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The Skin and Its Girl
A young, queer Palestinian American woman pieces together her great aunt’s secrets in this sweeping debut, a family saga confronting questions of sexual identity, exile, and lineage.
In a Pacific Northwest hospital far from the Rummani family’s ancestral home in Palestine, the heart of a stillborn baby begins to beat and her skin turns a vibrant, permanent cobalt blue. On the same day, the Rummanis’ centuries-old soap factory in Nablus is destroyed in an air strike. The family matriarch and keeper of all Rummani lore, Aunt Nuha, believes that the blue girl embodies their sacred history, harkening to a time when the Rummanis were among the wealthiest soap-makers and their blue soap was a symbol of a legendary love.
Decades later, Betty returns to her Aunt Nuha’s gravestone, faced with a difficult decision: Should she stay in the only country she’s every known or should she follow her heart for the woman she loves, perpetuating her family’s cycle of exile? Betty finds her answer in partially translated notebooks that reveal her aunt’s complex life and struggle with her own sexuality, which Nuha hid to help the family emigrate to the U.S. But as Betty soon discovers, her aunt hid much more than that.
The Skin and Its Girl is a searing, poetic tale about desire and identity and a provocative exploration of how we let stories divide, unite, and define us—and even wield the power to restore a broken family. Sarah Cypher is that rare debut novelist who writes with the mastery and flair of a seasoned storyteller.
In a Pacific Northwest hospital far from the Rummani family’s ancestral home in Palestine, the heart of a stillborn baby begins to beat and her skin turns a vibrant, permanent cobalt blue. On the same day, the Rummanis’ centuries-old soap factory in Nablus is destroyed in an air strike. The family matriarch and keeper of all Rummani lore, Aunt Nuha, believes that the blue girl embodies their sacred history, harkening to a time when the Rummanis were among the wealthiest soap-makers and their blue soap was a symbol of a legendary love.
Decades later, Betty returns to her Aunt Nuha’s gravestone, faced with a difficult decision: Should she stay in the only country she’s every known or should she follow her heart for the woman she loves, perpetuating her family’s cycle of exile? Betty finds her answer in partially translated notebooks that reveal her aunt’s complex life and struggle with her own sexuality, which Nuha hid to help the family emigrate to the U.S. But as Betty soon discovers, her aunt hid much more than that.
The Skin and Its Girl is a searing, poetic tale about desire and identity and a provocative exploration of how we let stories divide, unite, and define us—and even wield the power to restore a broken family. Sarah Cypher is that rare debut novelist who writes with the mastery and flair of a seasoned storyteller.
342 pages, Paperback
First published April 25, 2023
328 people are currently reading
26964 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Cypher
8 books149 followersSarah Cypher is a freelance book editor and author of The Skin and Its Girl (Ballantine, April 2023). She has an MFA from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, where she was a Rona Jaffe Graduate Creative Writing Fellow in fiction. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, New Ohio Review, Majuscule, North American Review, LEON Literary Review, Crab Orchard Review, and others. She grew up in a Lebanese Christian family near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and lives in Washington, D.C., with her wife.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 462 reviews
June 30, 2023
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An inventive meditation on identity and the power of stories. Through several generations of Rummani women, linked together by a figurative and physical blue, we the lines drawn between secrets and enlightenment, the pain of exile and the quest to find a true and lasting home, both tangible and among ones what we come to love. The prose is lush, intimate, and filled with the dreamy musings of an incredibly unique protagonist. This is a vivid debut that appeals to a love of stories and their unmatched significance.
An inventive meditation on identity and the power of stories. Through several generations of Rummani women, linked together by a figurative and physical blue, we the lines drawn between secrets and enlightenment, the pain of exile and the quest to find a true and lasting home, both tangible and among ones what we come to love. The prose is lush, intimate, and filled with the dreamy musings of an incredibly unique protagonist. This is a vivid debut that appeals to a love of stories and their unmatched significance.
May 3, 2023
I thought this would be magical realism/literary fiction but it was just literary fiction which is fine but literally our main character has blue skin. How is this not magical realism? Maybe i'm nitpicking here though. I expected more and did find myself a little bored. I think it was well written but the WAY it was written didn’t work for me, it felt very back and forth. I really liked the beginning though, it started off strong until I lost interest. I thought it would rip my heart out but it did nothing of the sort. Not a bad book at all but I just don’t think I was in the right mood for this unfortunately.
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book!
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book!
April 25, 2023
Now Available!
Gracious thanks to Ballantine Books/Penguin Random House for gifting me the opportunity to read this novel well ahead of publication.
Did I already choose this as one of my favorite books of 2023? Why, Yes. Yes, I did.
This novel is about how people, like stories, share histories, and how even something new and shocking has its roots in something old, which is threaded throughout the tale of humanity itself.
The writing is, in a word, fantastic. The characters are engaging, the descriptions are lively, and the plot has multiple layers of depth and meaning. The author draws from myths, legends, and both ancient and recent history.
The author's main character dishes out multiple epiphanal reflections and insights, as she sorts through her life to find the sustaining threads from the past which might best direct her future. Marked by and perhaps tasked with carrying her family's history, the main character, Betty, must navigate her way forward using an ancient map and listening to ancient voices. She is starkly different, set apart, but true to herself. The problem is not and cannot be her fullness of self, for who else could she be? No, the problem is how others react to her, to her whole included history of being.
A key part of the story regards trust, or the lack thereof. When did we first learn to mistrust each other, to fear the other: other languages, other customs, other colors, other abilities, other ways to love each other? The human family is like a tree trying to cut off its own branches.
Throughout the narrative, the strength, resilience, resourcefulness, and wisdom of women is celebrated. The Aunties are the lifeblood of the family.
It is not lost on Betty, a Queer Palestinian-American with a startlingly unusual appearance, that stories often can be manipulative and destructive. Narratives only change with direct intervention. How then, should she draw on her history, and create space for the story of herself? It seems both unfair and exhausting that Palestinian Americans must wrap themselves in twice as many flags, and all the other trappings of patriotism. The level of suspicion and animosity which goes into sizing up another person seems to multiply exponentially with the number of differences immediately apparent. The message of this novel is that conformism is hardly the answer. It seems obviously unwise to hammer all the shapes through a singular-shaped hole. No person is a lie when they are true to themselves. And though some stories are fables, there is truth in them, as there is truth in the yarns the Aunties spin, the stories they tell to make a girl who is different feel charmed instead of cursed.
The author, with sympathy and great care, describes the inner world of mental illness, yet another thread in family histories, another way to struggle with being different. Mental illness affects both men and women, of course, but in this story, the free unmarried Auntie is the only one from whom actual help is accepted. Everyone else embarks on a shame campaign, not even bothering to stop and think about why that strategy doesn't work. And maybe they don't even care if it does. They simply vent their frustrations at the inconvenience and embarrassment it causes them. If the person who struggles against their own mind could take on all external evidence of a life under control, probably very few would care if this mask covered inner chaos. Most family members just don't want to see it.
It is a kind of comfort that a majority of the characters have some trait which sets them apart from others, just (as the author points out) it is a comfort to know that so many experiences are timeless and not unique to any one person: love, loss, luck, despair. Stability and change are the key drivers of events.
The author actively creates space for all the people who see themselves as "different." She doesn't just include peripheral gay characters, but actually places them in leading roles, reflecting their universality and their rightful place in the human family. Cypher presents as tragic any situation in which a person stifles their love. The author describes that emotional sublimation as being like throwing away one's heart because the heart and mind cannot coexist.
No matter how hard one tries to shut down their emotions, however, every trauma leaves an imprint. Even harder to pin down are some concepts which spark strong emotions, but for which there is no corresponding language. How does one explain missing a place they've never been, or memories that were never theirs? These are among the complicated feelings of connection and disconnection, prevalent among generations of the diaspora. Moreover, for what percentage of human experience do we truly have adequate language? Can we truly hope to know the interior mind of another? Perhaps we do our best with the limited tools available to us. One of the questions raised by this novel is whether we need to understand everything about each other in order to accept each other. Maybe we just need to move forward, to trust enough, and to love with abandon.
Gracious thanks to Ballantine Books/Penguin Random House for gifting me the opportunity to read this novel well ahead of publication.
Did I already choose this as one of my favorite books of 2023? Why, Yes. Yes, I did.
This novel is about how people, like stories, share histories, and how even something new and shocking has its roots in something old, which is threaded throughout the tale of humanity itself.
The writing is, in a word, fantastic. The characters are engaging, the descriptions are lively, and the plot has multiple layers of depth and meaning. The author draws from myths, legends, and both ancient and recent history.
The author's main character dishes out multiple epiphanal reflections and insights, as she sorts through her life to find the sustaining threads from the past which might best direct her future. Marked by and perhaps tasked with carrying her family's history, the main character, Betty, must navigate her way forward using an ancient map and listening to ancient voices. She is starkly different, set apart, but true to herself. The problem is not and cannot be her fullness of self, for who else could she be? No, the problem is how others react to her, to her whole included history of being.
A key part of the story regards trust, or the lack thereof. When did we first learn to mistrust each other, to fear the other: other languages, other customs, other colors, other abilities, other ways to love each other? The human family is like a tree trying to cut off its own branches.
Throughout the narrative, the strength, resilience, resourcefulness, and wisdom of women is celebrated. The Aunties are the lifeblood of the family.
It is not lost on Betty, a Queer Palestinian-American with a startlingly unusual appearance, that stories often can be manipulative and destructive. Narratives only change with direct intervention. How then, should she draw on her history, and create space for the story of herself? It seems both unfair and exhausting that Palestinian Americans must wrap themselves in twice as many flags, and all the other trappings of patriotism. The level of suspicion and animosity which goes into sizing up another person seems to multiply exponentially with the number of differences immediately apparent. The message of this novel is that conformism is hardly the answer. It seems obviously unwise to hammer all the shapes through a singular-shaped hole. No person is a lie when they are true to themselves. And though some stories are fables, there is truth in them, as there is truth in the yarns the Aunties spin, the stories they tell to make a girl who is different feel charmed instead of cursed.
The author, with sympathy and great care, describes the inner world of mental illness, yet another thread in family histories, another way to struggle with being different. Mental illness affects both men and women, of course, but in this story, the free unmarried Auntie is the only one from whom actual help is accepted. Everyone else embarks on a shame campaign, not even bothering to stop and think about why that strategy doesn't work. And maybe they don't even care if it does. They simply vent their frustrations at the inconvenience and embarrassment it causes them. If the person who struggles against their own mind could take on all external evidence of a life under control, probably very few would care if this mask covered inner chaos. Most family members just don't want to see it.
It is a kind of comfort that a majority of the characters have some trait which sets them apart from others, just (as the author points out) it is a comfort to know that so many experiences are timeless and not unique to any one person: love, loss, luck, despair. Stability and change are the key drivers of events.
The author actively creates space for all the people who see themselves as "different." She doesn't just include peripheral gay characters, but actually places them in leading roles, reflecting their universality and their rightful place in the human family. Cypher presents as tragic any situation in which a person stifles their love. The author describes that emotional sublimation as being like throwing away one's heart because the heart and mind cannot coexist.
No matter how hard one tries to shut down their emotions, however, every trauma leaves an imprint. Even harder to pin down are some concepts which spark strong emotions, but for which there is no corresponding language. How does one explain missing a place they've never been, or memories that were never theirs? These are among the complicated feelings of connection and disconnection, prevalent among generations of the diaspora. Moreover, for what percentage of human experience do we truly have adequate language? Can we truly hope to know the interior mind of another? Perhaps we do our best with the limited tools available to us. One of the questions raised by this novel is whether we need to understand everything about each other in order to accept each other. Maybe we just need to move forward, to trust enough, and to love with abandon.
November 5, 2024
I liked this book a lot, though I’m not sure I can quite articulate why. It’s a very literary novel with elements of magic realism, narrated by a Palestinian-American woman and focused on her early childhood and family history. We learn a lot about her indomitable great-aunt, who partially raises her, as well as her mother, father, and grandmother. It’s told extremely well, in a way that kept me engaged although the purported plot is really no more than scaffolding for reflection and the telling of life stories. It’s masterfully written, fresh and intelligent and thoughtfully engaged with both the modern world and the past. The characters all come to life, and I especially appreciate Cypher’s thoughtful handling of the mother’s mental health issues (as well as, wonder of wonders, for once having a scientist major character whose work is never cluelessly described as a predictable safety blanket—it’s often chaotic and demanding). It’s worth noting that both the narrator and her great-aunt are queer, though this proves to be a smaller part of the book than the marketing would have it; for all that the characters might sometimes choose romance over family off-page, Cypher seems uninterested in writing romance and the book itself is all about the meaning of family and home and storytelling.
It is the sort of literary fiction that leaves me with a bit of an itch in my brain; there are so many elements whose deeper meanings I’m pretty sure I’m missing: Nuha’s unorthodox Bible stories, the house fire, all the magical-realism circumstances of the narrator’s life (her skin is blue, she’s unnaturally heavy, for part of her childhood she can see the future). I wasn’t entirely convinced by the big secret in Nuha’s backstory, and there are some threads left hanging (whatever happened to Adam?). Overall, I’d be really interested to see some literary analysis on this one, but also quite enjoyed it without needing to understand everything. It’s warm, perceptive, and wise, and I’m grateful to the Le Guin Prize for bringing it to my attention.
It is the sort of literary fiction that leaves me with a bit of an itch in my brain; there are so many elements whose deeper meanings I’m pretty sure I’m missing: Nuha’s unorthodox Bible stories, the house fire, all the magical-realism circumstances of the narrator’s life (her skin is blue, she’s unnaturally heavy, for part of her childhood she can see the future). I wasn’t entirely convinced by the big secret in Nuha’s backstory, and there are some threads left hanging (whatever happened to Adam?). Overall, I’d be really interested to see some literary analysis on this one, but also quite enjoyed it without needing to understand everything. It’s warm, perceptive, and wise, and I’m grateful to the Le Guin Prize for bringing it to my attention.
June 28, 2023
Gorgeous cover and gorgeous prose, but for as many stories that were packed into this book, there was absolutely no plot driving me to keep reading, and even at 75% through, I was still considering not finishing the book. This may have been the book that taught me I do not care for contemporary literary fiction. However, if you're into extended metaphors, storytelling, family relations, and don't mind a very slow read that requires a lot of concentration, I could see this being an enjoyable book. Still a good enough read, just not for me.
January 27, 2023
an incredible story of a family through multiple generations. lovingly called betty by her great aunt, elspeth rummani is born blue. her mentally ill mother plans on giving her to a couple looking to adopt, but great aunt nuha encourages her to keep the baby. as elspeth sits by her aunt’s grave, she reflects on her childhood, her arab ancestry, religious stories, her family, and her sexuality.
full of poetic prose full of articulate diction and compelling characters, this novel is a work of art. cypher is able to weave fact and myth together in a way that is absolutely phenomenal. through heartbreak and laughter, we learn the story of the rummanis and their lives in both palestine and america. i was fully captivated by this novel, unable to put it down.
thank you so much to netgalley and they published for this arc in exchange for an honest review!
full of poetic prose full of articulate diction and compelling characters, this novel is a work of art. cypher is able to weave fact and myth together in a way that is absolutely phenomenal. through heartbreak and laughter, we learn the story of the rummanis and their lives in both palestine and america. i was fully captivated by this novel, unable to put it down.
thank you so much to netgalley and they published for this arc in exchange for an honest review!
March 8, 2023
The Skin and Its Girl takes the reader on a winding journey through complex generational family dynamics with a dash of social commentary all while staying in the 2nd person POV.
Some of it worked and some of it didn’t.
The story covers a lot of ground, so much in fact that at times it was hard to convince myself to keep reading. The book wasn’t boring, just slow, and it was hard to keep the 2nd person POV at the forefront of my mind because the timeline is not linear.
The writing is beautiful but meanders way too long for a one-sided conversation that is supposed to told all in one day but covers 20 years.
If 2nd person is a POV that you’re excited about, you should definitely check this out.
ARC provided by NetGalley
Some of it worked and some of it didn’t.
The story covers a lot of ground, so much in fact that at times it was hard to convince myself to keep reading. The book wasn’t boring, just slow, and it was hard to keep the 2nd person POV at the forefront of my mind because the timeline is not linear.
The writing is beautiful but meanders way too long for a one-sided conversation that is supposed to told all in one day but covers 20 years.
If 2nd person is a POV that you’re excited about, you should definitely check this out.
ARC provided by NetGalley
April 24, 2023
read my review here
Rep: Palestinian American lesbian mc, Palestinian lesbian mc, Palestinian gay side characters
Rep: Palestinian American lesbian mc, Palestinian lesbian mc, Palestinian gay side characters
February 24, 2023
Long ago, all stories told only the truth, in a literal way, with no need to jump around and gather meanings piece by piece.
from The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher
If you are looking for a plot-driven novel that is an easy read, you can just pass this book by. If you love lush language, deep psychological exploration, a circuitous and slow reveal, and haunting characters, then, yes, this is your book. Employing folk tales and metaphor, and rich with history, this is a remarkable debut novel addressing questions of identity, heritage, love, and loyalty.
The Rummani family’s stories were kept by Auntie Nuha. She rescues a newborn from being given up for adoption. The infant’s mother was depressive and separated from a husband who had betrayed her. While the child was being born, the family’s abandoned soap factory oversea in Palestine was being destroyed. The legendary soap had made the family fortune. Auntie told of a blue soap that turned girls blue, giving a heritage to the new baby whose skin was indigo.
Now grown, the girl has come to her aunt’s graveside. Both women were constrained by their skin; Auntie taking on another’s identity, and the girl by the blue that set her apart. She is struggling to decide between staying with her mother or leaving with her lover. A decision that Auntie had made upon her birth, when she had planned to leave with her lover but stayed behind to care for her.
I’m at your graveside on your actual birthday desiring help, perspective, a story to follow through a patch of unspeakable confusion.
from The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher
“There is no truth but in old women’s tales,” the girl is told. Auntie was full of stories. Her stories interpret life and the world: the Tower of Babel, the pursuit of an elusive silver gazelle, a boy on fire saved by a girl’s rope of long hair.
An admirable debut novel.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
from The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher
If you are looking for a plot-driven novel that is an easy read, you can just pass this book by. If you love lush language, deep psychological exploration, a circuitous and slow reveal, and haunting characters, then, yes, this is your book. Employing folk tales and metaphor, and rich with history, this is a remarkable debut novel addressing questions of identity, heritage, love, and loyalty.
The Rummani family’s stories were kept by Auntie Nuha. She rescues a newborn from being given up for adoption. The infant’s mother was depressive and separated from a husband who had betrayed her. While the child was being born, the family’s abandoned soap factory oversea in Palestine was being destroyed. The legendary soap had made the family fortune. Auntie told of a blue soap that turned girls blue, giving a heritage to the new baby whose skin was indigo.
Now grown, the girl has come to her aunt’s graveside. Both women were constrained by their skin; Auntie taking on another’s identity, and the girl by the blue that set her apart. She is struggling to decide between staying with her mother or leaving with her lover. A decision that Auntie had made upon her birth, when she had planned to leave with her lover but stayed behind to care for her.
I’m at your graveside on your actual birthday desiring help, perspective, a story to follow through a patch of unspeakable confusion.
from The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher
“There is no truth but in old women’s tales,” the girl is told. Auntie was full of stories. Her stories interpret life and the world: the Tower of Babel, the pursuit of an elusive silver gazelle, a boy on fire saved by a girl’s rope of long hair.
An admirable debut novel.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
Read
March 14, 2023I am unfortunately going to DNF at 30%.
I was preapproved for this an ARC of this book from Net Galley because it was I "loved Gods of Want" by K-Ming Chang. Reading that and the description of the book about a young girl born blue, I was under the impression this would have magical realism elements. Although I didn't finish it, there doesn't appear to be much magical realism other than she is born blue. The structure of the story is told in 2nd person, where the main character is talking to her Aunt's grave and flashing back to stories, that do feel fable-like, but that just wasn't what I was expecting and I do struggle with character driven novels. The writing is truly beautiful, but the POV and jumping timelines and stories was hard for me to follow, I kept losing who was being talked about or when or where the story was taking place.
I think will be a great read for people who love epic family sagas and gorgeous prose, I do hope this finds the right audience as it is truly beautiful writing, but it was just not enough to keep me connected to the story to continue.
Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the advanced reader copy.
I was preapproved for this an ARC of this book from Net Galley because it was I "loved Gods of Want" by K-Ming Chang. Reading that and the description of the book about a young girl born blue, I was under the impression this would have magical realism elements. Although I didn't finish it, there doesn't appear to be much magical realism other than she is born blue. The structure of the story is told in 2nd person, where the main character is talking to her Aunt's grave and flashing back to stories, that do feel fable-like, but that just wasn't what I was expecting and I do struggle with character driven novels. The writing is truly beautiful, but the POV and jumping timelines and stories was hard for me to follow, I kept losing who was being talked about or when or where the story was taking place.
I think will be a great read for people who love epic family sagas and gorgeous prose, I do hope this finds the right audience as it is truly beautiful writing, but it was just not enough to keep me connected to the story to continue.
Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the advanced reader copy.
August 24, 2024
This felt so surreal, as it reads like a memoir, but I had to keep reminding myself it's fiction. The way the author uses fairytales and Betty's blue skin as another way of showing how her family are othered was seamless. The writing style is equal parts visceral and whimsical, and Betty's early childhood, as well as her aunt, mother and grandmother's struggles to raise her felt all too real. And that's not even touching on the queer aspect to both Betty and her aunt's stories, and how they connect the two. The audiobook is really fantastic too, and highly recommend it.
May 2, 2025
4.5. This is inverse-auto-fiction...fiction-auto? It is the fictional autobiography, studded by intergenerational stories and found memories, of Betty, the blue (literally) child of Palestinian refugees. In letters to her aunt, the indisputable matriarch of the family, Betty documents her own experience living and re-living the stories of her aunt, navigating life as a dense blue being, and occupying a space of multiple-otherhood: Palestinian, queer, trauma-carrying....and blue.
This book took some time to get into, and I initially thought I wouldn't care for it. But the lyrical, often hypnotic prose found its rhythm and took me in, and I slowly became wrapped up in Betty's and her family's stories, which ultimately came to a melancholy and satisfying end.
This book took some time to get into, and I initially thought I wouldn't care for it. But the lyrical, often hypnotic prose found its rhythm and took me in, and I slowly became wrapped up in Betty's and her family's stories, which ultimately came to a melancholy and satisfying end.
July 30, 2023
So here's another work with themes close to my heart (international non-whiteness! wrestling with settler states of all sorts! queer!) that I got to when it was still freakishly (in my definition) hot off the printing press and ended up not getting along so well with. I was scrunging around my brain in an effort to put my finger on what threw me off about this one in particular when I realized: it's another book in the tradition of Eugenides' Middlesex. Draws in with a titular main character recounting the complicated tale of their coming to be that encompasses the immigrating relatives and the ultra-dramatic parents as much as the child, reels in all over with drama and setbacks and coming of age school bound woes, and then when things promise to come to a relatable head as the protagonist reaches some form of significant development, we flash forward to the introductory flashing back and the mysterious blue skinned Pakistani American lesbian goes on her merry, obfuscatingly characterized way. Sure, there's no rule against nonlinear storytelling, and I do have to give the author credit for having the guts to take on that particularly venomous backstabber known as second-person point of view. However, there's a difference between rattling off motifs of suicidal ideation and vaguely surreal (I'd rather not use magical realist as a descriptor, but fantasy, even the urban kind, doesn't work, and sci-fi is about as relevant an adjective as would be western or mystery) and actually drawing a reader in enough that, when the closing hits, one feels a sufficient sense of closure to be satisfied with the work as a whole. As it stands, I'm glad my checking this out guaranteed this book won't be weeded at my workplace for at least another two years, as the patrons need all the exposure to the multifariousness of the real non-white/cishet world as they can get. However, this would've been a better book if it had committed to one story instead of three, if only to ensure the reader wouldn't have spent 300+ pages looking forward to the development of the blue-skinned narrator and be left hanging with blank time skip and some carefully chosen paragraph-ending sentences instead.
dnfed
November 1, 2023DNF at 60%.
I'm not sure where all of it was going or if it was going anywhere but so far it's been a lot of squabbling and not much else, this one isn't for me. No rating.
I'm not sure where all of it was going or if it was going anywhere but so far it's been a lot of squabbling and not much else, this one isn't for me. No rating.
August 26, 2024
Comprehension was lower than usual but I think my enjoyment was a little higher than usual 🤷🤷🤷
December 3, 2025
Hmm. This is a tough one, because I think it is beautifully written and I overall liked it…but it also took me a long time to push through it. Let me try to explain.
First off, I see multiple reviews going “I was expecting magical realism, and this isn’t that”. And, like, yeah, I can see that perspective. But it was probably MORE magical realism than Shark Dialogues, and not that much less than something like The House of the Spirits. The main character is born blue and exhibits some other physical oddities as she grows up (like being much heavier than she should be for her size) and has occasional premonitions. And there are allusions to other people like her, including a boy who had flame for hair. But the family fairytales do seem to be more metaphorical than actual magic. If you go into it expecting more a dreamlike quality rather than fantasy in a real-world setting, you will be happier.
Second, I was promised Sapphicness. And I was happy that we get two generations-worth…but not really on-page. Considering that the MCs main struggle, the reason she’s talking to her deceased aunt, is that she’s trying to decide whether to leave the country to be with her beloved, I would have liked to meet the girlfriend and decide what *I* think she should do. However, I think that could have undermined that the point is about being true to yourself and listening to your heart – because it is Betty’s decision, not ours! As for her aunt, the fact that her love is only hinted at fits with her theme of having to wear an identity that isn’t hers in more ways than one. And Betty’s not-actually-recognized childhood crush and the devastation of unfair rejection was painfully relatable. So…overall this aspect gets decent marks.
The language is lovely. A few examples:
"The gazelle's coat glittered with the dust of other horizons, promising the future....Do you know what it's like to be bewitched?...Nobody can stand it - that's the point of falling in love...The girl loved the gazelle for taking her to freedom, and so long as they were together, as long as they belonged to each other, the girl was blind to everything else. Love is forgetting."
“‘Here lies’. It makes the most of a homonym, I realize for the first time in all the years I’ve been visiting. I could rewrite the words an over the birth date, ‘Nuha Rummani is lying here’. Or ‘Here she is, still lying.’ And it would still cast a double shadow…Yet even when nothing is left, I go on living inside things she said, an eternal country”
Occasionally funny, too:
“‘The girl is the soul of our old factory?’ Someone laughed. ‘Wallahi, I had no idea buildings have souls. Outhouses were lost in the bombing too. What sort of creature do you think was born from them?’ ‘Hush. The girl is half Rummani, yes, but no one has accounted for the father. Surely the blue came from him.’ ‘Impossible. He’s Lutheran. And midwestern. They don’t even put spices in their food.’”
We get multiple complex female characters, which is always great. The musings on exile and Palestine were good but fewer than I expected…until we suddenly get a whole big dose of Israeli border guards being unpleasant all at once.
So, the thing that made me have to deliberately push through reading this was not any of that, but rather the structure. The stories loop backwards and forward in time, and the reveals can be interesting, but more often the tension was seriously undermined. For example, there are moments that feel like foreshadowing that but then you remember that the whole reason Betty is hesitating to go with her girlfriend is . Or something that seems like you’re supposed to worry that but then you remember . Or there are bits of tension that just fall flat. Nuha having Never any consequences. Nor do we ultimately find out if Betty ; it is implied, but after all that I’d like to know! BUT…if you’re more of a literary fiction fan than I am, those aspects may not bother you.
First off, I see multiple reviews going “I was expecting magical realism, and this isn’t that”. And, like, yeah, I can see that perspective. But it was probably MORE magical realism than Shark Dialogues, and not that much less than something like The House of the Spirits. The main character is born blue and exhibits some other physical oddities as she grows up (like being much heavier than she should be for her size) and has occasional premonitions. And there are allusions to other people like her, including a boy who had flame for hair. But the family fairytales do seem to be more metaphorical than actual magic. If you go into it expecting more a dreamlike quality rather than fantasy in a real-world setting, you will be happier.
Second, I was promised Sapphicness. And I was happy that we get two generations-worth…but not really on-page. Considering that the MCs main struggle, the reason she’s talking to her deceased aunt, is that she’s trying to decide whether to leave the country to be with her beloved, I would have liked to meet the girlfriend and decide what *I* think she should do. However, I think that could have undermined that the point is about being true to yourself and listening to your heart – because it is Betty’s decision, not ours! As for her aunt, the fact that her love is only hinted at fits with her theme of having to wear an identity that isn’t hers in more ways than one. And Betty’s not-actually-recognized childhood crush and the devastation of unfair rejection was painfully relatable. So…overall this aspect gets decent marks.
The language is lovely. A few examples:
"The gazelle's coat glittered with the dust of other horizons, promising the future....Do you know what it's like to be bewitched?...Nobody can stand it - that's the point of falling in love...The girl loved the gazelle for taking her to freedom, and so long as they were together, as long as they belonged to each other, the girl was blind to everything else. Love is forgetting."
“‘Here lies’. It makes the most of a homonym, I realize for the first time in all the years I’ve been visiting. I could rewrite the words an over the birth date, ‘Nuha Rummani is lying here’. Or ‘Here she is, still lying.’ And it would still cast a double shadow…Yet even when nothing is left, I go on living inside things she said, an eternal country”
Occasionally funny, too:
“‘The girl is the soul of our old factory?’ Someone laughed. ‘Wallahi, I had no idea buildings have souls. Outhouses were lost in the bombing too. What sort of creature do you think was born from them?’ ‘Hush. The girl is half Rummani, yes, but no one has accounted for the father. Surely the blue came from him.’ ‘Impossible. He’s Lutheran. And midwestern. They don’t even put spices in their food.’”
We get multiple complex female characters, which is always great. The musings on exile and Palestine were good but fewer than I expected…until we suddenly get a whole big dose of Israeli border guards being unpleasant all at once.
So, the thing that made me have to deliberately push through reading this was not any of that, but rather the structure. The stories loop backwards and forward in time, and the reveals can be interesting, but more often the tension was seriously undermined. For example, there are moments that feel like foreshadowing that but then you remember that the whole reason Betty is hesitating to go with her girlfriend is . Or something that seems like you’re supposed to worry that but then you remember . Or there are bits of tension that just fall flat. Nuha having Never any consequences. Nor do we ultimately find out if Betty ; it is implied, but after all that I’d like to know! BUT…if you’re more of a literary fiction fan than I am, those aspects may not bother you.
November 19, 2022
In this novel, a girl is born as blue as the soap her family made back in Palestine. She is born to three fairy godmothers: a mother, struggling with depression; a grandmother, exiled from home and then from family; and an auntie, you, a tale-weaver who is somehow both a reliable family pillar and an always-outsider. As a woman, still blue, she visits your graveside and revisits your old journals, seeking answers and advice.
This book is written in beautiful prose, and I think readers will like this book if they enjoyed the narrative style of Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree. It's not quite the same but the narrative style is similarly winding, loping, looping, circling and if you didn't mind that in Tomb of Sand, I think you'll have an easier go of this book than I did. It's plainly obvious that this author can write - some of the lines she included here were so striking I had to write them down (that's VERY rare for me, like almost never). However, I really struggled with this book. It took me about a month to read (usually I read a 300-page book in a few days) and it's not because it was a bad book but every time I picked it up, I would read only a few pages before putting it back down again. It never really hooked me into the story's plot, nor do I feel like I ever really got to know any of the characters. I hesitate to label it "boring" because it really wasn't - slow, maybe - but the plot and characters are very interesting. It just felt like the narrative never went anywhere. There was rarely plot progress. The story circles back on itself time and time again but we never go anywhere. I'm not even sure what the plot of the book is. Who is the main character? What was the 'point' so to speak, of the book? A reflection on family, sure, but 'exile'? ...maybe?, sexuality? a bit...
This book is written in beautiful prose, and I think readers will like this book if they enjoyed the narrative style of Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree. It's not quite the same but the narrative style is similarly winding, loping, looping, circling and if you didn't mind that in Tomb of Sand, I think you'll have an easier go of this book than I did. It's plainly obvious that this author can write - some of the lines she included here were so striking I had to write them down (that's VERY rare for me, like almost never). However, I really struggled with this book. It took me about a month to read (usually I read a 300-page book in a few days) and it's not because it was a bad book but every time I picked it up, I would read only a few pages before putting it back down again. It never really hooked me into the story's plot, nor do I feel like I ever really got to know any of the characters. I hesitate to label it "boring" because it really wasn't - slow, maybe - but the plot and characters are very interesting. It just felt like the narrative never went anywhere. There was rarely plot progress. The story circles back on itself time and time again but we never go anywhere. I'm not even sure what the plot of the book is. Who is the main character? What was the 'point' so to speak, of the book? A reflection on family, sure, but 'exile'? ...maybe?, sexuality? a bit...
March 26, 2023
The main character was at a crossroads in her life so she went to visit her aunt’s grave and talk with her to gain insight on a decision she must make. After reading her aunt’s notebooks and reliving the tales she heard growing up she does find clarity. I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me; I almost DNF. The writing style of this book made it difficult to keep me engaged. At times, I couldn’t tell if the timeline was in the present or the past. Additionally, there were a few words that I felt were overused; seeing them so often started to get a bit irritating. I did like the cover though, I thought it was pretty.
May 17, 2023
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book, free of charge, in exchange for an honest review.
This book is all over the place and very confusing. Too many people to try to keep them all straight.
Most of the time I felt like I was wandering aimlessly, lost in a maze of words with no escape in sight.
Just too weird for me, I guess. Glad to be done with it.
This book is all over the place and very confusing. Too many people to try to keep them all straight.
Most of the time I felt like I was wandering aimlessly, lost in a maze of words with no escape in sight.
Just too weird for me, I guess. Glad to be done with it.
August 26, 2024
Loved the complex female characters! I just really struggled with the blurring of timelines/realities. The girl is blue da ba dee da ba di~
June 28, 2025
Here are eight colors—reproduce life.
I try to review every book I read; at least a few paragraphs, so future me can look back and remember what I thought. But there are some books that I find I can't really formulate words to describe, or describe how they made me feel. And this is one of them! GOD, I loved this so much. One of the easiest 5 stars I've ever given. Favourite book of the year so far, hands down. I don't have words. But I'll try.
Do you know what it’s like to be bewitched? Your mind bends. Your entire life shrinks to the size of a small room. The imagination is a fever. You can’t stand it. Nobody can stand it—that’s the point of falling in love.
Half literary fiction, half magical realism, we're following the story of two Palestinian-American women: Betty, who was born with a condition that turned her skin blue; and Nuha, her stubborn, outspoken, headstrong great-aunt who helped raise her. I ADORE the way this is told: as a sort of graveside memorial, from Betty, addressed to Nuha as she sits in the cemetery years into the future, contemplating a decision that will change her life and her future. I tend to enjoy all sorts of second-person narratives, and I loved this for its intimacy, the tenderness, the casual rawness that can only come from family that you know and love well. Even if Nuha isn't speaking back, this feels like a conversation; even if we never exactly get her POV, I feel like I know her. I wouldn't say that magical realism is a favourite genre of mine, and perhaps in another book, I'd have nit-picked about a lot of stuff in this. There are several elements that the author and Betty don't trouble to explain; some things that you aren't sure if they're magical, or poetic license, or what. But it was perfect, in the way it came together.
But love is nothing if not a catastrophe, one that makes me second-guess gravity, history, the limits of my own person. Love is, might be, feels like, a kind of fairy tale too—one that can begin only once the story we thought we knew blows apart.
Some standouts: the subtle and heart-breaking and hopeful exploration of lesbian identity in different generations; the raw and realistic look at the struggles of mental illness through Tashi; all the different and amazing and compelling and complex faces of motherhood, whether through blood or not; the politics of exile and all the heart-wrenching complications of going home again (if you ever can). I expected it to, but the scenes in Palestine showing the effects of the occupation on the people and the land GUTTED me. I cried as Nuha stood amidst the pine trees. I loved how this novel wove myth and legend and family history together, making a saga out of the story of the Rummanis. Every one of Nuha's tales made me so happy, or left my heart hurting, or made me reflect, in a way that only stories about stories can. The author just has a real gift with language. I say the words 'the writing was beautiful,' but that doesn't do justice to the way it sank into my chest and curled vines around my heart. I loved it. I LOVED it.
I reach the center of the problem: in all the crossroads real and imaginary, there is no Road of Return. It is possible to come back to a place, but there’s no undoing the transformation that happens once the heart has chosen to leave.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Victoria Nassif and Haneen Arafat Murphy and it was nothing short of brilliant. There was real emotion behind every word, and I felt it. Lyrical and evocative writing like this doesn't always translate well into audio, but this was beautifully done. There so much more I adored about this book that I haven't touched on, but I feel like the experience of reading it has left me drained. I loved it so much it's indescribable. I NEED to reread it soon. Do yourself a favour and pick it up; this was transformative.
Content warnings:
“But whatever way your heart takes you, just go. Pick up the pieces later.”
did-not-finish
November 25, 2024DNF @ p148
Partial Reading Notes
[You] know what a tyrant is? Somebody who pisses on your shoes and blames you for it. p49
Three things I loved:
1. The descriptions of the baby in the first chapter are spectacular. Imagine their surprise: a vein pulses on the crown of my head. And imagine, as I have many times, the strangeness of what they see happening to my face. It is turning blue. No, not an airless blue. Like a fine network of roots, cobalt filaments are wiggling outward from lips and eyelids, webbing together under the skin across cheeks and forehead. The broken blood vessels seem to multiply with every branching. They grow in density, too, coloring my face. Down my neck, across my chest, underneath my fingernails, and between my toes. Soon my entire body is an even, lustrous blue like a creature from a fairy tale. p3-4 *edit For the hubbub this book makes over this birth, the baby's color doesn't seem to bear much on the story.
2. I like the concept of the narrating character. I just seemed like a sign of the modern world. So what if a girl was born blue? Stranger things were happening all around. p14 I hope this doesn't do what the Bookwoman series did and turn it into a story about "race."
3. The writing can be really beautiful. The last thing I will say about this cube of soap is that all its faces were blank. When soap is made, each cube is stamped with a hammer. Each hammer bears a family seal cast from copper. The image on the Rummanis’ seal was the halved pomegranate. No more Rummani soap exists in the world, thanks to Saeeda. Not a single cube survives. p87
Six things I didn't love:
This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.
1. Well Cypher used suicide as an "I'm tired" joke, there's that. Dang that's even worse than using it as a plot device. Yuck. *edit wow she really throws this subject around in an indelicate way.
2. I'm just letting other readers know that this book is very biblical. Maybe not in the ways you would expect or think, but also, it's just like that too.
3. I'm really struggling with the form, to be honest. Other style choices add unnecessary challenges also, as with the first person narrator lapsing into second all throughout the text. It's never clear who "you" is and it doesn't seem to add any narrative value.
4. This book is so convoluted, in part because of the form.
5. So much ableism in so many different forms.
6. The formatting of the book keeps changing, most noticeably, the font. I'm sure Cypher has a reason for doing this, although what that is is not immediately clear.
Rating: DNF @ p147
Recommend? Meh, I think it's for some readers, but not me.
Finished: Nov 24 '24
I found a digital copy of THE SKIN AND ITS GIRL by Sarah Cypher on Libby. All views are mine.
Partial Reading Notes
[You] know what a tyrant is? Somebody who pisses on your shoes and blames you for it. p49
Three things I loved:
1. The descriptions of the baby in the first chapter are spectacular. Imagine their surprise: a vein pulses on the crown of my head. And imagine, as I have many times, the strangeness of what they see happening to my face. It is turning blue. No, not an airless blue. Like a fine network of roots, cobalt filaments are wiggling outward from lips and eyelids, webbing together under the skin across cheeks and forehead. The broken blood vessels seem to multiply with every branching. They grow in density, too, coloring my face. Down my neck, across my chest, underneath my fingernails, and between my toes. Soon my entire body is an even, lustrous blue like a creature from a fairy tale. p3-4 *edit For the hubbub this book makes over this birth, the baby's color doesn't seem to bear much on the story.
2. I like the concept of the narrating character. I just seemed like a sign of the modern world. So what if a girl was born blue? Stranger things were happening all around. p14 I hope this doesn't do what the Bookwoman series did and turn it into a story about "race."
3. The writing can be really beautiful. The last thing I will say about this cube of soap is that all its faces were blank. When soap is made, each cube is stamped with a hammer. Each hammer bears a family seal cast from copper. The image on the Rummanis’ seal was the halved pomegranate. No more Rummani soap exists in the world, thanks to Saeeda. Not a single cube survives. p87
Six things I didn't love:
This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.
1. Well Cypher used suicide as an "I'm tired" joke, there's that. Dang that's even worse than using it as a plot device. Yuck. *edit wow she really throws this subject around in an indelicate way.
2. I'm just letting other readers know that this book is very biblical. Maybe not in the ways you would expect or think, but also, it's just like that too.
3. I'm really struggling with the form, to be honest. Other style choices add unnecessary challenges also, as with the first person narrator lapsing into second all throughout the text. It's never clear who "you" is and it doesn't seem to add any narrative value.
4. This book is so convoluted, in part because of the form.
5. So much ableism in so many different forms.
6. The formatting of the book keeps changing, most noticeably, the font. I'm sure Cypher has a reason for doing this, although what that is is not immediately clear.
Rating: DNF @ p147
Recommend? Meh, I think it's for some readers, but not me.
Finished: Nov 24 '24
I found a digital copy of THE SKIN AND ITS GIRL by Sarah Cypher on Libby. All views are mine.
June 3, 2023
The whole of human history grew out of our demolished origins: a story in a mess of fragments.
This is one of those books that I’m scared to write a review about, because nothing I can say can do justice to the incredible writing in The Skin and Its Girl. It also hits very, very close to home for me in a lot of ways, in coming from a mixed family and growing up feeling like an alien compared to everyone around you and losing a maternal figure who you looked up to throughout your childhood, so like, bear with me please.
The Skin and Its Girl touches on so many themes running through the life of one sprawling, messy immigrant family, so I don’t know that I can say definitively what it’s about. It deals with queerness, motherhood, mental health, family dynamics and secrets, love, grief, political unrest…it all comes together to paint such a rich, realistic portrayal of the life of its main characters. The story is told as a recounting of the main character Betty’s life, but also the life of the great aunt who raised her (there’s a lot of second-person here, which may not be everyone’s thing but I love it). Betty narrates the story at her aunt’s grave, and there are certainly plenty of heavy moments in the story, but it’s ultimately a story driven by hope and love and a relentless push toward a better future.
Sarah Cypher also does an incredible job with the writing here. She strikes a very delicate balance between thoughtful, intelligent prose and compulsively readable storytelling; there’s so much going on in the language of this book but it’s so easy to read for hours and not even feel the time passing. Not many writers pull that off as successfully as in this book.
I really have nothing bad to say about this one. Please give it a try if it even slightly piques your interest.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
This is one of those books that I’m scared to write a review about, because nothing I can say can do justice to the incredible writing in The Skin and Its Girl. It also hits very, very close to home for me in a lot of ways, in coming from a mixed family and growing up feeling like an alien compared to everyone around you and losing a maternal figure who you looked up to throughout your childhood, so like, bear with me please.
The Skin and Its Girl touches on so many themes running through the life of one sprawling, messy immigrant family, so I don’t know that I can say definitively what it’s about. It deals with queerness, motherhood, mental health, family dynamics and secrets, love, grief, political unrest…it all comes together to paint such a rich, realistic portrayal of the life of its main characters. The story is told as a recounting of the main character Betty’s life, but also the life of the great aunt who raised her (there’s a lot of second-person here, which may not be everyone’s thing but I love it). Betty narrates the story at her aunt’s grave, and there are certainly plenty of heavy moments in the story, but it’s ultimately a story driven by hope and love and a relentless push toward a better future.
Sarah Cypher also does an incredible job with the writing here. She strikes a very delicate balance between thoughtful, intelligent prose and compulsively readable storytelling; there’s so much going on in the language of this book but it’s so easy to read for hours and not even feel the time passing. Not many writers pull that off as successfully as in this book.
I really have nothing bad to say about this one. Please give it a try if it even slightly piques your interest.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
April 7, 2024
The flowery prose got old after about ten pages. I also wasn’t rocking with the second person perspective. The family and isolation themes were somewhat interesting, but the plot just didn’t do much for me.
April 23, 2023
Prose is too heavy-handed; aphorisms crawling like baby spiders—enough, and then much more…
June 20, 2025
"But love is nothing if not a catastrophe, one that makes me second-guess gravity, history, and the limits of my own person."
A non-linear, literary fiction about intergenerational identity, The Skin and Its Girl had a lot of interesting stuff going for it. Focused primarily on the great aunt, Nuha, an elderly, queer Palestinian woman who's chosen her family time and again. Narrated in second person by Betty, her blue great niece.
Beautifully written and vibrantly told, its narrative cast too-wide of a net to truly grab me. As literary fiction, I didn't expect some gripping plot or fantastical explanations on why Betty is blue. However, I do wish it was more focused with the family history and had meditated more on what being blue would mean. It was too scattered, making it a bit of a slog to get through and feeling less than the sum of its parts.
TWs: racism, suicidal thoughts, medical content regarding childbirth, bullying, destruction via fire, detainment, war violence.
A non-linear, literary fiction about intergenerational identity, The Skin and Its Girl had a lot of interesting stuff going for it. Focused primarily on the great aunt, Nuha, an elderly, queer Palestinian woman who's chosen her family time and again. Narrated in second person by Betty, her blue great niece.
Beautifully written and vibrantly told, its narrative cast too-wide of a net to truly grab me. As literary fiction, I didn't expect some gripping plot or fantastical explanations on why Betty is blue. However, I do wish it was more focused with the family history and had meditated more on what being blue would mean. It was too scattered, making it a bit of a slog to get through and feeling less than the sum of its parts.
TWs: racism, suicidal thoughts, medical content regarding childbirth, bullying, destruction via fire, detainment, war violence.
April 3, 2024
contender for favorite book of the year I fear
November 2, 2022
The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher is a novel about shared histories and how everything we have in the present has roots in something ancient.
Betty, a queer Palestinian American, is torn between staying in the only country she's ever known and leaving to be with the woman she loves. She does not want to perpetuate the cycle of exile in her family but wants to follow her heart. Upon discovering her Aunt Nuha's journals that contained passages about her life and sexuality, Betty uncovers much more about her own history. The Skin and Its Girl follows Betty as she discovers a hidden history about the Rummani family lore.
This book is complicated in a great way. It deals with the idea of our shared histories and how every trauma leaves its imprints in us. A wonderful story about trying to find refuge and answers in the past told with amazing different stories and perspectives. With many different characters throughout many different times, at times it became a bit hectic to keep track of. However, this is an important story with beautiful prose and a deep history you can easily get lost in.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and Netgalley for this ARC.
Betty, a queer Palestinian American, is torn between staying in the only country she's ever known and leaving to be with the woman she loves. She does not want to perpetuate the cycle of exile in her family but wants to follow her heart. Upon discovering her Aunt Nuha's journals that contained passages about her life and sexuality, Betty uncovers much more about her own history. The Skin and Its Girl follows Betty as she discovers a hidden history about the Rummani family lore.
This book is complicated in a great way. It deals with the idea of our shared histories and how every trauma leaves its imprints in us. A wonderful story about trying to find refuge and answers in the past told with amazing different stories and perspectives. With many different characters throughout many different times, at times it became a bit hectic to keep track of. However, this is an important story with beautiful prose and a deep history you can easily get lost in.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and Netgalley for this ARC.
November 21, 2022
First off I would like to say thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for giving me a chance to read this book prior to its release.
The Skin and It's Girl is a slow and building novel that has complicated roots. Elspeth is a girl born under uncertain circumstances. She is born the color blue but perfectly healthy. Almost adopted at birth Auntie Nuha comes in with her clock of deception brewed with love and Elspeth (or Betty as she calls her) is brought back into the Rummani Matriarch.
Auntie Nuha's skin and Elspeth's are not visibly comparable yet with the more I read I felt their pain, the love engrained in them for their family and their lovers, and the secrecy that was draped over it all. I think it was a clever choice on Cypher to later introduce us to the notebooks her aunt had. Cypher is bringing Auntie Nuha back to life for us. She made us build a similar relationship that Elspeth/Betty had with her aunt. I related in more ways than expected to Elspeth. From a shared sexuality to having an older parental figure that you admired and loved while also being fearful of. It always baffles me how all those feelings can coexist as one and yet your love of that person is what solely stands out in the end.
I grew to really love Nuha Rummani, sympathize for Tashi, admire Saahi, and feel protective over Elspeth. Cypher made you feel apart of the Rummani family - a gift wrapped in another skin.
"I have not forgotten that in all practical and imaginary ways, you are still my author."
The Skin and It's Girl is a slow and building novel that has complicated roots. Elspeth is a girl born under uncertain circumstances. She is born the color blue but perfectly healthy. Almost adopted at birth Auntie Nuha comes in with her clock of deception brewed with love and Elspeth (or Betty as she calls her) is brought back into the Rummani Matriarch.
Auntie Nuha's skin and Elspeth's are not visibly comparable yet with the more I read I felt their pain, the love engrained in them for their family and their lovers, and the secrecy that was draped over it all. I think it was a clever choice on Cypher to later introduce us to the notebooks her aunt had. Cypher is bringing Auntie Nuha back to life for us. She made us build a similar relationship that Elspeth/Betty had with her aunt. I related in more ways than expected to Elspeth. From a shared sexuality to having an older parental figure that you admired and loved while also being fearful of. It always baffles me how all those feelings can coexist as one and yet your love of that person is what solely stands out in the end.
I grew to really love Nuha Rummani, sympathize for Tashi, admire Saahi, and feel protective over Elspeth. Cypher made you feel apart of the Rummani family - a gift wrapped in another skin.
"I have not forgotten that in all practical and imaginary ways, you are still my author."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2023
"Hiding one's true desires, day in and day out, was a type of skin. But in the old country, our heroine wore it out of habit. She knew no other way. There would never be any taking it all the way off. But now that she was buttoned inside yet another new skin, she felt like she was wearing two winter coats."
We all have inner lives, housed inside a carapace of skin. When you're a child and you experience the world's hurt for the first time, adults tell you that you'll need to grow a thicker skin to protect you from cruelty. Nuha Rummani has spent her life inside such a shell, first to change her name and identity, then years later to hide her romantic relationship with a woman to even those closest to her. Her niece, Dr. Natasha "Tashi" Rummani, is an accomplished neuroscientist who buries herself in work to hide her depression and suicidal ideation. Tashi's daughter Elspeth, nicknamed Betty, cannot hide inside her skin, for it's blue. Quite literally blue--descended from her long-deceased ancestors who washed themselves with soap containing indigo dye.
Nuha raises her grandniece with fables spun from the history of her family. What at first seem like fantastical myths of gazelles and fiery red birds with flowing tails have their roots in truth, and this book opens and blossoms as its kernels reveal themselves.
This book is a masterpiece. All the stars.
We all have inner lives, housed inside a carapace of skin. When you're a child and you experience the world's hurt for the first time, adults tell you that you'll need to grow a thicker skin to protect you from cruelty. Nuha Rummani has spent her life inside such a shell, first to change her name and identity, then years later to hide her romantic relationship with a woman to even those closest to her. Her niece, Dr. Natasha "Tashi" Rummani, is an accomplished neuroscientist who buries herself in work to hide her depression and suicidal ideation. Tashi's daughter Elspeth, nicknamed Betty, cannot hide inside her skin, for it's blue. Quite literally blue--descended from her long-deceased ancestors who washed themselves with soap containing indigo dye.
Nuha raises her grandniece with fables spun from the history of her family. What at first seem like fantastical myths of gazelles and fiery red birds with flowing tails have their roots in truth, and this book opens and blossoms as its kernels reveal themselves.
This book is a masterpiece. All the stars.
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