Under the Skin: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Under the Skin
Review: Rural fantasy with a touch of H.G. Wells and some Mieville-like qualities

Under the Skin slowly unfolds as the story of a person who has been horribly surgically remade by her dystopian underground society so that she can do a job: picking up hitchhikers. (and read the book to find out why!)

The writing is smooth and eloquent, and the characterization believable though not overly deep. The plot, though not especially high-tension, works well for me until the end, which feels flat and unresolved--Vess is lovely, and one comes to sympathize with Isserley, but there's no resolution, even a sad one. I would have liked just a bit more detail on the grotesque transformations of Isserley's prey.

Thematically, I couldn't see this as the satire it's been described as. I could, however, see it as a story about forced personal change, about people mutilating themselves -- literally and figuratively -- because they believe their place in life demands it. However, the book really doesn't demand a lit-critical reading. It's a good story.

Rating:
Summary: Don't let the jacket copy fool you...
Review: There's very little that's predictable about "Under the Skin." This is perhaps one of the strangest books I've read all year. Trying to pigeonhole this book in a genre is impossible, as it mixes thriller elements with horror, science fiction with a highly literary sensibility.

First and foremost, Faber's writing is wonderful. He tempers his language like a swordsmith, starting from raw story elements and gradually refining them, working in key concepts patiently, until the full shape of the story becomes clear. He doesn't rush, and he seems to love the act of wordsmithing itself. The book is a joy to read, even just from the standpoint of beautiful words.

In contrast to this is the story itself. It's a challenging story, one which is both disturbing and enlightening. The main character, Isserley, at first seems somewhat strange, but it's only as the tale progresses that you learn just how very strange she is, and how her circumstances are perhaps even stranger. And yet, by the end, she becomes very real. This personality, who at the beginning seemed so distant, and then so impossibly different, becomes someone I can understand easily. Her motivations, her feelings, her pain... it all comes into clear focus.

The themes of the book challenge the meaning of what it is to be human. Is "human being" just a phrase, or does it mean something? Does it mean different things to different people? From an outside perspective, what are we, really? Which are all important questions... and perhaps what I liked best about the book is that these questions were implicit. They were never stated outright in the book, but were asked subtly, through the telling of a compelling story.

More than anything, the book reveals out own assumptions and prejudices by taking them and flipping them on their head. "Under the Skin" is not about what you think it might be about. By the simple persuasion of its elegant language, it made me question a great deal of what I believed to be real and reliable.

A highly recommended book, especially for people who like surprises.

Rating:
Summary: We're all the same under the skin
Review: Isserley travels a country road through the Scottish highlands daily, looking for a certain type of hitchhiker - big, fit, healthy, and male. Isserly herself is a small woman of indeterminate origin, slightly strange-looking but also strangely attractive. Of each man she picks up, she wonders: will he be missed?

That is all you need to know - all you should know - of the story. It is full of surprises, from the first sharp shock about twenty pages in, until literally the very last page. Faber skillfully places hints - an unfamiliar word here, an incongruous physical description there - without the reader even being aware that it is happening until later, when more is revealed. The gradual build of information grips the reader like nothing else. Suffice it to say the story is about a woman with a job to do, and what happens when her faith in her profession is shaken. It is also about humanity's place in the scheme of things.

Leave your expectations at the door..or enjoy watching them crumble.

Rating:
Summary: Don't let the jacket copy fool you...
Review: There's very little that's predictable about "Under the Skin." This is perhaps one of the strangest books I've read all year. Trying to pigeonhole this book in a genre is impossible, as it mixes thriller elements with horror, science fiction with a highly literary sensibility.

First and foremost, Faber's writing is wonderful. He tempers his language like a swordsmith, starting from raw story elements and gradually refining them, working in key concepts patiently, until the full shape of the story becomes clear. He doesn't rush, and he seems to love the act of wordsmithing itself. The book is a joy to read, even just from the standpoint of beautiful words.

In contrast to this is the story itself. It's a challenging story, one which is both disturbing and enlightening. The main character, Isserley, at first seems somewhat strange, but it's only as the tale progresses that you learn just how very strange she is, and how her circumstances are perhaps even stranger. And yet, by the end, she becomes very real. This personality, who at the beginning seemed so distant, and then so impossibly different, becomes someone I can understand easily. Her motivations, her feelings, her pain... it all comes into clear focus.

The themes of the book challenge the meaning of what it is to be human. Is "human being" just a phrase, or does it mean something? Does it mean different things to different people? From an outside perspective, what are we, really? Which are all important questions... and perhaps what I liked best about the book is that these questions were implicit. They were never stated outright in the book, but were asked subtly, through the telling of a compelling story.

More than anything, the book reveals out own assumptions and prejudices by taking them and flipping them on their head. "Under the Skin" is not about what you think it might be about. By the simple persuasion of its elegant language, it made me question a great deal of what I believed to be real and reliable.

A highly recommended book, especially for people who like surprises.

Rating:
Summary: Unlike anything you've read before!
Review: What starts out as a strange and somewhat unnerving tale about a disfigured woman who picks up strong male hitchhikers and then injects them with something that knocks them out so she can dress them up in other men's clothes slowly takes shape as a very clever and creative social satire. Of what, I'm not going to tell you, as half the enjoyment of reading this book comes about a third of the way through when you start to figure out what's going on. Faber's point, while first striking me as mundane, actually started to affect me by the end of the novel. Yeah, I've heard the argument before, but this is actually a pretty effective (and certainly NEW) way to put it. I highly recommend this book, although not for the weak of stomach (as some of the scenes are pretty graphically violent). It's one of the most unique books I've encountered in my lifetime. And for once, a satire described as "Swiftian" on the back cover has actually lived up to the adjective.

Rating:
Summary: Subversive & Sensitive. A Masterpiece!!
Review: Michel Faber's under the Skin is a deceptively enjoyable book, told with the control and secrecy of a Master Storyteller, he unfolds the storyline one layer at a time. The charm of the book lies in the fact that it defies categorisation. It is Suspense, Thriller, Romance, Science-Fiction all rolled into one and yet the lyrical beauty of the prose takes it beyond all these genres.
All you need to know about the plot is what you read in the blurb, there is nothing more that one can say without unwittingly revealing the hidden layers, the person best equipped to do it for you is faber himself. An absolute genius with words, this is a fantastic novel that one can ony urge everyone to read with the greatest urgency, not merely for the joy it brings through sheer reading pleasure, but like only the greatest novels can, it makes us question what it means to be human.
Read and be thrilled. Read it especially if you like your novels with a dash of elegance and poetry.

Rating:
Summary: Something about it...
Review: How cliche to have described a book as getting under the skin - but this one truly does. However, unlike many others, I didn't feel it to be in a positive way. I really only finished this book because I had to get to the bottom of what was happening. Certainly how an other gets you to the end doesnt always matter, more so that he does at all. I will agree with the concensus that Faber's style is smooth and self-assured, which is proven just when considering the storyline. I know there is alot of talk about magical realism in fiction - and Im not even sure if this would fall under that category. The problem is that magical realism is supposed to bridge the gap between reality and fantasy with such fluidity that you never questioned the author. Faber doesn't manage that, at least not in my eyes.

Rating:
Summary: Don't get in the car!
Review: This book is difficult to categorize. Is it a science fiction novel? Is it a horror novel? Is it a feminist treatise on the injustice of a male-dominated society with regards to a single woman? Is it all 3 and more?

Isserly is a different kind of woman searching out well-built male hitchhikers on the roads of the Scottish Highlands. What you initially think she wants to do with them may not be quite on target. Her character is very well fleshed out over the course of the novel. You share in her wonderment of the world, her frustrations with life/job/coworkers, her unattainable passions, and her relative loss of sanity.

This is a well-written book that crosses several fiction genres. It is a very good read that is difficult to put down once started. This is my first Michel Faber novel, and I heartily recommend it. I will soon be reading more works from this author.

Rating:
Summary: A great idea put to average use
Review: The idea of this book is really good and in my opinion quite original but unfortunately Michel Faber doesn't do as much with it as you could have wished for. The gradual introduction of the characters and the environment is really interesting but all of a sudden the book ends and you realize that there was never really any plot.

This book is almost pure description and hardly any story and it is such a shame because it would have made a brilliant book if it had been developed further. Instead it reads more like the author sitting down for coffee with you and describing this really cool idea he has just had for a book he might write one day. I'm hoping that he actually does that one day because the idea really is good (it's impossible to actually describe it because that would spoil the book - sorry :)). "Under the skin" is definitely worth reading if you can just overlook the lack of plot and see it as a very interesting description instead.

Rating:
Summary: Take A Surreal Ride With Isserley On Highway A9!
Review: Isserley drives for a living. She motors along Scotland's A9 and looks for male hitchhikers - buff, hunky males, the bigger the better. If a man meets her standards, she takes them on the ride of their lives...destination unknown. Isserley is tiny, though well developed where it counts. She is shy, introverted and scarred - inside and out.

"Under The Skin" is a chilling, bizarre, and erotically charged novel that explores how we view humanity, other races and species. Michel Faber almost forces the reader to observe how we, as human beings and caretakers of the earth, protect our environment and each other. This psychological thriller is at times macabre and gruesome, occasionally humorous with its satirical take on mankind, and often very sad. It is difficult not to empathize with Isserley's moral dilemma, yet how can we not condemn her? It is impossible to judge and we are not asked to here.

Mr. Faber's demonstrates his seemingly boundless imagination with this, his debut novel. If you allow him, he will take you to places you've never been to before in the world of fiction. Faber's plot and characters are some of the most original I have encountered in a long time. He weaves his compelling tale with a tightly written, elegant narrative and superb dialogue. He also created a language for the book that reminds me of the "Nadsat" language in "A Clockwork Orange." I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Faber's "The Crimson Petal And The White" and, wanting to read more by the author, picked up "Under The Skin." The two novels are as unalike as two works of fiction can be, although both are clearly written by the same extremely talented author. If you are looking for a totally unique reading experience, this is it! I doubt very much that you will be disappointed.
JANA