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A review by apple_atcha_reading
The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was a beautiful story of family and the stories we tell, and those keep for ourselves. There will be spoilers in this review, so proceed with caution.
Our narrator, Elspeth, or Betty as her Aunt Nuha christens her, is speaking to her deceased Aunt Nuha at her grave, looking for advice on what direction to follow: her heart or her head. Should she follow her beloved to a new country and begin their life together, or should she remain with her family in the only place she knows as home?
Told in three parts, we follow Betty from ages 0-1, 1-6, 6-9.
Ages 0-1: From the very beginning, Betty is an unusual child to say the least. Stillborn, but revived, her skin is a vibrant blue reminiscent of the (in)famous blue soap from family tales back in Nablus. Her mother's intention is to give her up for adoption, but Aunt Nuha has other plans. The first few years of Betty's life are tumultuous, living with a great aunt, grandmother, and mentally unstable mother. When Betty's mother's maternity leave is over, she returns to her work, leaving Betty in the care of aging Aunt Nuha. Betty's father has no idea of her existence, until her grandmother tells him Tashi (Betty's mother), did not have a miscarriage as she told everyone else, but she had the baby and was living with Aunt Nuha in her dangerous apartment.
Ages 1-6: Betty develops a relationship with her father, against her mother and Aunt Nuha's wishes (court mandated). Betty's father is wealthy, and wants to provide the best of everything for Betty, and her mother, whom he still has feelings for. Throughout her development, her father is utterly convinced there is a scientific reason why something is "wrong" with her (her blue skin and density). Although she has blue skin and a strange density for a child of her size (weighing nearly 100 pounds by the age of 5, and small for her age), all the tests say internally Betty is a "stone cold normal" child. Her father wants her to live as a normal child, or as normal as a small, blue, Palestinian-American child can, but her mother fears deeply for Betty and what others will think of her or do to her.
Ages 6-9: Betty starts school, and her mothers fears are somewhat substantiated. Betty is often the subject of ridicule and bullying, verging on harassment, because of her blue skin and heritage (Palestinian, although the other children simply call her "rag head"). This section of novel also slowly but surely starts to reveal more about Aunt Nuha, and her past that she has tried for decades to keep hidden. Nuha is older than the western created state of Israel; she was a victim of the 1948 Nakba, and further displacement by settler violence after that pushed her from Nablus to California, where she is positioned as the matriarch (and trouble maker) of the Rummani family. Betty and Nuha spend time together, after the death of Betty's step-grandfather, where much of Nuha's previous life is revealed to young Betty, although at the time she may not fully comprehend the severity of the truth. Navigating life as not only a blue skinned person, but as a somewhat openly queer woman (it's fairly ambiguous how out Betty is, but it is stated her mother knows), is difficult for Betty to say the least. Wanting so desperately to be loved and liked by her peers and family, she's willing to go to extreme lengths for affection, but is often met with disappointing results.
While the first portion of this novel frames this as just the story of Betty, surrounded by eclectic, some traditional, some modern (Americanized), Palestinian family members, the longer I read, I realized it was a parallel tale of Aunt Nuha and Betty. They both have a seemingly impossible decision ahead of them, to leave the life they know and love, or enter further exile. Openly be themselves and embrace the unknown, or maintain the status quo of what the family, and society, expects of them. I loved how this story became Nuha's story. Her past and her reasonings for doing everything she did felt authentic to a woman doing what was necessary to keep herself, and later her family, safe. My favorite parts of this book were the glimpses we got into Nuha's past. The twist near the end of her not being a "true" Rummani, but rather a false imitation of the runaway daughter was well done. I had suspicions about Nuha and her roots, but nothing to the degree that was actually written. Nuha was largely rejected by the immediate members of the Rummani family who knew her secret, but to the outside world there was no problem and they accepted her as she was presented. Betty was largely rejected by the outside world save for a few friends/lovers, but accepted for who she was by her immediate family, in a reveral/parallel of Nuha.
Highly recommend this novel to those who enjoy stories of complex familes, mystical elements, historical and contemporary crossovers, and literary fiction.
Our narrator, Elspeth, or Betty as her Aunt Nuha christens her, is speaking to her deceased Aunt Nuha at her grave, looking for advice on what direction to follow: her heart or her head. Should she follow her beloved to a new country and begin their life together, or should she remain with her family in the only place she knows as home?
Told in three parts, we follow Betty from ages 0-1, 1-6, 6-9.
Ages 0-1: From the very beginning, Betty is an unusual child to say the least. Stillborn, but revived, her skin is a vibrant blue reminiscent of the (in)famous blue soap from family tales back in Nablus. Her mother's intention is to give her up for adoption, but Aunt Nuha has other plans. The first few years of Betty's life are tumultuous, living with a great aunt, grandmother, and mentally unstable mother. When Betty's mother's maternity leave is over, she returns to her work, leaving Betty in the care of aging Aunt Nuha. Betty's father has no idea of her existence, until her grandmother tells him Tashi (Betty's mother), did not have a miscarriage as she told everyone else, but she had the baby and was living with Aunt Nuha in her dangerous apartment.
Ages 1-6: Betty develops a relationship with her father, against her mother and Aunt Nuha's wishes (court mandated). Betty's father is wealthy, and wants to provide the best of everything for Betty, and her mother, whom he still has feelings for. Throughout her development, her father is utterly convinced there is a scientific reason why something is "wrong" with her (her blue skin and density). Although she has blue skin and a strange density for a child of her size (weighing nearly 100 pounds by the age of 5, and small for her age), all the tests say internally Betty is a "stone cold normal" child. Her father wants her to live as a normal child, or as normal as a small, blue, Palestinian-American child can, but her mother fears deeply for Betty and what others will think of her or do to her.
Ages 6-9: Betty starts school, and her mothers fears are somewhat substantiated. Betty is often the subject of ridicule and bullying, verging on harassment, because of her blue skin and heritage (Palestinian, although the other children simply call her "rag head"). This section of novel also slowly but surely starts to reveal more about Aunt Nuha, and her past that she has tried for decades to keep hidden. Nuha is older than the western created state of Israel; she was a victim of the 1948 Nakba, and further displacement by settler violence after that pushed her from Nablus to California, where she is positioned as the matriarch (and trouble maker) of the Rummani family. Betty and Nuha spend time together, after the death of Betty's step-grandfather, where much of Nuha's previous life is revealed to young Betty, although at the time she may not fully comprehend the severity of the truth. Navigating life as not only a blue skinned person, but as a somewhat openly queer woman (it's fairly ambiguous how out Betty is, but it is stated her mother knows), is difficult for Betty to say the least. Wanting so desperately to be loved and liked by her peers and family, she's willing to go to extreme lengths for affection, but is often met with disappointing results.
Highly recommend this novel to those who enjoy stories of complex familes, mystical elements, historical and contemporary crossovers, and literary fiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness
Moderate: Xenophobia, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Infidelity, War, and Bullying
Minor: Racism, Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury