Review by horrorbutch - Skin

A review by horrorbutch
Skin by Kathe Koja

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from netgalley in exchange for a review.

This story follows Tess, a welding artist, stuck in her daily routine and floundering, when she meets Bibi, a dancer, always looking to push her art to new heights. They join forces, perform together, first only a performance that Tess welds during. While Tess moves further into the mechanical, trying to figure out giant robots, Bibi moves further into cutting and body modification on herself and others. Their rise to fame comes to an abrupt and brutal stop after an accidental death during a performance, sending Tess and Bibi spiraling apart, only tangentially connected anymore by another performer called Michael, who sometimes brings Tess news about Bibi and slowly pushes his way into her life.

The story is brutal and sets a fast pace, told in a stream-of-consciousness way, that barely leaves time to breathe between scene. Getting used to the writing took a bit of time, but once you get into it it’s really hard to stop. I really enjoyed it.

The body horror is gruesome, as is the emotional pain of Tess (who we follow closely as the main narrator) and the way we watch Bibi spiral deeper and deeper into self-destructive body modifications. The relationship between Tess and Bibi, the ways they connect, the ways they clash, their love-to-hate-to-obsession path was incredibly interesting. I also adored the way Tess hides from her own feelings, by hiding behind her welding, punishing herself and her body in much the same way Bibi is doing, while turning her nose up at Bibi’s way of doing things. It was really intriguing.

None of the characters could be really described as loveable. At best they are obsessive (Tess), at worst they push others into harm (Bibi), while never treating themselves better than they treat others. It was horrifying to read, body horror combining with psychological horror combining with love and friendship and care as well as hate and betrayal and wanting to destroy another person.

All in all this is a story about art and about the body and the clash between the organic and the mechanical, featuring self-(and others-)harm, the many, many way to fill the emptiness and love that is hate that is love that is hate.

TW: self-harm, body modification, death, grief, jealousy, lesbophobia, manipulation, suicide attempt, toxic relation/friendship, torture, physical abuse, injury, gore, body horror, blood, ableism, forced institutionalization (minor)

Content Warnings

A review by horrorbutch Skin by Kathe Koja

A review by horrorbutch
Skin by Kathe Koja