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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
potential to be a little more disturbing than I was up for at this point
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I remember when the film adaptation of this came out. It was quite a big deal but somehow both the film and the book seem to have dropped off the radar. Perhaps it's because of the subject matter (child sexual abuse).
The premise is quite clever of this story divided in three parts, each gathering chapters alternating the voices of mostly the three main characters (Brian, Neil and Eric). The language is pared down and effective, almost emotionless despite describing some pretty big emotions. That means that the story a bit of slog to read and didn't really come to live for me until the last quarter.
On the whole I was left fairly indifferent, which is not what you'd want from such a book.
The premise is quite clever of this story divided in three parts, each gathering chapters alternating the voices of mostly the three main characters (Brian, Neil and Eric). The language is pared down and effective, almost emotionless despite describing some pretty big emotions. That means that the story a bit of slog to read and didn't really come to live for me until the last quarter.
On the whole I was left fairly indifferent, which is not what you'd want from such a book.
I saw the 2005 film adaptation years ago, but picked this up at a Goodwill recently since the plot of the movie had become hazy. There’s an interesting tension in this story. Heim pushes his characters deep into the dark obsessions that make them feel special because of how unusual they are. But as he strips away the illusions, making them more mundane, he reveals them as much worse than they could have imagined.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault
challenging
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
i love this movie and avoided reading this for so long bcz i was afraid it wouldn’t measure up .. God i was wrong …
Brian Lackey is an awkward, gawky kid obsessed with UFOs and alien abduction, trying to explain five hours of missing childhood memories. Neil McCormick's hypersexuality and attraction to older men stems from the vividly-remembered, idealized sexual abuse he experienced as a child. A story of the personal, private consequences of trauma, Mysterious Skin is one hell of a book, written with challenging, quiet ambiguity. The characters are dirty and flawed, but presented with such authenticity that it's impossible not to care for them, and the setting is similarly unglamorous; the plot is simultaneously mundane and compelling, and always overshadowed by a sense of inevitability no matter dark and strange its content becomes. This is in no way a criticism, because what happens is only half the story: Mysterious Skin is as about the relationship between an event and what it means to us, what it becomes to us, how it changes us—and in its mundanity and vastness, its strangeness and inevitability, its event and impact, it's the relationship between the halves that create a compelling and meaningful whole.
As such, Mysterious Skin is no tearjerker, despite appearances to the contrary. It's as much about the mundane fallout as the cataclysmic event and it's handled with intense and discomforting ambiguity, denying sensationalism and the comfort of cheap catharsis, providing instead the personal, imperfect, private truths of two individuals effected by child sexual abuse. Such ambiguity is demanding and Mysterious Skin offers no easy relief. It's a painful, difficult book—and a good one. On an artistic level, the text doesn't quite sing from the page—each narrator has a near-identical voice, despite their number and variety; otherwise, the prose is nearly transparent, the themes are handled with a slightly heavy hand, and the plot's inevitability can become too obvious. Those issues matter, but they're minor quibbles as the rest of what Mysterious Skin offers is enough to outweigh them. It's hard to call this a book I "enjoyed," but it's one I appreciated and my opinion of it only improves in retrospect; I hope to revisit, someday. And I recommend it.
As such, Mysterious Skin is no tearjerker, despite appearances to the contrary. It's as much about the mundane fallout as the cataclysmic event and it's handled with intense and discomforting ambiguity, denying sensationalism and the comfort of cheap catharsis, providing instead the personal, imperfect, private truths of two individuals effected by child sexual abuse. Such ambiguity is demanding and Mysterious Skin offers no easy relief. It's a painful, difficult book—and a good one. On an artistic level, the text doesn't quite sing from the page—each narrator has a near-identical voice, despite their number and variety; otherwise, the prose is nearly transparent, the themes are handled with a slightly heavy hand, and the plot's inevitability can become too obvious. Those issues matter, but they're minor quibbles as the rest of what Mysterious Skin offers is enough to outweigh them. It's hard to call this a book I "enjoyed," but it's one I appreciated and my opinion of it only improves in retrospect; I hope to revisit, someday. And I recommend it.