Under the Skin by Michel Faber
Title: Under the Skin
Author: Michel Faber
Published 2000
Length: 311 pages
Source: Bought used through Barnes & Noble
Isserley cruises the roads of the Scottish Highlands sizing up male hitchhikers. She is looking for beefy specimens with big muscles. She, herself, is tiny–like a kid peering up over the steering wheel–and wears the thickest corrective lenses anyone has ever seen. Scarred and awkward, yet strangely erotic and threatening, she is a remarkable and unforgettable character.
Her hitchhikers are a mixed bunch–trailer trash and traveling postgraduates, thugs and philosophers. As she drives them deeper and deeper into the mysterious splendors of the Scottish wilds, they open up to her, revealing a complex and varied picture of life on earth–but Isserley is listening for other clues. Clues about who might miss them if they should dissapear. If she desides they're worth the risk, she takes them farther than they ever dreamed of going. But takes them where?- Summary from the book jacket.
To start, this book has one of the worst jacket summaries I've run across in years. My first impression was that this was going to be a book about a female serial killer. Its actually a fantasy novel. Unfortunately, it's the kind of fantasy novel you get when an author decides they're writing a serious book, rather than that genre crap.
The basic premise has potential. Isserley, and her people, are real human beings, and view vodsels (us) as no better than animals. Isserley, and one of her co-workers, have undergone painful and extensive surgery so they can passably blend in with vodsels without attracting too much attention. This allows them to set up shop on a farm in Scotland, where Isserley brings hitchhikers she has determined are suitable for their purposes.
The book suffers from a lack of basic world building. I never got the impression that the author bothered to figure out much about the society of real human beings. I was left with the impression that they were kind of like us, but lived underground, and didn't look like us. There's also no explanation over the name. I wouldn't expect another species to think of us as human beings. But if another race, with a different language, uses that term for themselves, I want to know why.
The book also suffers from problems with the point of view. Most of the book is told from Isserley's point of view. However, every time she picks up a hitchhiker we get to see inside their head for a brief period. The shifts aren't jarring, but most of them don't add anything to story. There's only one that adds something that couldn't be conveyed by other means, but there's no payoff.
In fact, the lack of payoff is probably the biggest problem this book has. The author sets up something that seems to promise an interesting twist to the story, and then nothing happens. An important visitor from back home shows up unexpectedly, criticizes using vodsels for food, and Isserley finds herself attracted to him. Then he goes home. Near the end of the book, Isserley makes a bad choice of vodsel in a moment of panic. Yet, since it's late in the book, we only get to find out he's been reported missing and the cops are looking for information. Isserley decides she wants a different life than this, then the author drops a bridge on her.
Over all, the book shows promise that Michel Faber could write something interesting, but this isn't it.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Crossposted to my journal, Goodreads, and LibraryThing.
Author: Michel Faber
Published 2000
Length: 311 pages
Source: Bought used through Barnes & Noble
Isserley cruises the roads of the Scottish Highlands sizing up male hitchhikers. She is looking for beefy specimens with big muscles. She, herself, is tiny–like a kid peering up over the steering wheel–and wears the thickest corrective lenses anyone has ever seen. Scarred and awkward, yet strangely erotic and threatening, she is a remarkable and unforgettable character.
Her hitchhikers are a mixed bunch–trailer trash and traveling postgraduates, thugs and philosophers. As she drives them deeper and deeper into the mysterious splendors of the Scottish wilds, they open up to her, revealing a complex and varied picture of life on earth–but Isserley is listening for other clues. Clues about who might miss them if they should dissapear. If she desides they're worth the risk, she takes them farther than they ever dreamed of going. But takes them where?- Summary from the book jacket.
To start, this book has one of the worst jacket summaries I've run across in years. My first impression was that this was going to be a book about a female serial killer. Its actually a fantasy novel. Unfortunately, it's the kind of fantasy novel you get when an author decides they're writing a serious book, rather than that genre crap.
The basic premise has potential. Isserley, and her people, are real human beings, and view vodsels (us) as no better than animals. Isserley, and one of her co-workers, have undergone painful and extensive surgery so they can passably blend in with vodsels without attracting too much attention. This allows them to set up shop on a farm in Scotland, where Isserley brings hitchhikers she has determined are suitable for their purposes.
The book suffers from a lack of basic world building. I never got the impression that the author bothered to figure out much about the society of real human beings. I was left with the impression that they were kind of like us, but lived underground, and didn't look like us. There's also no explanation over the name. I wouldn't expect another species to think of us as human beings. But if another race, with a different language, uses that term for themselves, I want to know why.
The book also suffers from problems with the point of view. Most of the book is told from Isserley's point of view. However, every time she picks up a hitchhiker we get to see inside their head for a brief period. The shifts aren't jarring, but most of them don't add anything to story. There's only one that adds something that couldn't be conveyed by other means, but there's no payoff.
In fact, the lack of payoff is probably the biggest problem this book has. The author sets up something that seems to promise an interesting twist to the story, and then nothing happens. An important visitor from back home shows up unexpectedly, criticizes using vodsels for food, and Isserley finds herself attracted to him. Then he goes home. Near the end of the book, Isserley makes a bad choice of vodsel in a moment of panic. Yet, since it's late in the book, we only get to find out he's been reported missing and the cops are looking for information. Isserley decides she wants a different life than this, then the author drops a bridge on her.
Over all, the book shows promise that Michel Faber could write something interesting, but this isn't it.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Crossposted to my journal, Goodreads, and LibraryThing.