Mysterious Skin
by Scott Heim
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Book Summary Information
Author: Scott HeimEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-05-10
ISBN: 0060841699
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Book Reviews of Mysterious Skin
Book Review: ...Fine line between "literature" and "hard core" kiddie porn...
Summary: 2 Stars
I just finished reading this book about four hours ago and I felt it necessary to write this review while I still (unfortunately) have this emotions evoked from this story still in my head. This would not be the kind of book you would want to read twice. I am not some prude or conservative (I am actually a 20-something, gay, male) but something about this book just rubbed me the wrong way. I guess I just felt dirty and wrong reading graphic accounts of child sex abuse and rape, whether it is fiction or non-fiction.
The main story is a very clichéd molestation account (the stereotypical: man fiddles with kids and says "it will be our little secret"). You can read the other reviews to get the gist of the rest of the story. My problem with the novel is that the author uses tired, almost clichéd, stereotypes to push the secondary characters along. There is the over-bearing, strict, "old-fashioned", stoic, father figure. The drunk single mother who means well but can't support her family. The "hustler" with a 'heart-of-gold'. Typical "movie-of-the-week" melodrama.
There are a few key scenes/chapters which made me feel physically sick because of the way they are graphically described, particularly the physical and sexual abuse of a retarded/slow boy. It is also one thing to describe a rape assault- but it is another to write a 6-page, violent "hard-core-porn" scene. In my opinion, the sexual scenes didn't help push the story along and it didn't make me feel sympathy for any of the characters. Instead, the gratuitousness distracted me from the narrative because I felt the author was trying too hard to "push the boundaries" by using explosive and graphic language when describing the sexual events to make the book seem controversial. I just can't help the feeling that somewhere, paedophiles and child molesters would be "getting off" on reading this book because of the pornographic accounts depicted. The whole book just left me with a dirty feeling like I had just read something illegal or watched one of those unrated snuff films.
I also don't appreciate this book being applauded by the gay press/media as "ground breaking". As a gay man, I could not relate to any of the characters and I don't think there are any gay themes in the book at all. Unless your life revolves around frequenting gay bars and "cruising" for under-age male prostitutes. Instead, this book dangerously blurs the line between homosexuality and paedophilia, which I found distasteful.
I guess I've learned just because the New York Times says 'Mysterious Skin' is "powerfully sensuous", that people can disagree on what is literature/art and what is just exploitative, pulp-fiction trying titillate older men who want to participate in illegal activities with underage boys.
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