Deerskin by Robin McKinley Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Deerskin
Book Review: Good Fantasy - Great Message
Summary: 4 Stars
To start off, this is a fantasy. That means you need to suspend disbelief and be prepared for the main character to take a journey of some sort. This also isn't your usual fantasy, not by a long shot. There is too much of the real world interwoven into the story. A princess that isn't the Disney princess we have learned to expect. Love at first sight that is so all consuming it eventually taints and even destroys the lovers. Beauty that is worshipped by the beholders and the beauty herself. Beauty that consumes, blinds, and eventually destroys those who come too close. And, a brutality straight out of the real world.
At first, McKinley lulls her readers into thinking this is an ordinary, sometimes a little dull, story of a princess. Obviously, she is going to do the usually princessy thing: attract a prince, get married, and live happily ever after. Okay, so she does, but the getting there isn't at all what the reader expects. Some readers may have to hang in there for the first several chapters. By the end of part one, McKinley has socked her reader between the eyeballs - hard.
Yet, this is a fantasy. Where a woman, princess or not, may have died in our world, a spiritual figure enters, and the princess and the story continue. The description of the slow road from trauma to acceptance to moving on with life is all too clear and not so much fantastical as fraught with real life experiences. There are plenty of symbols for those who choose to see them, but the story is valid for itself.
Who should read this? Women who hopefully never experience what this princess does. Men who will find this story a window into an experience they otherwise would be unlikely to experience. Young adults would benefit from reading the book as well. Perhaps though, it is a book, along with Gate to Women's Country, to share with young men, so they can see the world from another window. Over all, this is a basically very good read that is thought provoking as well as just plain enjoyable.
Book Review: Haunting Dark Fairytale of Overcoming One's Past
Summary: 4 Stars
I've read most of the reviews here for Deerskin and want to preface mine with a bit of a disclaimer. One of the other reviewers, a reviewer whose opinion I respect highly (as I've seen her comments on other fantasy works, and she's always been spot on) said that Deerskin was a politicized recovery polemic and should be in the self help rather than the fantasy section. I'm inclined to disagree, but I also want to make clear that my opinion may be somewhat biased, as I have been through some personal struggles in my own life that make objective distance from this story difficult for me. I will say that as a "self-help" book, I found this book more helpful than years of therapy, as McKinley puts an all too common story in an easily understood fairytale context and strips away a lot of the modern pre-conceptions of Lissar's experience, leaving a mostly pure, universal narrative. McKinley deals with the aftermath of years of emotional neglect, the king's horrific crime against his daughter, and Lissar's ultimate recovery in a realistic way that I've rarely seen in other books; granted, there are a few kinks to the story, which I'm getting to in the next paragraph. However, overall, the impact of Lissar's story is incredibly powerful to me. I want to make clear that to me, this is not politicized story; personal pain should never be politicized. Politicized victimhood cheapens people's true suffering and dis-enables them from achieving recovery and wholeness. I would not recommend this story if I felt that McKinley was making some kind of political statement with Lissar's pain.
There are a few things about the story that made me give it four stars instead of five. First of all, the pacing--it can be rather slow in spots. Also, there are a few plot elements that I'm still confused about and I think could have been presented more clearly. My main quibble is with the characters of Lissar's parents, particularly the king. I have a clear picture of everyone else in the story, but the king never comes alive for me. He committs a terrible crime against his daughter, and I think this would be even scarier if he were a more realistic character. People who committ these kind of crimes against their families are real people, and that makes their betrayal far more devastating and confusing for the victims. Instead, the king is so arrogant and cold and evil that I have a difficult time grasping Lissar's or any of the characters' actual relationship to him. I think if he were a more realistic character, it would fix a lot of the problems with the final confrontation scene.
All that said, I highly recommend this book. I enjoyed Lissar's development as a character and her non-stereotypical romance with Ossin. Also, being a dog lover, I loved the character of Ash and how important a part she plays in Lissar's recovery.
Book Review: I had such high hopes.
Summary: 2 Stars
I am a fan of Robin McKinley. I love her thoughtful writing style. That being said, this book is a huge dissapointment. I was bored and a little bit confused. She starts with a compellling if not disturbing tale and ends up wandering al over the place. Move on, not worth owning.Book Review: McKinley's best
Summary: 5 Stars
As already stated, this book has a disturbing beginning, but it's beautifully written. As much as I loved Beauty and The Blue Sword, Deerskin has a quality of maturity to it that I have not yet seen in her other books. It can be emotionally turbulent at times, but it's a beautiful story. It's more intense than her other books, and the first few chapters are pretty heavy, and though I find some of her other novels more enjoyable, I think Deerskin's hands-down her best novel.Book Review: No thank you...
Summary: 1 Stars
I read about 50 pages of this book and gave up. I couldn't handle the way in which it is written. If I am not mistaken, it was written in 3rd person omniscient, which I do not like. Just give me plain old 3rd person or 1st person. After reading the reviews, I'm glad I didn't finish it due to the subject matter found in the book.