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Under the Skin

By Michel Faber

(3)

| Paperback | 9781841954806

Book Description

Isserley picks up hitchhikers with big muscles. She, herself, is tiny-like a kid peering up over the steering wheel. She has a remarkable face and wears the thickest corrective lenses anyone has ever seen. Her posture is suggestive of some spinal problem. Her breasts are perfect; perhaps implants. SContinue

Isserley picks up hitchhikers with big muscles. She, herself, is tiny-like a kid peering up over the steering wheel. She has a remarkable face and wears the thickest corrective lenses anyone has ever seen. Her posture is suggestive of some spinal problem. Her breasts are perfect; perhaps implants. She is strangely erotic yet somehow grotesque, vulnerable yet threatening. Her hitchhikers are a mixed bunch of men-trailer trash and travelling postgrads, thugs and philosophers. But Isserley is only interested in whether they have families and whether they have muscles. Then, it's only a question of how long she can endure her pain-physical and spiritual-and their conversation. Michel Faber's work has been described as a combination of Roald Dahl and Franz Kafka, as Somerset Maugham shacking up with Ian McEwan. At once humane and horrifying, Under the Skin takes us on a heart-thumping ride through dangerous territory-our own moral instincts and the boundaries of compassion. A grotesque and comical allegory announcing the arrival of an exciting talent, rich and assured.

1 Review

  • It gets under the skin.

    This is a strange story in that it doesn't fit any particular genre, but rather many genres. Issley spends her days in her vehicle trolling the roadways for hitchhikers. Some are kept and some are thrown back. But for what purpose are they kept? Slowly the story unfolds and we find out just why ... (continue)

    This is a strange story in that it doesn't fit any particular genre, but rather many genres. Issley spends her days in her vehicle trolling the roadways for hitchhikers. Some are kept and some are thrown back. But for what purpose are they kept? Slowly the story unfolds and we find out just why some are kept.

    This story makes you think about animals that are kept as food in a whole other light. I will ever look at a hamburger or a piece of chicken quite the same way again. In fact, I may just forgo meat altogether.

    At times a bit unnerving, this story keeps you riveted because of the questions it raises.

    Is this helpful?

    ― Helena said on Jul 17, 2008 | Add your feedback

Book Details

  • Rating:
    (3)
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  • English Books
  • Paperback 296 Pages
  • Edition: New Ed
  • ISBN-10: 1841954802
  • ISBN-13: 9781841954806
  • Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
  • Pub date: May 03, 2004
  • Dimensions: 20 cm x 13 cm Just how big is that?
  • Also available as: Hardcover
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ISBN Edition List Sale Seller
9781841954806 Paperback $16.50 -- Amazon US
£7.99 -- Amazon UK
$13.97 -- Amazon CA
¥1823.00 ¥1823.00 Amazon JP
€12.3 €12.3 Amazon FR
-- €11.2 Amazon DE
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