The Skin Artist

by George Hovis

The morning Bill Becker awakes to find the butterfly tattoo bleeding on his chest, his upwardly mobile life begins its harrowing downward spiral. Exiled from a corporate career and from the failed marriage he left behind in a gated Charlotte community, Bill becomes obsessed with a tattooed dancer named Lucy, who is running from a trauma buried deep in her own past. Lucy and Bill wrap themselves in new skins of ink, wrought by the same artist, a "shaman" who convinces them that every design will alter their future. Ultimately, both Bill and Lucy must leave the city and return to the Carolina countryside to confront the skins they have shed many years ago.

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Genres: Fiction

371 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 7, 2019

Reviews

[Paige Layno Winn · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Hovis delightfully captures the essence of urban and rural South in his first (and definitely not last!) novel. I was immediately drawn to the offbeat, flawed, and sexy characters—and a great story tinged with good old fashioned, Southern Gothic darkness and family dysfunction.

Pour a glass of Bourbon, cozy up to a fireplace or your favorite porch spot, and immerse yourself in this tale of life’s complexities, surprises, and ultimate redemption.

[Tara Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Skin Artist is a beauty of a debut novel—surprising, tactile, sexy, and ambitious. Set in Charlotte, North Carolina, during a long hot summer of the late twentieth-century, the characters of this novel are transforming along with the city and its environs ahead of the millennium, searching for love and human connection in a rapidly changing Southland. Neither romantic nor cynical about the journey from rural to urban and back again, these characters grope for compassion anywhere it grows, from Great Uncle Olin’s home place to the shadow of the NationsBank Tower. The main character is Bill, an alcoholic whose search for a place to stay after his wife kicks him out structures the novel’s action. Bill is a fitting cipher for his moment in time as he and his family refract along the fault lines of generational moves from physical to intellectual labor and back again. The novel’s unlikely prophets show up on Bill’s search Flannery O’Connor-style in unexpected forms that are often as darkly funny as they are uncomfortably close to revelatory: a new age tattoo parlor owner, a traveling steak salesman, the barkeep at the Jackpot where Bill’s love interest strips. Big-hearted but self-destructive and even cruel, Bill has traded a world of tractors, tasty casseroles, and faith, for one of Mercedes, mini-bars, and ink sales; by the end of the novel’s search for a place to call home, the gap between will be mapped literally onto Bill’s skin. Author George Hovis has spun the threads of a literary classic out of a city and landscape he knows well, and in some ways translates the life of one midsize southern city into a mirror view of the nation at a critical moment of economic and social change, much as Thomas Wolfe did with Asheville in Look Homeward, Angel. There’s much here to delight a reader with a connection to North Carolina and its literature, or, on the other hand to invite readers who don’t know that landscape to look closer. Reading it put me in mind of the first time I discovered Walker Percy, who mapped the national hunger onto southern Louisiana for his generation, but, as with Wolfe, it's just a hint of a haunt. Hovis has made Charlotte his very own. But, never mind all that for now, because I mostly wanted to say that, first and foremost, The Skin Artist is an engaging read about pain and redemptive love—a novel of ideas that may just make you break your heart laughing.

[Alice Lichtenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Hovis has written a remarkable first novel that takes the reader back in time to the burgeoning of the "New South" in North Carolina. As someone who has only lived in the Northeast and West, I was deeply intrigued and enlightened about a time, a place, and a culture through Hovis' multi-faceted characters. This is the story of a divorced man's fall and redemption, a younger brother's coming of age, and young woman's coming to grips with trauma. Hovis' examines the complex layers of his characters' lives and tells their stories with lucid and well-paced prose. An utterly satisfying read--I recommend "The Skin Artist" to all readers!

[David Radavich · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Hovis’ THE SKIN ARTIST caught my fancy as a novel about a world I know nothing about—the art of decorating flesh with emblems enacting one’s inner life. Action alternates between the upscale New South city of Charlotte, where many still falter in the gig economy, and the rural reaches of nearby Gaston County, where families struggle to maintain their dignity and connection to the land. Hovis combines sometimes gritty realism with flights of surrealism and meditations on morality, philosophy, and the alien universe. It is an engaging, richly textured novel with good pace, sharply etched characters, and satisfying end—a masterful debut.

[Maureen Broeking]

This book was so compelling. The characters deep and real. Dark and yet hopeful. Great read!

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a dark, strange, sexy novel with a relatively happy ending. It’s a bit random at times but I really enjoyed it. Highly recommend if you like books about people unraveling.

[Robert Bensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“He’d become an ingrown toenail, his own sex cutting into himself.” --from the novel.

I’m curious, I admit, about tattooing among the young, the bikers, the vets, the yuppie hipsters—and The Skin Artist takes me there thanks to Bill, a middle-aged business man with a failing marriage, who, having lost his job and scored (or about to) with a well-inked stripper, wakes up from an Xtreme drunk to discover a butterfly getting buzzed into his chest by a Tantric sex guru. It gets worse from there. It also gets better. And then worse. You’ll just have read it. I did. Let me restart this thing.

Who was it said that writers all end up sounding like the county they come from? George Hovis hails from Gaston County, North Carolina, as do the preponderance of characters in his novel The Skin Artist. Of late, though, George Hovis lives and teaches at the northern reaches of Appalachia in Upstate New York, where the terrain surely reminds him of home and grounds him in the earthy lives of his Gaston County citizenry. Most are multi-generational families dug into the wooded mountains, whether on inherited land or in broken trailers and poverty, though the principal characters, uprooted, seek their various fortune, escape and salvation in nearby Charlotte. The Queen City has its own forms of impoverishment in urban sprawl, upscale apartments, sketchy neighborhoods and piled up skyscrapers. Looming over everyone’s prospects, a watchtower of the world-capitalist economy, the sixty-story NationsBank building. Thus the novel opposes worlds-apart settings a few miles from each other, both predatory in different ways, both the scene of people struggling to make authentic lives against impossible odds.

Backwoods Gaston County is the haunt of Bill Becker’s ancestral family, the family that his lover Lucy never had but imagines marrying and settling into, though not with Bill. He had left his wife (as we’ve said), succumbed to alcohol and other intoxicants, and fallen for Lucy’s tattooed body, the masterpiece of Niall, guru of tattooing as prophesy, character analysis, and fate. When Lucy accompanies Bill home for a visit, she attracts the gaze of his younger brother, Wesley, the good brother who stayed home to care for their parents and grandparents. Equally smitten with Lucy, Wesley is poised to risk everything on becoming one flesh with her. But Lucy has ambition for her own skin artistry, to pull herself up from the skin trade, and neither Bill nor Wesley can follow her, even at a distance.

There’s much more to Bill’s fall from grace and Lucy’s redemption, and the drama all comes to a head at a Fourth of July cookout deep in the sticks involving too much homebrew, a jealous husband binge-watching homemade sex tapes, and, of course, the heirloom pistol.…that’s some party you don’t want to miss. I swear, I can’t keep up with these people, but it was worth trying.

Whatever’s in the moon shining above the waters of Appalachian North Carolina that produces an elect company of writers the likes of George Hovis could involve a distillation that puts a glorious fire in the belly of prose so good it ought to be illegal.

[Elsie A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read. George Hovis is a masterful storyteller. The characters are true and compelling. I felt as though I were watching rather than reading the story's unfolding ...My copy of the book is amply dogeared -- so many pages to which I want to return and delve once more into the lives of these characters I came to love and care about. There's great wisdom in these pages.

[Tim Bullard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. I found it a thought provoking story and time well spent. The beginning of the book was rich in both language and detail. I found myself done with Part I in a single sitting. The rest of the book was harder to read. It still had detail and well crafted writing, but the lives of the characters seemed to slow down into a slow painful spiral. I found myself not wanting to continue, but not wanting to stop. Upon finishing, I continued to think about the characters and the scenes for several days. I don't know if the book is a cautionary tale or a morality story - maybe both. I'm not skilled in writing reviews and I don't want to give anything away about the outcomes for the characters, but I find myself searching for meaning in events that brought them together and the results that developed. I wonder if the contrasts between Bill and Lucy's tattoos was more than simple magic? Honestly, I would recommend this book to someone looking for meaningful, thought-provoking fiction. It isn't light summer reading.

[Vince Tweddell · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems George Hovis found two of the most disparate people within his imagination, created a way for their paths to cross, and asked, ‘What if?’: What if a heavily tattooed trailer park stripper were to meet a former frat boy Mercedes-driving alcoholic? Hovis’s answer is The Skin Artist, which follows one summer in the life of Bill Becker, a yuppie with a good heart (somewhere in there) but plagued by poor decisions he’s made and continues to make. He’s nearing a crossroads in his life—one that arrives in many of our lives—when he takes a look at what he’s become and wonders how he got there.

But he’s not there yet. First he must endure one wild summer set in late 1990s Charlotte and nearby Gaston County. And that’s lucky for us. We get to watch his misadventures with a very memorable cast of characters, including Lucy, the exotic dancer he becomes obsessed with, as they work through their past and seek new beginnings.

This novel is a fun and captivating read. I became wrapped up in the characters, questioning their decisions, examining their thoughts and wisdom, contemplating my own prejudices, and wondering if I would act like them if I found myself in similar situations. I highly recommend it.

[Shauna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a happy story. It is a slow-motion train wreck and as much as you want to look away, you just can’t. Bill has a seemingly perfect life and one night starts a slow and steady slide to rock bottom and he’s taking as many people with him as possible. All of the characters in this book are damaged and fragile in a way that hastens their destruction and it’s so hard to watch. Their broken parts interact in the worst possible ways and everyone ends up with scars from the contact. Although the story won’t leave you with warm, fuzzy feelings, it is worth the read. This book shows that no matter how far you’ve fallen, there’s always hope for redemption.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in Charlotte, my home for over 35 years, and in rural Gaston County, The Skin Artist captures the search for self-understanding through the experiences of several memorable characters. George Hovis, in his debut novel, seems to allow hope that you can indeed go home again.

[Terry Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sweetly written book about ugly times and often desperate people. The New South in all its garish confusion lives large in The Skin Artist. But ultimately, George Hovis is concerned with the vagaries of human nature and our slim hope for redemption.

[Gaele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bill is living a half-life, his marriage is dissolving before his eyes, his drinking is problematic, debts are increasing and he’s just lost his job. Not from the drinking or his general malaise, but the life he so carefully cultivated away from his shotgun shack poor family in the country has fallen from his grasp. To make matters worse, a neighbor and one he considered friend, is bringing the lightness back to his wife’s life, and their connection and relationship are impossible for him to ignore. The first part of this five—part tale is an introduction: we see all of Bill’s insecurities and coping mechanisms with clarity, and his inability to cope when one piece of the puzzle doesn’t quite fit.

Slowly and with occasionally painful or embarrassing moments, we see Bill’s slow slide into his new “skin”, from meeting a disgraced frat brother as the two of them share drunken escapades at a strip club, through his fumbling interactions with one of the dancers- tattoos covering her body, to meeting her ‘artist’ as he awakes in a still-drunken stupor to find a half-finished butterfly on his chest. Lucy (the dancer) and Niall (the artist) are both seekers of answers to their past, present and place in the world: combinations of fatalism, hope, conspiracy theories and a weirdly sensible explanations of alien-mind meld that ‘drives’ it all fall from Niall’s lips – a talented artist with little to no (actual) hesitations about tattooing a barely-standing-in-reality drunk in Bill. Lucy’s issues are far more ‘expected’ from someone who strips for a living, but it is her challenges to Bill’s belief of how things are meant to be, and a touch of predation where his naivete are concerned, that keep him enthralled, believing himself in love and important to her.

Through meeting his family and his ‘homecoming’ that is less prodigal son and more weighty with the shame (self-imposed) and the hard questions and judgments from his rather simple, hard working parents uncomfortable with his new friends and the drinking, Bill has plenty of moments to find his way, or his new face to present to the world, but it is the need he’s found in the tattoos from Niall, and the surety that Niall and Lucy, and even his strange reconnection with the childhood friend turned frat brother Kent that seem to keep him moving. Obsession with his soon-to-be ex-wife, his inability to function without drink or the siren’s call of the strip club, even his own descent into homelessness, his parent’s worries for his ‘influence’ on his younger brother and even his own awareness of his slide, it takes the deaths of his friend Kent and his grandfather to finally start to make an impression. There’s a grounded sense to all that he reaches for though: the convertible top of his car to bring in ‘air’, the deep breaths he takes to ‘breathe in the country’ when he heads toward where he grew up, even his desperate attempts to ‘find a grounding’ in the bamboo behind his cousin’s house with Niall, his search is circuitous and starts out as wholly selfish – giving nothing of himself to anyone BUT money – to the point when that is gone and listening, friendship and just being Bill – minus all of the city polish and loosening of the iron-fisted grip on the changes he made to disguise or bury his upbringing all seem to find a fit within him. Tattooed, having grown up and found some purpose in it all, and putting the drink aside all help to bring this growth spurt to an end. Hovis’ writing is lyrical and clear – we aren’t asked to ‘feel bad’ for Bill, but to see him (and the others) in all their humanity - warts and all, as we hope for them to find a way to pull it together and use all they have learned to make changes that they want and need. Gripping, solidly southern and wholly readable, the story clearly presents the people and their lives, shares their wishes, hopes, dreams and nightmares, and leaves the sense of a future open to interpretation.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at I am, Indeed

[Gordon Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his first novel, George Hovis doesn’t bite off more than he can chew. He doesn’t spin a complicated yarn with countless characters and story lines. There’s just a handful of characters that you intimately
come to know through his rich descriptions of lives and thoughts and that is what makes the book real and readable. It is a story told as if you met an old friend and asked, “ What ever became of old so-and-so?” He says, “Well its kind of an interesting story..” and out comes this tale. And if you live in North Carolina and went to college there, its fascinating because you’re sorta part of it- you walked the same streets, drank in those same bars, made many of the same stupid mistakes. Brother Hovis has written a entertaining book that I recommend to any who enjoys novels that develop characters to the point you expect you might run into them tomorrow and are mildly disappointed you don’t.

[Justine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A moving tale of redemption and learning to love. The story follows Bill, a man who just lost his job, his wife, and his dignity. Can falling in love with an erotic night club dancer get his life back on track? Can the new tattoos really wield magic in his life?
This is a passionate story of healing and self-discovery with beautifully woven language. The intricate metaphors and deeply embedded symbolism propelled me through the novel. Hovis's attention to and sympathy for the women in his book--his clear regard for mothers and survivors--drew me in irresistibly. The lively prose, the poetic imagery, the alcohol-induced surrealism, the surprising and delightful ending all combine to make this one of the best books I've read this year. I can't wait to share this story with everyone in my life who needs a touch of hope!

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bill Becker has managed to screw up every aspect of his upper-middle-class existence in the boomtown of the New South, Charlotte, NC. After his drinking sends his wife into the arms of a neighbor, Bill goes on a weeks-long binge that includes an exotic dancer and her guru-like tattoo artist, plus an infamous fraternity brother who turns up at Bill’s lowest point. With nowhere left to turn, Bill is forced to slink back to his roots in Gaston County. It might be just the shot of authenticity he needs to counteract all the fool’s gold in the Queen City.
Masterfully written with credible characters you’ll recognize if you’re “from around here,” but without an ounce of cliché. Often funny, sometimes head-scratching (a carrot tattoo?), but ultimately good-hearted and earnest.

[Diem Shepard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a serious novel and I hope that it reaches a wider audience than it seems to have, so far. You know the expression, "I couldn't put it down." Well, in this case, I did put it down because it was depressing, but I couldn't stop picking it back up. The characters are compelling, the setting well-realized, and the language evocative. I do have some questions about certain structural choices, and to my great delight, I will be meeting the author next week at the Cazenovia Public Library. Maybe I'll ask him a carefully worded question -- with no spoilers.

[Dale Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Hovis' fine novel, The Skin Artist, is a masterpiece of exploration into the world of obsession. His portrayal of the underworld of Charlotte is stunning and well written, and his character Lucy is as potent as any of Tennessee Williams' women characters. This novel is a must read for anyone who likes well written fiction; it will get under your skin and stay there. I offer highest praise for the book. dale ray phillips

[George Stackpole · Rating 5 out of 5]

My book club selected this novel to discuss, and we were definitely not disappointed! Hovis' writing is lucid and flows easily. The character development is excellent, and it is easy to relate to them even if you've never had similar experiences. An additional strength of the book is the seamless manner in which the subplots interact. I would absolutely recommend this novel for anyone who seeks to read a compelling piece of literature.

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes life doesn't take you where you expect to go. This is the story of Bill, whose journey from corporate family man to going in search of his rural, more humble roots I found very powerful. He meets some interesting people along the way, and learns some important truths about himself. Hovis brings the whole story to life, and weaves a captivating tale that will draw the reader in quickly. A powerful story set during a time of great change, seen through the lens of one man's life.

[Joseph Bentz · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Skin Artist" is an entertaining and raucous ride from start to finish. Bill Becker loses everything--his job, his home, his money, and his marriage--and that's when the action begins. The book is full of fascinating characters, complicated family and romantic relationships, lots of action, and plenty of tattoos. I really enjoyed this novel.

[Fred Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

One can actually hear the music in George Hovis's The Skin Artist; it is a masterful contradance of colliding frozen lives welcoming the warmth of a fleeting hand. A rich story of loneliness and the pull of the home fire, brimming with moments of indelible tenderness for people who aren't sure they deserve them.

[Michael Cody · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Skin Artist draws the reader into a realistic world of characters without direction. Things fall apart for most every of them, in one way or another, and while most see some recovery as the novel concludes, their stories don't necessarily provide any sure sense of redemption. Gritty. But they've survived themselves and their behaviors -- most of them anyway. That might be about the best we can hope.

[June Saraceno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welcome to the underbelly of Charlotte, NC—not the parts of town tourists visit. The Skin Artist by George Hovis is a darkly funny picaresque romp, a sexy page-turner, full of memorable characters, including the provocative siren, Lucy. Put it on your summer reading list and enjoy!

[Morgan Rumsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Beautiful writing
-I’m from Charlotte so I enjoyed the setting and descriptions of familiar locations
-Not a fun or joyful book but thought provoking for sure
-Wouldn’t read it again but overall I enjoyed it

[Cristie Underwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

[Devina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review in progress

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging read

It was hard to put down this book. Incredibly well developed characters and engrossing story. I highly recommend this book.

[Caroline]

The Skin Artist by my friend and colleague George Hovis has been keeping me intrigued during my read. Set in North Carolina, the characters are people I probably meet on a regular basis, but because we rarely see more than skin deep we don't know of their depth.