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bookhawk's review
4.0
In My Skin is remarkable as a memoir for many reasons and predominantly so because an intelligent, educated person tells a story of two things, heroin and prostitution, that are not usually associated with prostitution or heroine. Holden tells how she fell into heroine and prostitution and describes her experiences frankly and with great detail. The book makes me so thankful not to have ever gotten into even trying drugs or found them alluring. Her insights on the daily prostitution experience are powerful in their honesty and simplicity. A low 4 star book that probably deserves more readership than it has enjoyed.
wetcheesereviews's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I enjoyed reading about somewhere I live, I enjoy Australian authors, it was an easy read but I think i expected more from someone who talks up their Melbourne university arts degree education. I guess as she is from an older generation an arts degree may have been looked down on, so there's just a cultural shift you need to keep in mind when reading this. Today if a Melb Uni arts graduate wrote this you would be slightly shocked at the lack of insight. I really enjoyed it but I found it very third-wave feminism and rushed towards the end. I would have enjoyed a slower ending
tallulah27's review
5.0
LOVE. One of the first memoirs I’ve read and really loved. I won’t look at St Kilda in the same way for a while! Such an insight into a whole new world.
soggypotatoes's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual content
josephinecatherine's review
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
5.0
In any other context, this would be a horror. Kate Holden wields her pen so well that gruesome, gory, ugly truths can be read so easily. The storytelling shows how easily addiction is to fall into, and how destructive it is to get out of even when there is the will. She is honest in her portrayal of herself and I can empathise with that. While not a drug addict, I felt myself reflected in those scenes with her mother. This speaks to addiction to pain and self-loathing as much as it does addiction to drugs.
An important and hard and beautiful read.
An important and hard and beautiful read.