 없는 정직함과 심리적 깊이를 불어넣습니다.

그녀의 데뷔 소설은 2022년 베티 트래스크 상(Betty Trask Award)을 수상했으며 딜런 토머스 상(Dylan Thomas Prize) 후보 명단에 올랐습니다. 《타임》지는 이 책을 올해의 최고 도서 중 하나로 선정했고, 《옵저버》는 놀란을 2021년 최고의 신인 소설가 중 한 명으로 꼽았습니다. 칼 오베 크나우스고르(Karl Ove Knausgaard)로부터 "거대한 문학적 재능"이라는 평을 받은 그녀는 《뉴욕 타임스》, 《가디언》, 《뉴 스테이츠먼》 등에 에세이와 비평을 기고하고 있으며, 《뉴 스테이츠먼》에서는 격주로 칼럼을 연재하고 있습니다.

『절망의 행위』는 8개 언어로 번역되었으며, 중독적인 사랑에 대한 날것 그대로의 타협 없는 묘사로 전 세계 독자들에게 계속해서 깊은 울림을 주고 있습니다.

절박한 행위 요약 다운로드

절박한 행위 요약을 무료 PDF 또는 EPUB으로 받으세요. 인쇄하거나 오프라인에서 언제든 읽을 수 있습니다.

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컬럼비아 대학교 동문들이 제작 | 샌프란시스코에서 개발

BeFreed는 호기심 넘치는 글로벌 커뮤니티를 하나로 연결합니다

4.7

평균 평점

앱 평가 7.84천 개 이상

BeFreed 커뮤니티

정말이지 아직 앱을 다 써 보지도 않았는데, 며칠 써 본 것만으로도 깊은 인상을 받았어요… BeFreed는 제가 써 본 어떤 학습 앱과도 차원이 달라요. 몰입감이 엄청나고 집중력도 실제로 좋아져서, 스마트폰을 하염없이 스크롤하는 분들께 딱이에요!

@ladyInfinity

정확히 23일 전에 BeFreed를 구입했는데, 그날부터 하루도 빠짐없이 쓰고 있어요. 제 일상 업무 흐름과 학습 습관에 완전히 자리 잡았어요.

@jayallen

솔직히 이 앱은 제 기대를 전부 뛰어넘었어요. 어떤 주제든 오디오로 만들어 달라고 할 수 있고, 결과물이 놀라워요. 제 전문 분야는 심리치료 쪽이고 여러 학문이 얽혀 있는데도 답변이 아주 정확해요.

@Raguipa

제일 고마운 건 스크롤하는 시간이 확 줄었다는 거예요. 검색하는 시간은 줄고 흡수하는 시간은 늘었어요. 오디오북 전권, 팟캐스트, 학습 플랜의 조합이 정말 훌륭해요.

@colonyofcreatorsNGO

저는 24년째 PhotoReading 속진 학습 강사로 일하고 있어요… 책과 독서, 배움이 제 전문인데, BeFreed는 정보를 소화하기 쉽게 전달하는 혁신적인 방식을 정말 잘 구현했어요.

@BeFreed user

단순한 책 요약 앱이 아니에요. '재미' 스타일을 써 봤는데, 전통적인 방식보다 훨씬 나은 요약이고 아이디어를 이해하기도 쉬워요. 이것만으로도 값어치를 해요.

@austinakon

이 앱이 정말 좋아요. 며칠 써 봤는데 듣는 걸 멈출 수가 없어요. 시작하기에 이보다 좋을 수 없어요.

@jcrules328

정말 마음에 들어요. 한 달 정도 써 봤는데 숨은 보석을 찾은 기분이에요. BeFreed로 제가 원하는 주제를 직접 만들 수 있어서 좋고, 목소리도 훌륭한 데다 내레이션 선택지가 무궁무진해요.

@DanielCZ

정말이지 아직 앱을 다 써 보지도 않았는데, 며칠 써 본 것만으로도 깊은 인상을 받았어요… BeFreed는 제가 써 본 어떤 학습 앱과도 차원이 달라요. 몰입감이 엄청나고 집중력도 실제로 좋아져서, 스마트폰을 하염없이 스크롤하는 분들께 딱이에요!

@ladyInfinity

정확히 23일 전에 BeFreed를 구입했는데, 그날부터 하루도 빠짐없이 쓰고 있어요. 제 일상 업무 흐름과 학습 습관에 완전히 자리 잡았어요.

@jayallen

솔직히 이 앱은 제 기대를 전부 뛰어넘었어요. 어떤 주제든 오디오로 만들어 달라고 할 수 있고, 결과물이 놀라워요. 제 전문 분야는 심리치료 쪽이고 여러 학문이 얽혀 있는데도 답변이 아주 정확해요.

@Raguipa

제일 고마운 건 스크롤하는 시간이 확 줄었다는 거예요. 검색하는 시간은 줄고 흡수하는 시간은 늘었어요. 오디오북 전권, 팟캐스트, 학습 플랜의 조합이 정말 훌륭해요.

@colonyofcreatorsNGO

저는 24년째 PhotoReading 속진 학습 강사로 일하고 있어요… 책과 독서, 배움이 제 전문인데, BeFreed는 정보를 소화하기 쉽게 전달하는 혁신적인 방식을 정말 잘 구현했어요.

@BeFreed user

단순한 책 요약 앱이 아니에요. '재미' 스타일을 써 봤는데, 전통적인 방식보다 훨씬 나은 요약이고 아이디어를 이해하기도 쉬워요. 이것만으로도 값어치를 해요.

@austinakon

이 앱이 정말 좋아요. 며칠 써 봤는데 듣는 걸 멈출 수가 없어요. 시작하기에 이보다 좋을 수 없어요.

@jcrules328

정말 마음에 들어요. 한 달 정도 써 봤는데 숨은 보석을 찾은 기분이에요. BeFreed로 제가 원하는 주제를 직접 만들 수 있어서 좋고, 목소리도 훌륭한 데다 내레이션 선택지가 무궁무진해요.

@DanielCZ

유용한 정보와 아이디어를 8~15분짜리 팟캐스트 스타일 오디오로 압축해서 들을 수 있다는 게 정말 좋아요. 원래 팟캐스트는 군더더기가 많아서 안 좋아했는데, 여기는 그걸 싹 걷어냈어요.

@BeFreed user

박사 과정을 마무리하는 중이라 낯선 자료를 많이 읽어야 해요… BeFreed에서는 프롬프트만 입력하면 앱이 자료를 찾아서 오디오 팟캐스트로 만들어 줘요. BeFreed의 과정이 NotebookLM보다 더 매끄럽게 느껴져요.

@Brad

아침을 준비하거나 산책하거나 출퇴근할 때 들을 것을 YouTube에서 자주 찾곤 했는데, BeFreed는 광고도 군더더기도 없이 훨씬 더 딱 맞는 걸 들려줘요!

@BeFreed user

이 플랫폼의 가장 큰 장점은 활용도예요. 다루지 못하는 주제가 말 그대로 하나도 없어요. 무엇을 던져도 다 소화해요… 제한이 전혀 없으면서 약속을 실제로 지키는 학습 도구는 정말 드물어요.

@jayallen

BeFreed는 환상적이에요. 디자인이 편해서 헤매는 시간은 줄고 배우는 시간은 늘었어요. 오디오북, 팟캐스트, 학습 플랜의 조합은 천재적이에요. 제 하루가 완전히 달라졌어요.

@BeFreed user

처음엔 이탈리아어로 팟캐스트를 만드는 방법을 이해하는 데 시간이 좀 걸렸는데, 알고 나니까 — 와! 정말 대단해요! 어떤 주제든 설명해 달라고 하면 정말 똑똑하게 잘 설명해 줘요!

@matteo77

BeFreed는 제가 매일 쓰는 오디오북 앱이 됐어요… 제일 마음에 드는 건 텍스트를 넣으면 이동 중에도 들을 수 있는 오디오로 만들어 준다는 점이에요.

@kotanzu1

유용한 정보와 아이디어를 8~15분짜리 팟캐스트 스타일 오디오로 압축해서 들을 수 있다는 게 정말 좋아요. 원래 팟캐스트는 군더더기가 많아서 안 좋아했는데, 여기는 그걸 싹 걷어냈어요.

@BeFreed user

박사 과정을 마무리하는 중이라 낯선 자료를 많이 읽어야 해요… BeFreed에서는 프롬프트만 입력하면 앱이 자료를 찾아서 오디오 팟캐스트로 만들어 줘요. BeFreed의 과정이 NotebookLM보다 더 매끄럽게 느껴져요.

@Brad

아침을 준비하거나 산책하거나 출퇴근할 때 들을 것을 YouTube에서 자주 찾곤 했는데, BeFreed는 광고도 군더더기도 없이 훨씬 더 딱 맞는 걸 들려줘요!

@BeFreed user

이 플랫폼의 가장 큰 장점은 활용도예요. 다루지 못하는 주제가 말 그대로 하나도 없어요. 무엇을 던져도 다 소화해요… 제한이 전혀 없으면서 약속을 실제로 지키는 학습 도구는 정말 드물어요.

@jayallen

BeFreed는 환상적이에요. 디자인이 편해서 헤매는 시간은 줄고 배우는 시간은 늘었어요. 오디오북, 팟캐스트, 학습 플랜의 조합은 천재적이에요. 제 하루가 완전히 달라졌어요.

@BeFreed user

처음엔 이탈리아어로 팟캐스트를 만드는 방법을 이해하는 데 시간이 좀 걸렸는데, 알고 나니까 — 와! 정말 대단해요! 어떤 주제든 설명해 달라고 하면 정말 똑똑하게 잘 설명해 줘요!

@matteo77

BeFreed는 제가 매일 쓰는 오디오북 앱이 됐어요… 제일 마음에 드는 건 텍스트를 넣으면 이동 중에도 들을 수 있는 오디오로 만들어 준다는 점이에요.

@kotanzu1

웹에서 BeFreed가 어떻게 논의되고 있는지 더 보기

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