Rating: 
Summary: Under the Skin gets Under YOUR skin!
Review: If you like psychological thrillers that make your brain actually "think" while you read, then you'll definitely enjoy this book. It takes you on a very detailed and descriptive journey through the thoughts of a struggling woman named Isserley, as well as through the minds of the hitchhikers she picks up on the A-9. This book deserves a 5 out of 5 because of the imagery and imagination, the story line, and the emotion. Michel Faber is a very compelling author who definitely knows how to mix imagery and imagination together. When he describes his characters he not only states the obvious things like hair color or height, but he gives the reader and overview of their personality. When you read through the book it feels like you're almost there because you can "feel" the moist air on the beach, or you can "hear" the rain puttering on Isserley's car windows. Faber's creativity is awesome because he uses it to creep on the reader when they least expect it, and when it hits them, they're absolutely shocked! This particular story line is very interesting and unique. If Faber were to write side notes for every page in the book it would seriously take so much away from the reader's own imagination to where the story is going. It's amazing how this book makes you think that it's all about a very strange yet appealing woman who picks up hitchhikers, and yet it turns completely around to where she's actually on a mission to find the right "specimen." Under The Skin is a science fiction/adventure story tied into one, but you can't even tell. As you dig deeper and deeper into the story, you can't really stop yourself from reading because the sentences pull you out from your world and into the story's own world. Faber's words leaves you pondering about what they mean in relation to the story and it leaves you saying, "Is that what I think it is?" Faber does an excellent job in portraying Isserley's character. By the end of the book, you already understand who she is and why she is feeling like she's feeling. On the outside, she holds her emotions because she does not want to seem weak, but when no one is around she cries herself to sleep in her cottage because of her job. Isserley was yanked out of the slums in the neighborhood to work for Vess Incorporated. She knows who she is inside, but she never wants to let anyone get to know her. She is an emotional, strong, and beautiful person who struggles with her confusion and with her own emotions.
Rating:
Summary: I read it in ONE SITTING
Review: My good friend recommended this book HIGHLY but wouldn't tell me anything about it. I got it from the university library (sorry, Amazon), so I didn't even have any jacket copy to read. It was just the book.It was the perfect way to experience this mind-boggling, table-turning bit of brilliance. Never have I devoured a book so quickly and completely. One sitting, four hours, and then I was up half the night in terror, admiration, and envy (as a writer). Don't read any spoilers, don't worry about whether you'll "get it" or not. Just read it. ASAP!
Rating:
Summary: Wow, What A Ride!
Review: I can guarantee you have never read a book like this one. Modern literature rarely produces a novel with a high moral purpose that also works as an exciting story. The story is complex and multi-layered. One level is a driven narrative such as one might find in a science fiction novel. Another is a treatise on meat eating from the vegan viewpoint. We are given to see the horror of being fattened for slaughter. It is an ecological tract about caring for your world and the beauty we take for granted. It is a love story and a treatise on compassion. Its many layers work seamless to produce a most unusual novel. Most novels these days have been fattened beyond tastefullness - most readers will wish Faber had written twice as much. Here is a unique voice and point of view. Bravo!
Rating: 
Summary: an interesting and gripping read!
Review: i read this book last summer. i bought it the very first day it came out on the shelf! i read this book farley quickley because i couldn't put it down. i wanted to figure out Isserley and why she was so different from everyone else and what exactly she was compared to the hitchhikers she picked up. the strange thing was it was her job. i wantted to knwo more about her and discover her world. but yet, the full answer never truly came for me until almost the last page of the book. making it excellent in my opinion. it was mysterious. faber created some sort of different world, but it was something that could happen. I was a little unsatisfied w/ the ending though. but all in all this was an extraordinary and compelling novel that was beautifully written.
Rating:
Summary: Don't miss this one
Review: There are certain books that people tend to either love or hate. Then there is "Under the Skin," which is so strange and so genre-busting that you may actually have trouble deciding whether you loved it or hated it. The story centers on Isserley, an odd and lonely young woman who drives the Scottish highways in search of beefy hitchhikers. More than that I should not divulge, because one of the pleasures of this book is the masterful way that Faber reveals some shocking surprises. Let's just say that all is not as it first appears. What I can say is that this is a magnificently written first novel. Faber's prose is lean and poetic, and casts a spell from beginning to end. It is also remarkable how well he gets inside the thoughts of his female protagonist. The book is so well written that it withstands a few plot problems. This Faber is definitely a writer to watch. NOTE: This is not a book for the squeamish. The plot turns are strange, then shocking, then grotesque. But none of it is gratuitous. Faber has some serious themes on his mind, and he develops them strongly -- you will be reminded of George Orwell, except you have to imagine Orwell trying to write "Animal Farm" and "1984" as a single novel. ALSO: Be careful about reading other reviews of this book posted here. Some of them reveal a little too much. If you want to enjoy this book fully, the less you know the better. I recommend you read it. Love it or hate it, you're not going to forget it soon. And you will definitely want to talk about it.
Rating:
Summary: Slaughterhouse
Review: Isserley's character developes at the same speed as does the men she picks up that poxy little rattler that patrols the wet Scottish roads in search of broad shouldered male hitchhikers. She becomes less likeable, they become more human, and their end is of such frightfulness that the book cannot be put away until the story is finished. It is a monstrous and pertinent tale, written beautifully.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, creepy, unpredictable
Review: I was only thirty or forty pages into this book before I started recommending it to friends, and refusing to tell them anything about it. It defies expectations most of the way through and to its credit sticks to the story right through to the end, despite a tangible leaning toward polemic in the service of a cause that may be a favorite of some and a source of derision to others. As a writer myself, I frequently found myself saying, "Boy, I wish I wrote this," and in fact my wife, when she read the first chapter said, "Hey, this is like something you would write." [But that also keeps me from giving it a full five stars, as I saw detected the writerly tricks Faber used--some I agreed with, others I thought could have used a bit more work.] As other reviewers note, the book defies description without giving too much of the plot away. Suffice to say that you are not likely to encounter a more problematic, sympathetic, pathetic, genuine, monstrous or more memorable character than Isserley, the protagonist. All in all, this book to me is a minor literary explosion, and Faber vaults to the top of my list of writers to watch in coming years. Please, please, please would an American publisher bring his collection of short stories back into print?
Rating:
Summary: something new and strange
Review: Faber's book is something new and strange. Its a story that remains in your head; you may even see some scenes in your sleep. I have read many, many books, of all types, but this one is unclassifyable. It is part science-fiction, or is it fantasy, and yet it is quasi human. It makes you think - a rare event these days of published junk, and even makes you shiver. It is strongly recommended, but only to someone who has some imagination.
Rating:
Summary: Sci-Fi Noir
Review: This unique, wonderfully horrifying book reminded me of a great noir film: dark, pessimistic, disturbing and complete with a truly lethal femme fatale. I read it months ago, and still can't forget it. Faber really does get under the skin.
Rating:
Summary: Put On Your Seatbelts for a Bumpy Ride!
Review: Imagine picking up a book, that on its surface, appears to be a bizarre thriller involving a mysterious woman who picks up strong male hitchhikers with an agenda not made obvious at first. You think "this sounds kind of fun and kinky" and so you start reading, expecting nothing more than a mundane road story with predictable twists and turns. However, in fairly short order, you find yourself turned upside down, without even remembering how you got there. I think I understand how Alice felt after falling down the rabbit hole. Nothing is what it seems. Michael Faber has written a story which is nothing short of mythical. It redefines who we are as human beings (if, in fact we ARE human beings). The story is a blending of simple reality and mind-boggling fantasy. Ultimately, we are unable to determine which is which. As other reviewers have noted, it is not a fast read. But in order to shed our own prejudices and expectations about this story, it needs to be read slowly and deliberately. Isserley, the main character of the story, evokes such an array of emotions from the reader: admiration, irritation, sometimes downright dislike. As different as she is ultimately found to be, she is representative of Everywoman, only from a very unique perspective. I would have liked to have read more about the characters' backgrounds and how they came to be what they were. But that may not have been in Mr. Faber's plan in writing the book. Even so, it is a unique, disturbing and thought-provoking experience. Certainly not for everyone, but for any reader who wants something different. I really enjoyed it, even if I didn't completely understand it all. I understood enough!
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