Deerskin

Rating:
Summary: Different than her other books, but still amazing
Review: Reading the review posted along with the book on Amazon, I was surprised that it was rated so poorly by the reviewer, but heartened that other readers appreciate it! If this is a "poor foray" into the world of adult fantasy/fiction, I can only conclude that it is because it does not fit well with the stereotypical, bland, and mostly unoriginal books so regretfully prevalent in the genre right now.

Rating:
Summary: It is a book of healing
Review: I am a therapist, specializing in work with children and women in crisis. Deerskin is one of the books I use in therapy with girls and women who have been sexually abused by their fathers. The women and girls get a sense that they are not alone and things will get better. Sometimes it takes several readings but it works. I don't feel that the story really bogs down all that much. In her new persona, our heroine has to learn how to give and recieve love that is healthy and helps her to become a whole person. I strongly recommend this book because not only do I think its a good theraputic tool but its also a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but kindof confusing
Review: The book was good, but the story began to get confusing after a while. But finally in Part Three, the pace begins to pick up again. A good book, overall.

Rating:
Summary: healing takes time, and it's good to hear it
Review: This intensely beautiful book is one of a very few which I find myself turning to again and again whenever I want the comfort of characters I already know and love, or simply the assurance of a genuinely good read. Far from being an excercise in masochism, as one reviewer states above, I find this book to be cathartic in the extreme. Here is a woman who has suffered great trauma, and yes, dammit, she DOES take a long time to heal. She is wounded deeply, and there is no miracle balm to wipe her pain away. There is only time, a *lot* of time, and what support she can allow herself to accept from those who care. And even then, there are times when she can't get around her pain, when her past rushes forward and takes over her present, when she acts against her own interests out of fear. Just like in life. For those who have never known the kind of pain and suffering that can handicap one- not for a day, or a month, or a year, but in ways that are with us ever after, that can only fade but never dissapear- they who have never known that kind of inner darkness should only realize how fortunate they are. But for those of us who struggle with the demons inflicted on us by life, circumstances, or our fellow man... for us there is a sister to be found in Lissar, a "kindred spirit", and a mirror into our own souls. Lissar is not shamed or made less for not recovering from her experiences in one fell swoop.She has all the time she needs- and so do we.

Rating:
Summary: A haunting, lingering triumph that will echo in your soul
Review: I was glad to read that the majority of reviews were from people who actually understood Miss McKinley's novel. Having devoured her books for young adults, I was nervous about how her adult fairy tale would fare. I was enthralled from cover to cover. The world the reader is swept into is one of mystery and magic. Everything about Lissar's world is in the superlative: the most beautiful woman in seven kingdoms, the most valiant and bravest of suitors...etc. Miss McKinley fuzzes out the world around her main character in her attempt to focus wholly and entirely on Lissar. The reader gets to know her so deeply, so intimately that the pain, rage, peace, and love she feels are felt to the same degree by the reader. In Lissar, Miss McKinley created a heroine unique and separate from her others in that her inner emotions are pressed upon the reader as their own. I have never come across such a book. Never has one character struck such a chord within my own soul. I would send a copy of this book to any book lover and anxiously await her next novel.

Rating:
Summary: A book to be read over and over.
Review: At first it was only the book cover that I fell in love with. Then as I read deeper into this book I was filled with..well whatever it was it grabed me and held me. This is the story I have always dreamed of. A girl thrown into womenhood Lissar faces the hardest journey ever. She and her dog Ash survive the unimaginable. She is granted the gift of time by the Lady. I won't give it all away but this book is the best and something you will read over and over and find more meaning. I know I did.

Rating:
Summary: Not her best work...
Review: I searched high and low for another McKinley book. This was disapointing. Wonderful plot, but somwhere during Part Two, the author looses her grip on the reader. Fortunetly, somwhere around Part three, she picks it up agian. I wouldn't recomend this book.

Rating:
Summary: It's Always Darkest, and There Is No Dawn
Review: I began this book because I have very much enjoyed McKinley's previous works. I finished it because I kept thinking things had to improve sometime. I was wrong.

This book is a novel-length retelling of a fairy tale, some McKinley has done very well, especially with Beauty and the Beast (see Beauty and Rose Daughter). However, this tale is a little more obscure than most, and the retelling is gruesome in the very best traditions of the Brothers Grimm. Only more so. The novel consists of two hundred relentless pages of death, incest, rape, pain, and misery. In an attempt to balance things out, the last page contains a wishy-washy, incomplete conclusion.

This is not a children's novel; most kids under the age of 13 would be deeply disturbed by it. It might appeal to some YAs and adults, provided they'd either a) had their senses pretty thoroughly numbed or b) positively enjoyed watching the pointless, hideous sufferings of others. For everyone else, it's an exercise in masochism.

Perhaps, then, it's fortunate that Deerskin contains some of McKinley's least compelling writing. The novel swells with fantasy style cliches, brims over with lifeless descriptions, and drowns in page after page of stolid, empty prose.

The only possible reason for reading this book is if you use novels to escape into a world even more miserable than your own. In that case, I canot recommend it highly enough. Otherwise, read something else. Anything else.

Rating:
Summary: Robin McKinley's Best
Review: Having read many of the other reviews, I feel the need to respond to them first. I agree that this is not a children's story (although I read it as a young teenager, and feel that many, perhaps most teenagers could handle it quite well). I also recognize that it deals with some of the darker sides of life. However, I personally enjoyed that; I get tired of reading about happy, cheerful stories or great traumas that are instantly healed. It was good to get a look at a rather painful issue, and in a way that did not gloss over it or make light of it.

I have always appreciated the ways in which Robin McKinley can describe her characters and settings so realistically and yet so magically. I felt that she did an especially good job here. Lissar is a realistic character. Like many other victims of abuse, she doesn't know how to escape or what to do (to the person who complained that she took so long to leave, I would like to point out that in a situation where she has never been allowed to be a strong individual, where her father has complete and total authority over her, and where her world has been completely torn apart in the last two days, her shock and numbness are understandable). For quite awhile she manages only to survive. Yet in the end she comes to peace with her past and is able to move on. This comes with the help of many of her friends, but it is also a tribute to the amazing strength that she has in herself, strengh inherited from her mother but used to totally different ends. She is another in the long, noble line of Robin McKinley heroines who begin as timid, thinking little of themselves, yet discover amazing depths of strength to help those around them. She has her faults, and makes bad decisions, but ultimately she manages to come to grips with her past. She seems a believable character. Ash and Ossin especially are also believable, and have an amazing depth of personality and development (especially Ash, who doubles as someone who would willingly sacrfice anything for her friend, and as a humorous character who brings a bit of levity to the book). Having known many people who have endured similar hells, and having been given the privilege of being to help support some of them in their healing, this book really rang true for me. It echoed what my abused friends had said, and many of the responses of Ossin and Ash echoed what I myself had felt.

This book also has many different levels. The only way that I've found to understand them is to read it, reread it, and so on, over and over again. This is one of those books where each time I read it I discover something new. I had the chance to analyze this book for a class I took, and it was one of the best academic experiences of my life. I highly recommend this book to anyone willing to openly and honestly deal with some of the tougher issues in life.

Rating:
Summary: The Best book! I read it annually!!!
Review: This book is an excellent read. I love how niave and strong the heroine is. I read this book every year and I can't put it down until I finish it. You really should read it I am sure you would love it. It is hard to get in to at the beginning but as soon as you do get in to it you love it. The reason I love this book so much is it just sort of shows a part of me in it. The book doesn't have much dialogue but it does show the emotions of the characters and that makes up for it. Read it I am sure you will love it as much as I do.