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A review by morgansyd
Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett
4.0
This was an interesting book to read right after finishing Equus, since they both deal with the dangers of desire/dangers of repressing or acting out your passions and/or emotions (seems like there's no winning there). Except this one was a much quieter, despondent version of that story - this made me reeeally sad... I'll be thinking about pitiful Mr. F and his loneliness for a while.
Having said all that, it was really fun imagining Harry Styles as Beauty lmao
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edit, not even 24 hours later: so I've been mulling over this book for a while, and I think it deserves 4 stars instead of 3. I was put off by Part 4, which is where the narrator wraps up the story, and I found it so unsatisfying and a bit pointless.
But I had read this in practically one sitting, it was so gripping, so it's only now that certain things are coming to light that I didn't take notice of as I was reading. Like how much this reminded me of Notes on a Scandal. Not necessarily because of the "scandalous" nature of both the books, or even the age gaps between "romantic interests", but because of our main characters Mr. F and Barbara Covett. Both are so starved of human contact, like that one moment in Notes on a Scandal when Barbara just barely grazes a stranger and she has this almost erotic response because no one has touched her in so long ("... to be so chronically untouched that the accidental brush of a bus conductor's hand on your shoulder sends a jolt of longing straight to your groin.") So it goes with Mr. F, except he's on the opposite end, and he's repulsed by the idea of being touched by people on the train, at work, etc; it's only when Beauty comes into his life that even the mere thought of touching him makes Mr. F feel faint. It's one thing to not want to be touched by strangers, but to be so lonely and devoid of any sort of physical contact is so horribly sad.
Having said all that, it was really fun imagining Harry Styles as Beauty lmao
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edit, not even 24 hours later: so I've been mulling over this book for a while, and I think it deserves 4 stars instead of 3. I was put off by Part 4, which is where the narrator wraps up the story, and I found it so unsatisfying and a bit pointless.
But I had read this in practically one sitting, it was so gripping, so it's only now that certain things are coming to light that I didn't take notice of as I was reading. Like how much this reminded me of Notes on a Scandal. Not necessarily because of the "scandalous" nature of both the books, or even the age gaps between "romantic interests", but because of our main characters Mr. F and Barbara Covett. Both are so starved of human contact, like that one moment in Notes on a Scandal when Barbara just barely grazes a stranger and she has this almost erotic response because no one has touched her in so long ("... to be so chronically untouched that the accidental brush of a bus conductor's hand on your shoulder sends a jolt of longing straight to your groin.") So it goes with Mr. F, except he's on the opposite end, and he's repulsed by the idea of being touched by people on the train, at work, etc; it's only when Beauty comes into his life that even the mere thought of touching him makes Mr. F feel faint. It's one thing to not want to be touched by strangers, but to be so lonely and devoid of any sort of physical contact is so horribly sad.