BLOGGYBOOKCLUB :: review

Here is my review of Under The Skin by Michel Faber (bloggybookclub)


I wouldn’t call this book a pleasure to read, but it was intriguing in a gross kinda way and I didn’t want to put it down, it also stayed with me and I found myself thinking about it when I wasn’t reading which is surely a sign that the writer has achieved something.

When I first started it I thought she was just a serial killer but soon realised there was more to her and more going on. I didn’t warm to her as she had a hardness to her, but I did feel sorry for her & the drastic mutilation that was irreversible and caused her so much pain. I would like to have known more about her background that was only hinted at that would make her agree to go through with it.

I felt the reason for it all was disappointing that it was only about food, all that effort and expense was just to provide luxury food for the very rich, but I guess that is the point of the book .... the parallels to our own attitude to food and animals.

Although not warming to Isserley, I did want her to be able to escape and settle near a remote beach ... but I think in the end, she had to die really :(

Its also sad the portrayal of 90% of the men she captured were shallow and heartless characters and heart breaking that the couple of nice men should end up the way they did. I think in a good book or film you need to have at least someone to warm to, and apart from the couple of men who were only in it fleetingly, there was no one to like. And the one who did try to make a difference, Amlis Vess, did seem to give up quite easily.

All in all, it was a good read, although very disturbing, Not a book I would recommend to everyone, but I am passing it on to my sister in law who has a strong stomach!

You need to pop over to All About The boys to find out what everyone else thought!

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