Gunk, Saba Sams
Saba Sams’ Gunk tells the story of the increasingly intimate and complex relationship between the frustrated ex-wife of a student nightclub owner and the enigmatic young woman hired to work the establishment's bar. It’s a story of desire, repression, and control but, above all, it’s one that reframes the word family, exploring all the forms that it can take.
Send Nudes, Sams’ previous collection of short stories, was among one of the first proofs I ever received, so being able to review Gunk, her debut novel, has been a really lovely full circle moment. I remember when I read Send Nudes, Sams' writing was electrifying, and her exploration of the experience of womanhood was one that stuck with me for a while after. This is taken to a new level in her debut novel, Gunk, which delves into motherhood and what that can mean for different women. Questions of nature vs nurture are raised here, as well as thinking about generational cycles; are we fated to become our mothers, and can we overcome the way we’re raised over time?
The relationship between our two protagonists, Jules and Nim, is a clever and complicated one; it mirrors multiple relationship forms – romantic, maternal, professional. At times nurturing, at times claustrophobic, it’s a masterclass in stripping back the politics of the different connections that we can have between people, and a reminder that, as humans, we all come with layers of history and unpredictability.
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