Under the Skin

by Michel Faber, David Mitchell

304 pages

English language

Published Oct. 29, 2017 by Canongate Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-78689-052-8

(23 reviews)

Short-listed for the Whitbread Award, this remarkable book defies categorisation. Under the Skin introduces Isserley, a woman obsessed with picking up male hitchhikers – so long as they're well-muscled and alone. But why? As the novel unfolds and the reason becomes clear, the reader is drawn inexorably into a completely unexpected and increasingly terrifying world.

12 editions

trotskyAKAbronstein reviewed Under the skin by Michel Faber

Review of 'Under the skin' on Goodreads

4 stars

Would have been 3-stars, but it is well structured, paced and with a uniform tension that this other-wise perfectly-average, perfectly-good novel gets one more for novel-craft.

Somewhat interesting - but novels are supposed to be, so nothing special there. Some vaguely novel ideas - but that's what you'd expect from a novel, so nothing special there, either.

All in all, a well done, perfectly readable, otherwise average novel.

Adrián Astur Álvarez reviewed Under the Skin by Michel Faber

Review of 'Under the Skin' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I read this as soon as I caught a trailer for an upcoming film version. The film, by Jonathan Glazer, looked so visually intriguing and so rich in mystery that I was pulled right in... and I'm so glad I read the book first. Unfortunately, the film has almost nothing to do with Faber's novel. It's as though Glazer read the novel and liked it so much he decided to color it's pages over with a crayon and present it to the world.

The novel, however, is excellent. There are moments when it conveys that same Marxist dread Kazuo Ishiguro portrays in Never Let Me Go. In fact, the two novels are in interesting dialogue and I highly recommend one after the other.

I can't go into plot detail because so much of this story comes across in a slow yet compelling reveal from start to finish (even as the characters are slowly revealed to themselves). I can say that the reveals, however interesting, are not what this novel's story hinges on (thus succumbing to gimmickry).

I highly recommend this novel (and if you haven't read Ishiguro I recommend that, too). I do NOT recommend the film but the good news is you can watch the film before or after you read the book and your experience will not diminish.