Rating: 
Summary: Under the Skin
Review: Grim. Bizarre. Definately written in a minor key.This author has real talent at characterization, always my main interest in fiction. I could quack on about the concept or the hook, but in the end, this book is worth reading solely for its character portrayals. Faber conveys unique, whole persons in his two page charaterizations. You'll really get to know those those big beefy guys as they sit there in the passenger seat of Isserley's old Toyota. And you will dread their fate. Don't miss this one--it will stay with you longer than you may want it to. Kim in St. Louis, MO
Rating:
Summary: A quick and blunt read
Review: The best part of the experience of reading this book is letting it unfold before you. It is not possible to guess just where it is taking you, though the clues along the way do lead you to certain conclusions. These conclucions, however, do truly point you toward the final destination. Like so many hitchhikers, we see the road, we know it leads somewhere, but what lies at the end remains a mystery. Such is the route of this book. My only complaint is a bit hard to vocalize. On the one hand, it would seem to me that there was much more that could have been explored here. It could easily have been twice as long. --OR-- It was a bit too long for what it accomplished. It seemed as if it would have made a VERY effective short story, but as a novel was a bit much. I don't know exactly which criticism fits, so I will leave them both out there, with the caveat that the criticism is by no means meant to sway one away from this book, merely to explain the reason for four stars rather than five.
Rating:
Summary: Loveless and Solitary, by fermed
Review: This is a first novel by a gifted writer. He has a marvelous eye for detail and mood, and his brushwork in blending tone and line and color is magnificent. Even though the mixing of science fiction characters (aliens) who are operating in realistic but covert interactions with human beings and their society has been done many times before, Mr. Faber's mixture is unusually inventive, and he pulls it off with skill and craftmanship. But lost among all the technical virtuosity of this book are the very fundamentals of successful fiction. In this case there is no appealing character who is made to experience change as a result of the events in the narrative. The reader cannot identify with the protagonist or even like her very much, for she is a loveless and solitary creature without a single warm cell in her surgically deformed body. The action that occurs is grotesque rather than exciting, and it is not revealing of deeper truths or of transcendental insights; a fine novel demands such rewards for the reader in order to justify itself. And yet...the sheer virtuosity of the writing engages us intellectually so that we keep postponing putting down the book to the next page, and then to the next chapter, and then we surely must finish it. And after it ends, we cannot close it off, for it keeps reverberating in memory much more than expected. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and do recommend it. Still, I have read some of the dreadful reviews others have given it, and I can understand why they responded as they did. Taste is variable and unpredictable, and this novel is not without its faults. Please sample the first chapter, which is posted. It will give you a fair taste of what is to follow.
Rating:
Summary: I loved it but.....
Review: ....I found myself clammoring for more. Of what, I am not sure. I wished that we could have delved a little deeper into L's beginning. I wanted explanations rather than have my imagination give me the answers. Too much went by the wayside of my mind. I did really enjoy it, but felt like I was being taken on a ride to...nowhere. None of this is to be taken from the writer whom I believe shows real talent.
Rating: 
Summary: Under the skin -- akin to Asimov's best
Review: Like the best of Science Fiction, like Asimov's Robot series, Faber examines, dissects, provokes and pokes his way through mores and folkways, morality and ethics. Whether you agree or not -- and whether he agrees himself -- is unimportant, I think. He's initiated the process of reflection which differentiates us from other less complex species [or so I thought before I read the book] -- which is more than most creative artists truly could hope for. Like the best of Asimov, it deserves the wider audience I believe is at hand. I bought this book [1] because it sounded as if it might exercise my brain a bit -- and it did. [2] I have more than a passing familiarity with the terrain -- and it felt very much at home. Especially the rain and snow. Looking forward to more -- and more.
Rating:
Summary: Vodsel or Solved?
Review: I read all of the preceding 12 reviews, and though some are diametrically opposed I can take issue with none of them. I don't know what comes after surreal when speaking of the strange, but this book is firmly entrenched there, way out there. This is not a book you will feel indifferently about, I believe a fair number of people won't even finish it, or dispense the reading as bad bits of fiction, science, horror, and anthropology, shaken but not stirred, into a mess. Others will love it, good background music would be "Comfortably Numb" but anything by Pink Floyd will do. I really do not want to add to what has been given away, and I won't, it would be difficult to accomplish in any event, as only the Author knows what he was saying with this work. Stoma or Atoms? The book can be about a variety of well-worn story lines, some have been mentioned, but I do not believe the book to be that simple. I also don't believe the Author intended to baffle those who read to the end, by conning readers with a collection of ethereal nonsense. "Ethereal" works, I'm not trying to be stylish, nor is it meant as a pun, but it works that way if you prefer. A Sassynil or a sassy nil? Presuming free will, if a book is read to the end the Author has accomplished part of his goal, few force themselves to read hundreds of pages that could be about many issues, use those issues for one transcendent statement, or to leave those who finish wondering what kind of weird trip this has been. I was reduced to playing with the "Human" words, and to the extent I found patterns I may have found meaning, or I may give the Author a good laugh for my presumption. It may be the Author wants each reader to come away with their own vision of what they have read. If you have noticed, none of the commercial reviews took a shot at "meaning"; they talk of sentence structure, or use words like "Swiftian" to sound clever. The term Swiftian is about as relevant to this book, as the word is elegant. "What this daring young novelist brings to bear is a nebulous web of existential thought, which rakes your neural net like nails ripped across slate". That's not from the jacket; I made it up as a word byte. If you like an Author who is out on the cutting, or perhaps more accurately the bleeding edge of the written word, then this book is for you. If conventional thought or the familiar phrase is necessary, read only if you want your thoughts messed with. In the end that is what this self proclaimed "guinea pig for medical research" does to his readers. Without the aforementioned experience, I don't know whether the book would have been written, and that would be a loss, if nothing else, that IS a truth.
Rating:
Summary: A Wondrous albeit Twisted Tale (Tail?)
Review: This novel is a true original--truly wierd and truly touching. A marvelous conception:meticulously crafted and beautifully realized. A true gem. Savor it.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful, Twisted Tale (Tail?)
Review: This novel is a true original,truly wierd and truly touching, a marvelous conception,meticulously crafted and beautifully realized: a true gem.
Rating:
Summary: I'm now a vegetarian
Review: FARBER IS A COMBO OF J.M. COTZEE AND OCTAVIA BUTLER ALL ROLLED INTO ONE. EVEN AFTER YOU FIND OUT WHAT ISSERLY IS UP TO YOU CAN'T HELP BUT FEEL SYMPATHETIC TOWARDS HER. AND TO THINK , THE ONLY REASON I PURCHASED THIS BOOK WAS BECAUSE FARBER SAID HE ONCE WAS A GUINEA PIG FOR MEDICAL REASERCH!! TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW.
Rating:
Summary: Need A Lift?
Review: The writer deftly maneuvers the reader into believing the unbelievable, using the chords of reality to tie the unspeakable horror together. Such a unique tale, guessing "what happens next" would likely be impossible. Take a ride, let the story do the driving and you may not be quite the same when it's over.
| 
