Tamara Faith Berger’s Yara was an at-times uncomfortable read as she takes her readers at an unforgiving pace through the title character’s journey from ending an abusive relationship to the LA porn scene. There’s no feel-good resolution in the end and I finished the novel hoping Yara would better be able to love herself. While the book takes several seemingly disjointed leaps between settings and situations, it never feels improbable and Berger’s talent for putting us in Yara’s head through the roller-coaster puts her in a tier of her own among current Canadian writers. 4/5.