Mysterious Skin
by Scott Heim
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 463)
Read in January, 1995
recommends it for:
Those Who Consider the Novel and Art Form
I first noticed this book in my local library shortly after it was published. At the time it had the photograph of Froot Loops cereal on the cover. I think I noticed the Froot Loops on the spine. It was on the new shelf. I went to it, lured by the loops which anybody my age, give or take (mostly take) a few years, would instantly recognize from ads seen on Saturday morning network TV. The title intrigued me. I think it's from a song, but don't quote me on that. The song itself may be quoted in t...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in April, 2007
I was first introduced to this story about two years ago when I saw Gregg Araki's film adaptation of it, which I found completely enthralling. I know how people usually warn, "You shouldn't watch the movie after reading the book because it can never compare." But I thought in this case, since it was the reverse and I found the film so moving, I should probably check out where it originated from- and I'm glad that I did.
I love the way that Heim tells this story from the fragmented ...more
I love the way that Heim tells this story from the fragmented ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2008
I thought I might give some thoughts while the story's still fresh in my system. I wish I'd read the novel first, but, I have to say that I agree with the screenwriter who adapted Mysterious Skin to its movie version that Eric Preston should be Mexican-American. It just makes more sense to me as someone who's once lived near Modesto that that would be the case. In theory, it shouldn't make that much of a difference but it does since Preston's voice factors so much into the story...
I thought ...more
I thought ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in July, 1997
recommends it for:
All parents
I read this book before I had my two boys, and now that I have two boys, I see this book in a new and different light. The book itself is quite insightful and realistic in how boys may have completely different reactions to being molested. Having worked with troubled adolescents in the past, the subject material wasn't all that unfamiliar to me. The way these boys' relationships unfolded with other people is very typical of what happens in real life, and is probably something a lot of parents...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2007
Once again, I saw the movie first (because I'm a fan of both star Joseph Gordon-Levitt and director Greg Araki). The movie made it seem like some complicated, convoluted story. But upon reading the book, I realized that was just Greg Araki's directing. He is very visual, not so much on dialog. The movie made the character's revelations seem like a huge surprise, while the book made it clear from the first couple of sentences what was really going on. I blame prior knowledge of Greg Araki's theme...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2000
A little too hip and trendy for it's own good. I just don't buy that a 13 year old is this brooding and jaded. You don't need drugs and Joy Division until your at least 14. If you smoked cigarettes before you could drive, pimped your body before you passed Geometry and just laid back and sunk into your too kewl for school 'tude, well then...
Disclaimer: Some of the writing here is pretty tight in places and I liked the format with different characters revealing different parts of the stor...more
Disclaimer: Some of the writing here is pretty tight in places and I liked the format with different characters revealing different parts of the stor...more
Like this review?
yes
(3 people liked it)
2 comments
Don't let the cover fool you:
the Froot Loops cereal is as sweet as this book gets!
I read this when I was 17 shortly after viewing its film adaptation by Gregg Araki. The film was excellent, as is this book. The narration is passionate and quirky, with frank details and dark humor. The two protagonist's journeys to self-acceptance are even inspiring.
And this story, whether you experience it through the film or book (or both) will haunt you for months.
My only complaint is that the described...more
the Froot Loops cereal is as sweet as this book gets!
I read this when I was 17 shortly after viewing its film adaptation by Gregg Araki. The film was excellent, as is this book. The narration is passionate and quirky, with frank details and dark humor. The two protagonist's journeys to self-acceptance are even inspiring.
And this story, whether you experience it through the film or book (or both) will haunt you for months.
My only complaint is that the described...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in February, 2008
For Christmas last year my brother bought all of us books. He went to the used bookstore and chose books for each of us based solely on the covers. This one with its colorful scattered Fruit Loops looked like a winner.
Isn't there a saying that relates to this? You can't judge a something by its something?
In the first two chapters this book has UFOs, gay porn, children masturbating, a dead dog, alcoholism, child molestation and baseball. I have nothing against UFOs or gay porn, but child ...more
Isn't there a saying that relates to this? You can't judge a something by its something?
In the first two chapters this book has UFOs, gay porn, children masturbating, a dead dog, alcoholism, child molestation and baseball. I have nothing against UFOs or gay porn, but child ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2007
I wish I'd read this before seeing Gregg Araki's film - perhaps I would have appreciated its nuances more, but I already knew the travels, the revelations, the small, stinging heartbreaks. It's a hard and beautiful book, and it may just be one of the most faithful book-to-film adaptations I've ever seen. Heim's metaphors are unsullied with pretension: simple, precise, and evocative. He doesn't insult the reader with "deep" and "meaningful" character insights, instead allowing...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in May, 2005
let's be honest, i got the book because it's a gay author who grew up in Kansas -- and i'm a gay not-exactly-author who grew up in Kansas. that's as much as i knew. and apparently it was going to be a movie.
i really liked this book as a depiction coping with sexual trauma. one interprets it as love, and the other as an alien abduction. i see it as a depiction of how we as humans seek to settle trauma into an explicable box in order to make it manageable. i've been told the author meant it as...more
i really liked this book as a depiction coping with sexual trauma. one interprets it as love, and the other as an alien abduction. i see it as a depiction of how we as humans seek to settle trauma into an explicable box in order to make it manageable. i've been told the author meant it as...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in September, 2005
I read the book after having seen the movie by Araki and being moved by the powerful performances of the two leads, particularly that of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The movie follows closely to book. Even if you saw the movie, the book is a worthwhile read. There are some characters (e.g., Neil's best gal pal) who are explored more in depth in the novel than the movie. At times the book can be quite depressing since it deals with the uncomfortable subject of child abuse. But it's a powerful book and h...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in December, 2007
I picked this up at the library the other day. Scott Heim went through the English/writing program at KU (my alma mater), which interested me. They made this into a movie a couple of years back, but I haven't seen it.
I liked this more than I expected to. I enjoy stories written from multiple perspectives. I was captured by the psychological evolution of the two boys, though Neil did seem a bit too hard-ass (bordering on sociopathic) and therefore difficult to care about. Great ending.
I liked this more than I expected to. I enjoy stories written from multiple perspectives. I was captured by the psychological evolution of the two boys, though Neil did seem a bit too hard-ass (bordering on sociopathic) and therefore difficult to care about. Great ending.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in July, 2008
Usually I wish I'd read a book before I've seen the movie, but with Mysterious Skin, I'm glad I saw the movie first. Though I think the film was quite faithful to the book, I remember feeling some surprise at finding out the ultimate connection between Brian and Neil. But knowing what I knew from the film while reading the book didn't make the revelations any less powerful, particularly the last ten pages. I look forward to reading Scott Heim's other books.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in February, 2007
I loved the book as much as the movie.
What a great premise: child abuse / alien abduction.
Excellent parallel contrasting characters in the two protagonists.
Interesting and real supporting characters.
Successful in creating individual voices for the various narrators.
Great achievement in creating a character who is so complex; beautiful and dangerous with a need for punishment, redemption, salvation and liberation.
Must read and see.
What a great premise: child abuse / alien abduction.
Excellent parallel contrasting characters in the two protagonists.
Interesting and real supporting characters.
Successful in creating individual voices for the various narrators.
Great achievement in creating a character who is so complex; beautiful and dangerous with a need for punishment, redemption, salvation and liberation.
Must read and see.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Great book about the effects of molestation on two young boys, and how it changes their lives in the future. One boy a sexually promiscuous rebel searching for the "love" he once knew. The other, an awkward youth who blocked out the experience and finds his sanity slowly falling apart as bits and pieces of his past rise to the forefront of his mind. Not for the faint of heart, and definitely heartbreaking. The movie is worth checking out also.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2008
This is a very intense book. While I found it sometimes painfully hard to read, the story is an important one. It's about two boys who are molested by their Little League coach at a very young age. You follow these two boys as they grow up and the reader has the chance to see how a very similair event can impact two people in drastically different ways. I would definitely recommend this book; it's one you won't soon forget.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
While the concept of this book is interesting--two boys being molested at a young age and the different ways they cope with this--I really found the book to be poorly written, except for the very last page. I would recommend the movie over the book, for once, as it features really great performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and that-guy-from-the-movie-thirteen. Also Elizabeth Shue (crazy!).
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Scott Heim is one of those quirky writers who writes from a very other-worldy perspective in this novel, from which the flim of the same name is based. It's a while since I'd first read it, but I still remember being amazed at the texture and feeling and mood he conveyed with words. It's as if he's painting a story that shifts slightly and you are lead to see another layer of the paint.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in December, 2004
This is terribly graphic at times, and on a disturbing topic, but it's so beautifully written - even the horrific images (such as the sexual abuse) are phrased in such a way that you can't look away, but you're aware of the wrong of it at the same time, without any sledgehammer moments of "THIS IS WRONG". The ending is just...gah. I want to write like that, bleak but beautiful.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2005
best last paragraph i've ever read. made me cry for hours. and books don't make me cry. brilliant writing that encapsulates growing up in the middle of nowhere so well, even if you weren't molested as a kid. ghostly prose that fades in and out like a dream or passing thought. i (and probably you) could've been any of these characters. that's what makes it powerful.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
