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judeobscures 's review for:
Mysterious Skin
by Scott Heim
It's an excellent book critically. In terms of my enjoyment as the reader, sometimes the more mundane details grew tedious. As much as I really find any story's characters' everyday lives and "mundane" observations very much an important component, I grew bored every so often with these characters'. Likely because I am not someone who can appreciate much about Kansas besides its nature. Additionally, I think the POVs could've just been limited to Neil's and Brian's.
The graphic and unflinching depictions of child sexual abuse and underage prostitution didn't impact the way I feel about the book; I *really* have to admire Heim for it. I don't think most readers will stomach it well, especially without being prepared for it by seeing the film beforehand. In all honesty, this is one of those rare times where I appreciate the film adaptation more than the book, it really expertly conveys the bleakness, the melancholy, the loneliness, the dreaminess severed into frames and intercepted by the ugly reality of things, but there are certain elements I think the film should've included from the source material, such as the last paragraph, which I personally think served better as a last note than the bad monologue at the end of the film. It's terribly, terribly sad. Even though I felt restless at the end of the book, the last chapter nearly made up for all of the tediousness.
One note I do want to make is an observation that is just now settling on me after having rewatched the film. Those genius divides that the editor placed in the film, as well as the flashback sequence at the end, depict so well something unsaid--Neil's longing and bittersweet memories of the "love" vs. Brian's dreamlike, disoriented blankness at the hands of the trauma. There's no better way to convey the feelings experienced as the viewer, and as someone from a background of abuse feeling secondhand empathy, than bleak melancholy.
The graphic and unflinching depictions of child sexual abuse and underage prostitution didn't impact the way I feel about the book; I *really* have to admire Heim for it. I don't think most readers will stomach it well, especially without being prepared for it by seeing the film beforehand. In all honesty, this is one of those rare times where I appreciate the film adaptation more than the book, it really expertly conveys the bleakness, the melancholy, the loneliness, the dreaminess severed into frames and intercepted by the ugly reality of things, but there are certain elements I think the film should've included from the source material, such as the last paragraph, which I personally think served better as a last note than the bad monologue at the end of the film. It's terribly, terribly sad. Even though I felt restless at the end of the book, the last chapter nearly made up for all of the tediousness.
One note I do want to make is an observation that is just now settling on me after having rewatched the film. Those genius divides that the editor placed in the film, as well as the flashback sequence at the end, depict so well something unsaid--Neil's longing and bittersweet memories of the "love" vs. Brian's dreamlike, disoriented blankness at the hands of the trauma. There's no better way to convey the feelings experienced as the viewer, and as someone from a background of abuse feeling secondhand empathy, than bleak melancholy.