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Jan 10, 2010

Elizabeth rated it:

I'm reluctant to write about this book because writing about it is hard. I finished re-reading it several days ago but I haven't been able to think of what I can say about it that (1) doesn't spoil the book, (2) does provide some warning about what you will come across in its pages, and (3) does explain just why this book is so wonderful. It's also hard to write the review because people are so emotionally invested (whether they know it or not) in the subject of the book and so personal opinions More...

13 comments like (42 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2011

Annie rated it:

McKinley has covered many fairytales in her novels, but this is the one that haunts me the most.
Based on Perrault's "Donkeyskin" Deerskin is the story of princess Lissla Lissar, daughter of the most beautiful woman in the world. Her mother's dying request is that her husband only marry a woman as beautiful as her - and that becomes her daughter. Unnerved by her father's unnatural behaviour towards her Lissar tries to avoid him, but on her 17th birthday he breaks into her bedroom More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Nov 17, 2011

Gloria rated it:

Having just read and adored McKinley's Sunshine and The Blue Sword when I started this book, I was full of love for the author and expecting great things. This book is a re-telling of the Donkeyskin fairytale, which I actually do remember from when I was little, though I have to say the incestuous subtext did go completely over my head when I was 5.

Princess Lissar Lisslar is a lonely and awkward child who grows up obscured by the shadow of her glorious parents who are so completely More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

May 17, 2008

Lizzi rated it:

This book strikes such a discord in me that I have to start reviewing before actually finishing it. Halfway through, the writing is beautiful, exquisite, but circles around and repeats itself so often I was on page 90 before anything had actually happened, which would be fine, except for the hazy treatment of rape and incest. It doesn't capture the seriousness or tragedy, and I've seen alot of girls from troubled homes and even the most innocent weren't stupid enough to wait around when they *kn More...

7 comments like (12 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Lake rated it:

With Deerskin, Robin McKinley moved from writing award-winning children’s fiction (The Hero and the Crown) to writing adult fantasy. In fact, this novel is so adult (the story includes rape and incest) that McKinley says it’s the only book for which she’s received hate mail. Inspired by aspects of “Donkeyskin,” a little-known fairy tale by Charles Perrault, the journey of heroine Lissla Lissar is a harrowing but deeply affecting story about the power of love and the possibility of healing fro More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 13, 2007

S.A. rated it:

This is a story based on Charles Perrault's darkly adult fairy tale, Donkeyskin. It's the tale of your usual most-beautiful-princess - with a twist. Her father decides to marry her after her mother's death, the tale has a rather graphic assault scene to end Part One, and a weak ending to indicate happy ever after. I found Part One (84 pages) very tiresome and tedious, with the language very 'fairy-tale-like', which is great in a short fairy tale but not so fun in a book. However, I slogged throu More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Monday rated it:

I love this book. It's incredible. Robin McKinley did an amazing job of taking a fairy tale and creating a beautiful story of strength and survival out of it.

If you are not yet coping with a sexual abuse trauma, don't read this book. If you have no sexual abuse trauma, or are dealing with it, this book is wonderful. If you are in that first category, I think it would be too jarring, too raw, too something.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 18, 2008

Myridian rated it:

This is not one of McKinley's best books (personally I was quite taken with Sunshine, and how can you beat The Blue Sword). What this book did very well was paint a picture of severe trauma and its sequeli. The main character was compelling and the story of how she was first emotionally (and physically) wounded and then healed (through her own actions as well as deus es machina intervention) was interested. However, it did lack that tang of reality that makes even fantasy stories feel relevant. More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jul 19, 2011

Sandra aka Sleo rated it:

Oh my, I scarcely know what to say about this book. It's actually not quite 5 stars, but I'd feel bad only giving it four.

It's wrenching, maddening, lyrical, unflinchingly honest in the way of fairy tales, and it's terribly sad. If it weren't for the dogs, I'm not sure I could've read it. I knew it was about a woman who was raped by her father when I bought it. It was on a list compiled by NPR of books about strong women. That's why I bought it. I thought I was prepared for it. More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2007

Carmen rated it:

McKinley's writing is amazing, dreamlike, gutwrenching & heartwarming. This book is not for everyone. It has a very dark tone & the first few chapters are very painful to read. Your heart will be ripped to pieces several times before the book ends. BUT despite all of this I found it to be a very uplifting story of triumph & love.
It is the story of Princess Lissar, who at first glance appears to live a charmed life. Actually, once we dig a little deeper we realize Lissar is very alone & i More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 09, 2008

Jackie "the Librarian" rated it:

Robin's darkest fairytale retelling. Not for kids.

Spoilers to follow:

After the death of her mother the queen, Princess Lissla is completely ignored for years by her father, the king. Her one companion is her dog, Ash, a condolence gift from Prince Ossia, and the two are inseparable.
As Lissla grows, she comes to resemble her mother both in looks and in beauty. When her father sees her, he insists that she must marry him, to fulfill his promise to her mother that he m More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 05, 2008

TDF Pamela rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 15, 2008

Catherine rated it:

The original fairy tale of "Donkeyskin" by Perrault is one of the more uncomfortable and un-fairy-tale-like stories you may ever read. It's about a girl whose mother dies after extracting the promise from her husband to only remarry someone as beautiful as she is. Since she was the most beautiful woman in the world, naturally he doesn't think about marriage--until his daughter grows up and becomes as beautiful as her mother. Ew. He prepares to marry her, and despite the daughter's best More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 08, 2008

Isabel rated it:

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3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 25, 2008

Elizabethesaurus rated it:

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0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2009

Eleven rated it:

A fairy tale in only the technical term, Deerskin takes place in a nameless land within the "seven kingdoms", where a young princess is known for nothing but being the daughter of the best king and most beautiful queen ever. She grows up hearing the story of her mother's courting, the accomplishments of her father and other such things that have instantly become legend in their lifetimes. When the queen falls ill and dies, a few people turn their attention to the princess, now of age t More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2009

Carrie rated it:

I can't tell if I loved this book or not. I love her writing and her heroines, and this book is no exception. I tore through it, which I don't do to much anymore (this is technically an adult book, but I think McKinley's writing style was only slightly ratchetted up from her young adult works--it's the subject matter that makes it an adult book). I think it's not that the subject matter is inappropriate for kids, but the story of surviving a childhood requires some distance from said childhoo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 05, 2012

Sonia rated it:

am a romantic so I love a good fairy-tale with princes and princesses and true love which conquers all. This is what lead me to pick up the book Deerskin by Robin McKinley who has done some great retelling of traditional fairy-tales (often found in the teenage collection). So when I saw this in the adult fiction, I prepared myself for a good read and I wasn't disappointed.
The book begins where most books leave off. The Prince has found his Princess, they marry and take over ruling More...

0 comments like

Feb 01, 2012

Stefan rated it:

I'm glad that this book was assigned to me for a class or I probably would never have picked it up from just looking at the cover. No offense to the artist, but there is something about the cover of this novel that I just do not like.

That being said, I really enjoyed Deerskin. Loosely based on an old fairytale (Donkeyskin a French tale put in writing by Charles Perrault in the 1600's), Deerskin is the story of a princess (and her dog) who escapes horrors that happen to her in her home More...

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Dec 17, 2011

Christina (Reading Thru The Night) rated it:

"Even after she recalled the evening before she felt confused; the ball was over with, the new morning wanted to tell her. She had disliked the night before very much, but...her thoughts tailed away, and morning became and evanescent thing, with no comfort to give. It wasn't over with. Last night, the ball, had been a beginning, not an ending." (62)

This is a very dark, slumbering fairy tale which is loosely based from Perrault's Donkeyskin. I found myself taking my time More...

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Dec 07, 2011

Linda rated it:

One of the reasons I enjoyed this read was that the main heroine Lissar had as her sidekick her dog named "Ash", a fleet hound( meaning she hunted by sightnot by smell) was always by her side. Ash was her faithful companion through good and bad events. Lissar was born to a royal couple and her mother was the "most beautiful woman in all the seven kingdoms". Her mother was so beautiful that the king was so infatuated with his beautiful queen that he barely noticed his own chil More...

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Oct 21, 2011

Maria rated it:

Lissar's mother and father and loved by all their subjects, and very much in love themselves. When her mother dies unexpectedly, she tells her husband not to marry anyone unless his new wife is as beautiful as she is herself. This eventually leads Lissar's father's attentions in an extremely inappropriate direction -- her own. Lisser is assaulted by her father, and forced to flee with only her dog, Ash, to help her. Will supernatural protection and a prince who loves animals be enough to heal Li More...

0 comments like

Sep 30, 2011

Kellyann rated it:

This is a remarkable book, gorgeously written as all McKinley's books are, with a touch more of the mysticism that I also love her for. The plot is based on the fairy tale Donkeyskin, but as usual McKinley transforms the story until only echoes of the fairy tale appear in her story; the effect is that the tale contains both the archetypes of the fairy story and the realism that make the story true to life.

Lissar is the daughter of the greatest king and the most beautiful woman in seve More...

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Sep 21, 2011

Stephanie rated it:

Wow.

I was enthralled by this book immediately. I tore through it only stopping when I had to catch some sleep before an early day the next morning. This book is leisurely, the sentences dense, but somehow this washed over me like poetry. This was a captivating world and I really, really cared about the main character.

Deerskin is a re-telling of the fairy tale Doneyskin, bringing into focus the aspects of the story that have always disturbed me. This is ultimately a novel abo More...

0 comments like

Jun 08, 2011

Dayle rated it:

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0 comments like

May 24, 2011

Sarah rated it:

I was inclined to like this book even before I began to read it, only because Robin McKinley had always been one of my favorite authors growing up. I must admit, though, that this book fell a bit short of her other legendary fantasy novels. The redeeming last half of the book was the only reason I gave this book four stars.

Although I think it was done on purpose, the first half of the book is written as if we (the readers) are hearing the main character - Lissar's - thoughts. And thus More...

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Mar 24, 2011

Karly rated it:

While it's no secret I'm a fan of fantasy, especially fairy tale based novels, and Robin McKinley's work in particular, nothing could have quite prepared me for Deerskin.
Based very loosely on Charles Perrault's French fairy tale "Donkeyskin" (found in other cultures sometimes as "Catskin" "Furball" or "All-Kinds-Of-Fur"), Deerskin tells the tragic tale of the childhood of Lissar Lissla, a princess and the only daughter of "the most beautiful wom More...

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Jan 26, 2011

EZRead rated it:

Even readers who never have worn a cloak and spoken in a fake British accent while wearing elf-ears can appreciate a good fantasy. Robin McKinley turns fairy tales into plain old good literature, versus a spin-off of a spin-off of spin-off. She creates something I like to call “cozy” fantasy, which has a double-shot of beautiful forest and a triple spritz of great female leads. Completely aside from my love of her previous “The Rose Daughter” and my perspective on fantasy, can this EZ Read inter More...

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Dec 03, 2010

BarkLessWagMore rated it:

This is one of my all-time favorite books. McKinley's writing is amazing, dreamlike, gut-wrenching & heartwarming and this book is not for everyone. It has a very dark tone & the first few chapters are very painful to read. Your heart will be ripped to pieces several times before the book ends. BUT despite all of this I found it to be a very uplifting story of triumph & love.

Deerskin is the story of Princess Lissar, who at first glance appears to live a charmed life. Actually, once we More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Dec 03, 2010

Stephanie rated it:

I read this book years ago in my early teens long before any of its subject matter had really entered my life and loved it then purely for the beautiful story and the strength of Lissla and Ash through their transformations. Then a few years ago I got entered into the subjet matter in my life and it is truly a very insightful book into that world. If you like your fairy tales with purely light happy subject matter, this is not for you its based on a folk tale, whose subject matter is tradition More...

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