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Lost Memory of Skin
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Uncompromising and complex, Lost Memory of Skin is the story of The Kid, a young sex offender recently released from prison and forced to live beneath a South Florida causeway. When The Professor, a man of enormous intellect and appetite, takes The Kid under his wing, his own startling past will cause upheavals in both of their worlds. At once lyrical, witty, and disturbin
...more
Hardcover, 417 pages
Published
September 27th 2011
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Posted at Shelf Inflicted
Before reading this book, I never bothered looking at the National Sex Offender Registry. Maybe it’s because I don’t have children, or I don’t care to know that much about my neighbors, or I have my doubts that all the people listed are truly dangerous. Now that I’ve finished the book, I decided to go have a look. First, I found all 8 sex offenders in my area. After studying their faces closely, noting where they lived and how old they were, I looked at sexual offenders ...more
Before reading this book, I never bothered looking at the National Sex Offender Registry. Maybe it’s because I don’t have children, or I don’t care to know that much about my neighbors, or I have my doubts that all the people listed are truly dangerous. Now that I’ve finished the book, I decided to go have a look. First, I found all 8 sex offenders in my area. After studying their faces closely, noting where they lived and how old they were, I looked at sexual offenders ...more

I love sex offenders.
Here's the thing. I've been a public defender for six years, and I've worked for hundreds of people, with a wide variety of criminal charges, and my favorite clients - bar none - are sex offenders. See, I work in the district court system, handling less serious criminal cases, so I don't generally get clients charged with the sex offenses themselves, but I have worked for many convicted sex offenders charged with Failure to Register. My clients are people who have done some ...more
Here's the thing. I've been a public defender for six years, and I've worked for hundreds of people, with a wide variety of criminal charges, and my favorite clients - bar none - are sex offenders. See, I work in the district court system, handling less serious criminal cases, so I don't generally get clients charged with the sex offenses themselves, but I have worked for many convicted sex offenders charged with Failure to Register. My clients are people who have done some ...more

The main character of Banks’ new novel, a twenty-two-year-old registered sex offender in South Florida known only as “the Kid,” may initially repel readers. The Kid is recently out of jail and on ten-year probation in fictional Calusa County, and is required to wear a GPS after soliciting sex from an underage girl. Ironically, he is still a virgin.
The Kid cannot leave the county, but he also cannot reside within 2,500 feet from any place children would congregate. That leaves three options—the ...more
The Kid cannot leave the county, but he also cannot reside within 2,500 feet from any place children would congregate. That leaves three options—the ...more

What is wrong with the world out there? This dreadful, pretentious, simple-minded, badly structured, cliche-ridden book was not only recommended to me by my shrink (and that's *really* worrying) but it was reviewed by the NY Times thus: "Banks may be the most compassionate fiction writer working today ... Banks remains our premier chronicler of the doomed and forgotten American male ... 'Lost Memory of Skin' is a major new work by Russell Banks destined to be a canonical novel of its time."
OK, ...more
OK, ...more

Does anyone else think this writer's style is awful? My brain gets tired following the rambling, run-on sentences. The book has an interesting premise, but I am not about to endure 400 pages of sentences like this one:
"But he hasn't spoken to any of them not even his mother in over a year and whenever he accidentally on the street spots somebody he once knew slightly from school or from hanging out at the mall in the old days or his job at the light store before he enlisted in the army which hap ...more
"But he hasn't spoken to any of them not even his mother in over a year and whenever he accidentally on the street spots somebody he once knew slightly from school or from hanging out at the mall in the old days or his job at the light store before he enlisted in the army which hap ...more

Aug 24, 2011
Kathrina
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
american-fiction,
lock-up
Everything I want to say about this book feels more like a defense than a review, and I don't want to go that road. For some reason, maybe it's my several years working with sex offenders in a prison book group, watching them empathize and identify with the same characters I empathize and identify with, or it's the injustices I've researched in offender and ex-offender access barriers to information and resources that can help rebuild their lives, and the intentional structure of our society tha
...more

I like books that deal with social issues. Lost Memory of Skin did that with a topic that is not common in current fiction but is a significant but mostly hidden issue: homeless convicted sex offenders. It humanizes people who are most commonly reviled and helps us realize that this is our problem and not just theirs and may have something to say about our development of relationships in this computer and digital age.
This book includes a tour of a place where convicted sex offenders live for la ...more
This book includes a tour of a place where convicted sex offenders live for la ...more

i have read books by russell banks that i have liked a lot -- i have a tremendously fond memory of Rule of the Bone and Continental Drift and his book about liberia, The Darling, certainly has value -- it's a pretty brutal look at liberia's terrible history of massacres, though i'm always a bit wary of books about africa's wounds written by first worlders.
still.
this book would get 5 stars solely for the fact that it focuses on the horrible plight of convicted sex offenders, a violation of human ...more
still.
this book would get 5 stars solely for the fact that it focuses on the horrible plight of convicted sex offenders, a violation of human ...more

Russell Banks’ Lost Memory of Skin is a very, very good book that’s very, very hard to like. Actually, I take that back. It’s easy to like if you’re a reader who accepts that protagonists can be flawed, possibly beyond redemption. If you’re a fan of Banks, you know to expect this. This is, after all, the same guy who’s made a career of trafficking in problematic characters – from militant abolitionist John Brown (Cloudsplitter) to an opportunistic lawyer and incestuous father (The Sweet Hereafte
...more

Hmm. I really did like the premise of this one. Banks takes a young sex offender and makes him sympathetic, giving him a minor offense (one which ends up being largely theoretical when all is said and done) which is understandable in the context of his sad childhood and incredible social isolation and lack of nurturing. The offender, called "the Kid," must take up residence under a causeway together with other offenders who are rendered homeless by restrictions forbidding them to live within a c
...more

This is a disturbing book to read because it focuses on the outcasts of today's world: sex offenders. The larger question posed in myriad ways is this, "What do we do with the pariahs of society? Where do they live? How can they live?"
As with Banks's Rule of the Bone, the central character is a young boy, though in this case the Kid is barely in his twenties. His associates are a motley crew who, like him, live under a viaduct. "The Professor" plays the corpulent symbol of the decadence of over ...more
As with Banks's Rule of the Bone, the central character is a young boy, though in this case the Kid is barely in his twenties. His associates are a motley crew who, like him, live under a viaduct. "The Professor" plays the corpulent symbol of the decadence of over ...more

This book ended up being my top adult fiction pick of 2011, which should not be such a surprise considering that Banks’ “The Sweet Hereafter” is pretty much my top adult fiction pick of all time. What is evidenced in both that and this novel is that Banks has a tremendous empathy for his characters; he’s able to look into the darkness of their souls and come out seeing humanity rather than darkness, depravity, and what have you. His protagonists in this novel are the Kid, a teenage sex offender,
...more

Banks has always written about the disenfranchised, and this novel is no exception. Sometimes his characters are the disenfranchised by birth, but more often it's those who've managed to do it to themselves. It's a rather unsparing look at a segment of society we prefer not to know about, convicted sex offenders who've paid their dues/done their time, but continue to be condemned to a half life of homelessness and electronic surveillance. So much for rehabilitation when the conditions of your re
...more

Good story built around the situation sex offenders find themselves in when they are released from jail. The Kid, cannot live within a certain number of feet of any place where children live, go to school or meet. He also cannot leave the county. In Lost Memory of Skin, this leaves him 2 places to live: under a highway and in the Everglades. I did not understand the insertion of the geological formation of the Everglades. I also thought the ending was a little far-fetched, but a good story.

Russell Bank’s _Lost Memory OF Skin _ is about a 22 year old who was entrapped by the FBI, with the help of a 14 year old girl's patriotic and religious father , into visiting the chick that he had met on the internet, which he shouldn't have done. He never saw her, but must live, with a tracking anklet, so far from any church, school or house that his only recourse is to live under a causeway with other so-called pedophiles. Banks is great at showing how the nation's media have sexualized child
...more

One of my Top Ten reads of this year. This is what good literature is suppose to be about - looking at society and asking difficult questions about what is wrong with it. A MUST READ!!!
Page 72
"He opens Larry Somerset's Holy Bible. It's the only book in the tent. The Kid's never been much of a reader and he has hoped for a long time, every since he first heard of it. that he suffer from attention deficit disorder because in school and in the army most people regarded him as borderline retarded. H ...more
Page 72
"He opens Larry Somerset's Holy Bible. It's the only book in the tent. The Kid's never been much of a reader and he has hoped for a long time, every since he first heard of it. that he suffer from attention deficit disorder because in school and in the army most people regarded him as borderline retarded. H ...more

:0
looks at usa's sex offender laws, usa orgy of 'law n order', usa's coming apoc storm of fat cats, freaks, weather, cops, kids, and stupid people, usas inadequacy and immorality.
nancy has a really good review here, that could make a whole lot more sense https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
...more
looks at usa's sex offender laws, usa orgy of 'law n order', usa's coming apoc storm of fat cats, freaks, weather, cops, kids, and stupid people, usas inadequacy and immorality.
nancy has a really good review here, that could make a whole lot more sense https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
...more

Lost Memory of Skin was a timely read, because right in this morning's headlines is: Florida Man Gets 2.5 Years for Having Sex on the Beach. Despite protesting that there was no actual sex going on beneath their blanket, this man will be going to jail for two and a half years, his girlfriend received time served, and the two of them will be on the National Sex Offender Registry for the rest of their lives. And the thing about being put on the registry – as demonstrated in the book – is that ther
...more

(Jan) When you tell people you are reading a book about a young man who is on the Sex Offender Registry, it's hard to get them interested in hearing more. The book was well written for the most part - I'd describe it as interestingly written. We never know the name of the main character (well, it's Billy, I think) - he's referred to as The Kid. The Kid is a slightly built 21 year old virgin who was raised by a mom who was not the best mom, and left alone, he discovered porn at a very young age a
...more

Calusa—a city strikingly similar to Miami, nowadays. Under a causeway that shelters sex offenders, the Kid lives in a tent with his bracelet alarm and the obligation to stay at 2,500 feet from anyone under 18 years old. At 22, he feels like a stranger amidst this crowd of outcasts. He works as a dishwasher in a restaurant, stays on his own and talks to no one but Iggy, the 6-foot long iguana he has owned since boyhood. Raised by a neglectful single mom—much more of a lost child than an adult her
...more

this is a poorly written, shallow book missing all the character development and compelling story line of his other novels. I knew it was about a young man living on the streets after being convicted of a sexual crime so I expected it to be dark and hard to read yet was interested as I thought it would offer a unique perspective on a difficult topic. Based on the great reviews I read I was looking forward to reading.
After reading most of the book, and other reviews, I am left wondering if I read ...more
After reading most of the book, and other reviews, I am left wondering if I read ...more

I like Russell Banks enough to say that this is not one of his best books. He swings for the fences by taking on the modern day equivalent of the leper--the sex offender--and exploring what it means to be totally outcast by society while being, in many ways, just like everyone else, only guilty. Alas, he ends up hitting at best a sacrifice fly, scoring on a few counts but missing on some others. The introduction of the character of the professor is unnecessarily convoluted and frustratingly vagu
...more

Feb 18, 2012
Gerhard
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2012,
literary-fiction
SF has long grappled with the dehumanising impact of the Internet -- you just have to recall the 'meat' from Gibson's Neuromancer. JG Ballard also wrote often about the 'death of affect', in how technology not only estranges us from our essential humanity, but sets loose our moral compass. The NY Times review of Skin breathlessly called the book 'canonical', conveniently forgetting such antecedents. What I found more impressive and troubling about Skin was its impassioned account of the conseque
...more

I have no idea how to rate this book. The subject matter is that of child pornography. What do we do with the different levels of acts committed, and where can these people live, or even get a job. The true pariahs of our society and how we treat them. It is actually a story of a young man and what he indures. It asks a lot of important questions of us as a society. What is the truth? There were lots of times when I wasn't going to finish it as I do not like reading about perverted sex, yet th ...more

7-14 Final Thoughts:
It was a game-changer in terms of my thoughts regarding sex offenders and our society's prevailing laws regarding where they can set up residence. I'm still on the fence regarding my final thoughts and feelings in that my head and heart are don't agree. On the one hand, I'm horrified by the very act of sex offences; on the other hand, I'm not certain that our current rules and regulations account for the different types of offences and offenders. Regardless, I'm not comfortab ...more
It was a game-changer in terms of my thoughts regarding sex offenders and our society's prevailing laws regarding where they can set up residence. I'm still on the fence regarding my final thoughts and feelings in that my head and heart are don't agree. On the one hand, I'm horrified by the very act of sex offences; on the other hand, I'm not certain that our current rules and regulations account for the different types of offences and offenders. Regardless, I'm not comfortab ...more

Overly verbose, with a loose, shaggy style, when parable-like clarity might have made for a more obviously rewarding reading experience. However, the book only seems more sage and sad now that America has a sexual offender elected to the highest office in the land. Having dated a 16/17-year-old girl/ child (if we're being clear-eyed and honest) at the same age as The Kid and with a similarly lonely (though less impoverished) background, I found much of the novel hit very close to home. Indeed, I
...more

Even though the characters were not likable, it is a powerful portrayal of the life of near despair and almost giving up. With the deck stacked against you and your own poor choices added to that, one kind gesture or positive experience such as the truth being revealed really can make a difference. But what if you don't think you're worth it? Find your supportive tribe, visit a library, and take responsibility. The cynic in me is left wondering how often this actually happens, yet I will continu
...more

Aug 11, 2011
Susan (aka Just My Op)
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
social-issues-or-commentary,
arc-edition
A novel about a convicted, homeless sex offender, the creepy fellow sex offenders who live under a causeway with him, and a professor who treats them like lab rats – how can this book possibly be good? I was a little apprehensive about reading this one because I really don't want to read anything explicit about such an awful subject. Fortunately, there wasn't too much detail about the really horrible things that some people do although there were some sexually explicit terms and acts that made m
...more

It takes a talented author to make a sympathetic character out of one who has done something odious, but Russell Banks succeeds in his new book, Lost Memory of Skin. Sadly, other aspects of the book didn't fare quite as well.
The Kid is a 21-year-old, socially awkward misfit on probation from his conviction as a sex offender, after an attempt to meet an underage girl goes awry. Unable to live less than 2,500 feet from anywhere children might gather, he lives in a tent under a South Florida cause ...more
The Kid is a 21-year-old, socially awkward misfit on probation from his conviction as a sex offender, after an attempt to meet an underage girl goes awry. Unable to live less than 2,500 feet from anywhere children might gather, he lives in a tent under a South Florida cause ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sex Registry | 5 | 62 | Jul 06, 2016 10:50AM | |
Is there a discussion on this yet? | 14 | 69 | Jun 22, 2014 04:30PM | |
What are Russell Banks's best novels? | 17 | 255 | Jun 21, 2014 09:55PM | |
Train books | 1 | 7 | Sep 23, 2013 06:19AM | |
Goodreads Librari...: ISBN: 9780061857645 | 2 | 26 | Nov 27, 2012 01:27PM |
Russell Banks is a member of the International Parliament of Writers and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work has been translated into twenty languages and has received numerous international prizes and awards. He has written fiction, and more recently, non-fiction, with Dreaming up America. His main works include the novels Continental Drift, Rule of the Bone, Cloudsplit
...more
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