What do you think?
Rate this book
Skin
Turning loose a Midwestern species of magical realism on a small, God-haunted town in Kansas, Kellie Wells charms strangeness and wonder from what might be mistaken for “ordinary” life. Here is Martin LeFavor, convinced his father has been nabbed by a solicitous band of aliens in desperate need of skin; Charlotte McCorkle, a vexed visionary who believes she has helped her husband escape the flesh; Zero Loomis, plagued by sacrificial angels, the memory of his father, and a shadowy sexual identity; his sister Rachel, an amateur masseuse determined to settle accounts with the past, in particular with her lovingly violent father; Ruby Tuesday, Rachel’s daughter, a budding oracle, the embodiment of possibility and prey to history; and, holding this tilted cosmos together, fifteen-year-old Ivy Engel, who carefully measures the borders of Self, advocates for neighborhood bats, and frets about the health of her friend Duncan, his harrowed body mapped and perhaps ravaged by subcutaneous scars.
What happens when the spirit exceeds the limits of the skin? More troubling yet, what happens if it doesn’t? These are the questions the inhabitants of What Cheer, Kansas, must finally face as their paths cross and recross in an ever more intriguing—and perhaps liberating—puzzle.
What happens when the spirit exceeds the limits of the skin? More troubling yet, what happens if it doesn’t? These are the questions the inhabitants of What Cheer, Kansas, must finally face as their paths cross and recross in an ever more intriguing—and perhaps liberating—puzzle.
- GenresFictionShort Stories
248 pages, Hardcover
First published January 3, 2006
1 person is currently reading
63 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 20, 2012
a LitBlog Co-Op recommendations.
This reminded me a lot of Kathryn Davis' Thin Place read earlier in the year, but I liked Davis' book better although I'm hard pressed to really nail down why. Skin has a very mystical/religious focus to it. Some of the characters are very religious, some not at all, some are perhaps prophets or seers. While eventually connections are drawn between most of them, they are not "connected" in the way of Davis' book. A lot of loneliness here. And a lot of new words. I don't think I'm bragging when I say that I am pretty well read and tend to have an impressive vocabulary despite my lack of usage of such here on this site. Yet while reading this book, I was surprised by how many times I thought "Hmmm, I've never seen that word before..." For example, "fescue" and "ylem" both in the first five pages. Sometimes that was distracting.
Here's a quote I liked early on; I wouldn't say it's typical of this book, but it's humorous: Harlan's La-Z-Boy rocker/recliner, normally recalcitrant and squeaky, sits silent. It knows something is amiss for it has not been properly rocked for months now, and it knows the bones that occasionally stick in its open maw do not belong to its beloved. Recliners are not easily duped. The possibility of mutiny looms large and palpable in this living room.
This reminded me a lot of Kathryn Davis' Thin Place read earlier in the year, but I liked Davis' book better although I'm hard pressed to really nail down why. Skin has a very mystical/religious focus to it. Some of the characters are very religious, some not at all, some are perhaps prophets or seers. While eventually connections are drawn between most of them, they are not "connected" in the way of Davis' book. A lot of loneliness here. And a lot of new words. I don't think I'm bragging when I say that I am pretty well read and tend to have an impressive vocabulary despite my lack of usage of such here on this site. Yet while reading this book, I was surprised by how many times I thought "Hmmm, I've never seen that word before..." For example, "fescue" and "ylem" both in the first five pages. Sometimes that was distracting.
Here's a quote I liked early on; I wouldn't say it's typical of this book, but it's humorous: Harlan's La-Z-Boy rocker/recliner, normally recalcitrant and squeaky, sits silent. It knows something is amiss for it has not been properly rocked for months now, and it knows the bones that occasionally stick in its open maw do not belong to its beloved. Recliners are not easily duped. The possibility of mutiny looms large and palpable in this living room.
Displaying 1 of 1 review