Deerskin

This is a beautiful, haunting, sometimes painful book that ends with a message of hope.GENERAL SPOILERS AHEAD:The first half of the book is really about the traumatic aftermath of a violent assault and rape by the heroine's own father. These dark themes are handled appropriately, realistically, and with great compassion but they do make for some hard reading. If you have any experience with trauma and/or assault, you'll likely recognise a lot of the ordeals and emotions that our heroine processes. There's a lot of darkness in this book and, though beautifully written, absolutely not for the faint of heart (or young readers).Throughout her suffering, our heroine is supported by her loyal sighthound; her only true friend and family in the world. Possibly a windhund, or long haired whippet, based on the description, though various covers for this book have shown a greyhound and borzoi, respectfully. Either way, if you have ever had the privilege of living with a sighthound, you will recognise so much of their loyalty, grace, and sweetness in this book. Lissar's connection to her canine companion is a huge part of what attracted me to this book, and kept me reading through the painful passages.The last half of the book is about Lissar healing and joining the world again. Of course, dogs are a huge part of this process; bridging the gap between herself and a young prince who loves and understands dogs almost as much as she does. Her peace is threatened with the return of her father, and the realisation that he might soon hurt another young girl like he once hurt her. This spurs Lissar to face her demons and pull on the strength that was always within her. I honestly found her rising up in protest so powerful; her spirit just burns with the need to protect those who come after her.The ending is hopeful but makes no foolish promises. Lissar, like all survivors, is forever changed by her trauma but she is also solely in control of her own destiny. As readers, we are left with a heroine who has been through hell and back to come through scarred, but standing, on the other side. Life likely holds moments of pain as her previous trauma is triggered but it is also full of hope; hope that she can be whole, hope that she will continue to live (not just survive), and hope that she will one day be able to trust another with her whole self (and heart).Even though parts of this book almost physically hurt to read ( I cried a LOT; have tissues at the ready!), it has that soulful, almost nourishing, quality that so many of McKinley's books convey. She is a supremely gifted writer, and reading this book was a privilege. I highly recommend it to those who want something beautiful and complex to read.

You know, sometimes you just need some escapist fantasy. McKinley's lyrical prose was just the ticket for me last night. There were a few times where I thought "I'd like to know what happens next, quit with the digression already" but then I got caught up in the digression itself! I've read several of McKinley's books - The Hero and the Crown, Pegasus, a few others. She is a master of her craft, weaving magical tales that make you really SEE the world of the book.Lissar/Deerskin survives some intense trauma in the beginning of this tale - it was hard to read, but McKinley hit the middle ground of being just graphic enough to really impress the horror of the assault on you, without being overly graphic. I think it could definitely be triggering, though, so be warned. Lissar survives, and escapes, and spends time healing before going among people again and learning to heal emotionally as well as physically.The book is predictable - I knew where she was going and who she'd fall in love with from the moment she left home - but no less absorbing for that. I did like that for once, an author dealt with trauma recovery in a realistic manner, instead of just "oh well she loves him so the trauma won't bother her anymore!" because PTSD doesn't work that way.Deerskin is another enchanting tale from McKinley, with parts that are genuinely hard to read. I wish the description had been more blatant that when Lissar is fleeing "her father's lust" they really meant his assault, not just his desire.

DISCLAIMER: The following review was originally posted on my book blog The Book Challengers.Repetitive, yet wonderful. Telling more than showing, yet almost perfect the way it is. Not for every reader out there as it is pretty slow, but it's just the story for this particular reader here.The author herself has said that this story is a retelling or Charles Perrault's story Donkey Skin* and while I admit that there are some similarities between the tales, this one is far more grimmer with the topic of incestuous rape as the first dark thing coming to mind. Deerskin is far more difficult and yet oddly more rewarding to read. It is somewhat repetitive and slow, but it also conveys all these horrifying themes quite well and although the writing style is somewhat odd with a whole lot of telling and rather little of showing, but it also gripped just like McKinley's Sunshine did and kept me on the edge of the seat all the way through.What the original story failed to convey, in my mind, was the journey of healing the heroine of the story has to go through after her father loses his mind and forces himself on her. McKinley doesn't show exactly how she escapes, but she puts a lot of emphasis on the (lack of) emotion going through the young girl's mind after that awful ordeal. It is compelling and while I can luckily never truly understand what goes through someone's mind after something like that, I somehow understood Lissla Lissar's state of mind perfectly.The original story also puts a lot of emphasis on how all the beautiful people get together, but Deerskin does not do that. It features all kinds of people and most important of all, in my mind, is the fact Lissla Lissar has time to heal and find her love through emotional connection. Sure, there is physical attraction as well, but first and foremost the attraction comes from the way she and her love interest connect on the emotional level and thanks to their mutual love for dogs. He is not handsome by conventional standards as his chin is a bit too big and eyes a bit too far apart and he's a bit overweight, but the way he and the heroine connect on the emotional level is simply the best thing to have ever happened. And it's wonderful. Wonderful, I tell you!I fear a re-read is in order...*The Brothers Grimm have a similar story - All-Kinds-of-Fur. In the end, I think Robin McKinley's version is the best of the lot.

What a stunningly, achingly beautiful novel.This not so much a fairytale as you'd believe, but more for adults. I cried and cried, and really loved Lissar and Ash- I'm now slightly sad that I don't get to continue their story. The conclusion was satisfying, if not a little gut-wrenching in part. I am so, so happy they got their happy ending (finally) and Lissar had finally found peace and beauty in a world that had failed her. So much praise for Robin for penning such a moving, tragic and forgiving novel, I will never be glad that I read this- however difficult.Thank you!

This is the second Robin McKinley book I have read and her descriptive writing did not disappoint. I found the plot line in places disturbing and after several attempts at re-reading several parts of the story I remain completely clueless as to what actually happened!!! However, I think the way the author made me feel about the characters deserves a 5* rating and I still enjoyed the journey, deciding to accept the unknown elements as 'magical mystery'!

So SO good. I came across this when I was reading the Erstwhile fairytale comic and one of the authors talked about reading this book. I was very curious because I love fairytale retellings and this sounded especially interesting. I'm so glad I did. The troubles Lissar goes through in her recovery, the wonderful people she meets along the way, the DOGS (don't get me started on how much I love Ash......) the climax and the hopeful ending all struck a deep chord in me. I bought this book yesterday evening and finished it not five minutes ago (it's 2 am)- every moment was worth it. The book was written so vividly that in moments of Lissar's terror my heart pounded and I could picture everything so very clearly.(Spoilers?)Lissar's mental state after her father's rape and how badly he also injures her physically was hard to read. She sometimes slips back into the memories of the worst moments, despite losing almost all recollection of her past life. The way she copes with what happened to her and her recovery that goes through periods of almost getting better and then completely twisting the other way is also hard to read; what makes the ordeal Lissar is put through so hard to read is that what Lissar goes through at her father's hands can happen to anyone by anyone, and the experience is damaging. I despised how, in the moments of horror the crowd experiences after the King announces his plans to marry his daughter, that they decide to blame the daughter for apparently 'bewitching' her father into marrying her. It is a similar feeling I get when rape victims are sometimes actually punished for what their abusers did instead of the abusers themselves, or the blame taken from the abuser and placed on the victim's shoulders instead. The very real injustice so many people experience is something that needs to be tackled completely, as well as how abusers are dealt with.(End spoiler)I would 100% recommend this book. It impacted me deeply and is for sure among my favourites.((Spoiler, again, maybe))(During Lissar's 17th birthday ball, I kind of imagined Sarah during the ball scene in Labyrinth, except the dress being even more extravagant and her hair decoration being much more weighty. The bizarre dreamlike sense of that scene in the movie also kind of manifested when I was reading the scene of Lissar's ball except with much more uneasiness and a kind of sickness about what was going through the King's head. The description of him also completely terrified me, his sickly, inhuman beastliness seeming to only make itself known to Lissar and the reader while everyone else is completely incapable of seeing it under what they expect to see, a handsome, perfect king.)((End spoiler))

I did enjoy this book but folk need to make sure and read the reviews and synopsis of the story. This book is about incest and how one girl deals with it and conquers it. i read somewhere that it was used as a tool to help abuse victims. I would not know about that myself. I feel that the book is to above and beyond reality to help abuse victims. Abuse victims have to live and conquer in the real world. Apart from that the book is a good read but be warned of it's content when giving it to younger folk

This starts off as a very conventional story of the heroic Prince who performs a heroic deed to win the hand of beautiful Princess, with the story presented as a tale told to their daughter years later.But even from the beginning, there is a sense that something is not right.Robin McKinley does a wonderful job of telling the traditional tale with a clarity and simplicity. And at the same time there is a growing sense of wrongness.From there on the sense of dread gets worse.Not an easy read, but a good one.An adult story, told from the perspective of a child growing to become an adult. And with a happy ending. For a given definition of "happy."