Reviews - Mysterious Skin | The StoryGraph

478 reviews for:

Mysterious Skin

Scott Heim

4.17 AVERAGE

deputydeer's review

4.5

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is really inspiring for my own work. It's super slow paced but it's good to sit and think with. It does a good job of showing the surrounding of the trauma. I really loved how character focused it is.

Brian and Neil have the same trauma but engage with it very differently. The build up to the ending is very very beautiful. Overall, I'm really glad I read it and I'm going to rewatch the movie.

When I read it again, I want to pay attention to color and purity/lost innocence

Content Warnings

sdra2fan's review

5.0

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

atin_uur's review

4.75

challenging emotional sad

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

geofrog's review against another edition

4.0

A dark coming-of-age of how childhood sexual abuse shapes two teenage boys. One can’t remember, one can’t forget. The film adaptation by Gregg Araki is one of my favourite films of all time, despite the disturbing content. I knew I wanted to read the book that inspired it, but I knew that it would be difficult to endure the darker parts of the story for a second time. The book tells the story of two pre-adolescent boys who both experienced sexual abuse as children, and how it affects their lives in different ways into their young adulthood. One boy becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous sex worker, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction. In the same way that I think some people should never watch the movie, I think there are some people who should never read this book. This is a book that is meant to be read in short bursts rather than all at once, in order to bear the absolute darkness of its contents. The book doesn’t shy away from describing the sexual abuses and exploits explored by its characters. Reading this makes me realize how great a job Gregg Araki did at adapting this story for the big screen; some scenes are translated so well and lifted right off the page, and some of the difficult scenes were shot respectfully and with care for the young actors. One of the best and heaviest parts of the story is Brian’s perspective of alien abductions to be the explanation for his problems, and slowly watching him discover the truth of his childhood sexual abused heartbreaking. I think this was the perfect depiction of how certain people are unable to process what’s happened to them in their childhoods and how it affects them later in life. It’s no secret that I found myself relating to Neil in ways that I didn’t want to admit, but I’ve known this since seeing the film for the first time. I think a lot of people will see themselves in this book in ways they don’t want to admit, and anyone who experienced childhood sexual abuse or sex work can relate. There were a few scenes that were changed or shifted in the movie that I feel were done better than in the novel, especially the scene with Brian confronting his father about his childhood. Male childhood sexual abuse is a topic that isn’t explored often (or properly) in media, but it’s done well in this novel. I think that the author did a great job at giving this difficult subject matter the attention and sensitivity it deserved while not shying away from the raw and real dark beats of the story. I loved how Neil and Brian are kept apart throughout 90% of the story while highlighting the dichotomy between them throughout; it made their eventual meeting and understanding of each other so much more impactful and beautiful. Overall, I think this dark piece of fiction inspired a beautiful film adaptation, and both reflected a part of our culture that many people are too afraid to speak on.

“The boy seemed around my age. Neil's age. Brian's age. I wondered if he'd lived on this street ten years ago; if he'd known Coach. And then I wondered how many others there had been – where they lived now, the diversity of ways they'd chosen to remember.”