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tamaquest's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
rebeccaariss's review against another edition
5.0
Wow.
This was my first time really reading a thriller/mystery novel from end to end, and it did not disappoint. In fact, I'm going to have to suppress the impulse to read another book in the thriller/mystery genres for a little while because I'm not sure that the next one will live up to The Girl Without Skin.
I so appreciate the amount of research and planning that went into this book. Every single loose end was tied up with immaculate attention to detail, plenty of Easter eggs scattered throughout for the reader to guess at the resolution, and the title holds a significance that is much more subtle than you might assume (thankfully...). I found myself completely absorbed and immersed in Greenland's landscape and culture. I read this book during COVID-19, initially wondering if that was really a good idea, but despite the darker themes I enjoyed being launched into an intriguing criminal investigation and the peaceful yet complicated setting.
This book bears comparison to the Millennium series (the title; Tuparnaaq's character both physically [with the tattoos and all-around badass image] and mentally [again with the badass image, resolve, intelligence, and history of trauma]; Scandinavian/Nordic lifestyles & names; and the focus on violence against women), but don't let that stop you from reading this brilliant story.
I believe The Girl Without Skin raises some important questions. Like: in the '70s, if Nuuk had access to archival cross-referencing and the resources for fingerprint/DNA analysis, would Jakob have been able to close the case there and then? We see that Nuuk is limited in resources. But I don't believe that the story would have changed even with access to such technology. Technology has yet to eliminate corruption. And so we see how small communities governed by outsiders are extremely vulnerable still today.
I really feel that Nordbo is a great ally to women. I am always skeptical of men (especially white men) who find themselves in a position to write about misogyny and violence towards women and Indigenous people, however, after reading his words I believe that he has made a dedicated effort to understand the nuances of life under oppression and violence. He understands the complicated systems of hierarchy and government-subsidized corruption that allow oppression and violence to continue. It's in the way that Tuparnaaq covers up her sisters' bodies because she can't bear to see them exploited in death beyond what they have already experienced in life. It's in the way that the aggression and inherent male-ness of police officers further traumatizes women. It's in the way that women's corpses are photographed and publicized while men are given the dignity of photos taken in life. It's in the way that a small-town newspaper cannot publish information that disparages the same people who keep the paper in print.
I believe that Tuparnaaq is the girl without skin: even when she is naked, she is never truly naked as every inch of her body is covered in tattoos.
I love that we never really find out who Matthew's father is (at least as far as I have understood) because it doesn't really matter. The men are not the focus of the story. This is not one man's struggle to understand himself and his daddy issues (although he certainly does have his own trauma and issues). This about a man who chooses to set aside his own issues for a greater cause. This is about the struggle to elevate the stories of women that very frequently go unheard, and what we find is that while the women are perfectly capable of kicking ass all on their own, men can be essential allies.
I also want to mention how much I admire the work of the translator Charlotte Barslund. I find myself wishing I could speak more than one language and fantasizing about a career that involves reading books, working with authors, and researching the best words to represent the author's intent. I hope that Mads Peder Nordbo's other novels will be translated to English in the future!
This was my first time really reading a thriller/mystery novel from end to end, and it did not disappoint. In fact, I'm going to have to suppress the impulse to read another book in the thriller/mystery genres for a little while because I'm not sure that the next one will live up to The Girl Without Skin.
I so appreciate the amount of research and planning that went into this book. Every single loose end was tied up with immaculate attention to detail, plenty of Easter eggs scattered throughout for the reader to guess at the resolution, and the title holds a significance that is much more subtle than you might assume (thankfully...). I found myself completely absorbed and immersed in Greenland's landscape and culture. I read this book during COVID-19, initially wondering if that was really a good idea, but despite the darker themes I enjoyed being launched into an intriguing criminal investigation and the peaceful yet complicated setting.
This book bears comparison to the Millennium series (the title; Tuparnaaq's character both physically [with the tattoos and all-around badass image] and mentally [again with the badass image, resolve, intelligence, and history of trauma]; Scandinavian/Nordic lifestyles & names; and the focus on violence against women), but don't let that stop you from reading this brilliant story.
I believe The Girl Without Skin raises some important questions. Like: in the '70s, if Nuuk had access to archival cross-referencing and the resources for fingerprint/DNA analysis, would Jakob have been able to close the case there and then? We see that Nuuk is limited in resources. But I don't believe that the story would have changed even with access to such technology. Technology has yet to eliminate corruption. And so we see how small communities governed by outsiders are extremely vulnerable still today.
I really feel that Nordbo is a great ally to women. I am always skeptical of men (especially white men) who find themselves in a position to write about misogyny and violence towards women and Indigenous people, however, after reading his words I believe that he has made a dedicated effort to understand the nuances of life under oppression and violence. He understands the complicated systems of hierarchy and government-subsidized corruption that allow oppression and violence to continue. It's in the way that Tuparnaaq covers up her sisters' bodies because she can't bear to see them exploited in death beyond what they have already experienced in life. It's in the way that the aggression and inherent male-ness of police officers further traumatizes women. It's in the way that women's corpses are photographed and publicized while men are given the dignity of photos taken in life. It's in the way that a small-town newspaper cannot publish information that disparages the same people who keep the paper in print.
I believe that Tuparnaaq is the girl without skin: even when she is naked, she is never truly naked as every inch of her body is covered in tattoos.
I love that we never really find out who Matthew's father is (at least as far as I have understood) because it doesn't really matter. The men are not the focus of the story. This is not one man's struggle to understand himself and his daddy issues (although he certainly does have his own trauma and issues). This about a man who chooses to set aside his own issues for a greater cause. This is about the struggle to elevate the stories of women that very frequently go unheard, and what we find is that while the women are perfectly capable of kicking ass all on their own, men can be essential allies.
I also want to mention how much I admire the work of the translator Charlotte Barslund. I find myself wishing I could speak more than one language and fantasizing about a career that involves reading books, working with authors, and researching the best words to represent the author's intent. I hope that Mads Peder Nordbo's other novels will be translated to English in the future!
marilynw's review against another edition
4.0
Publisher's description of the book:
When a mummified Viking corpse is discovered on Greenland ice sheet, journalist Matthew Cave is sent out to report on the finding. The next day, the mummy has disappeared. The body of the police guard lies on the ice naked and flayed, echoing a gruesome series of unsolved murders from many years earlier. With no faith in the police, the only person Matthew dares to trust is a young Greenlandic woman who, at fourteen years old, was charged with killing her father in the same shocking manner. Nordbo has staked out a new frontier in Nordic Crime, setting his story against the forbidding beauty of Greenland.
**********************************
A warning to anyone who is interested in reading this book...the number of flayed, gutted, bodies rises during this book and some of the deaths are told in great detail, from the point of view of the person being gutted. This is not a book for the faint of heart with human death, seal death, incest and rape of young girls. I rarely read books with this much violence but I was interested in the "mystery" part of the book.
The book jumps between the present (2014) and 1973 as a reporter in the present, Matt, and a police officer in the past, Jakob, investigate bodies, deaths, and more, that may be connected. You will feel the cold, the wet, the dreariness of the Greenland area where the book takes place. As the book goes from one timeline to the other, it's easy to not realize exactly how much takes place in such a short time span, in each timeline. The is a lot of action packed into short amounts of time.
Both timelines have a huge number of characters and places, with very unfamiliar names, to me, so it was often hard to remember who was who and what was what. The story is complex and there is a lot to remember from one timeline to the next. I would like to have felt clearer about everything that happened yet I know that my preference for less gruesome crime descriptions and unfamiliarity with most names, may have influenced my ability to enjoy the book more. I did enjoy the characters, especially the police officer Jakob and would have liked to have known more about him.
Published June 11th 2019
I rated this book 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars. Thank you to Text Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.
When a mummified Viking corpse is discovered on Greenland ice sheet, journalist Matthew Cave is sent out to report on the finding. The next day, the mummy has disappeared. The body of the police guard lies on the ice naked and flayed, echoing a gruesome series of unsolved murders from many years earlier. With no faith in the police, the only person Matthew dares to trust is a young Greenlandic woman who, at fourteen years old, was charged with killing her father in the same shocking manner. Nordbo has staked out a new frontier in Nordic Crime, setting his story against the forbidding beauty of Greenland.
**********************************
A warning to anyone who is interested in reading this book...the number of flayed, gutted, bodies rises during this book and some of the deaths are told in great detail, from the point of view of the person being gutted. This is not a book for the faint of heart with human death, seal death, incest and rape of young girls. I rarely read books with this much violence but I was interested in the "mystery" part of the book.
The book jumps between the present (2014) and 1973 as a reporter in the present, Matt, and a police officer in the past, Jakob, investigate bodies, deaths, and more, that may be connected. You will feel the cold, the wet, the dreariness of the Greenland area where the book takes place. As the book goes from one timeline to the other, it's easy to not realize exactly how much takes place in such a short time span, in each timeline. The is a lot of action packed into short amounts of time.
Both timelines have a huge number of characters and places, with very unfamiliar names, to me, so it was often hard to remember who was who and what was what. The story is complex and there is a lot to remember from one timeline to the next. I would like to have felt clearer about everything that happened yet I know that my preference for less gruesome crime descriptions and unfamiliarity with most names, may have influenced my ability to enjoy the book more. I did enjoy the characters, especially the police officer Jakob and would have liked to have known more about him.
Published June 11th 2019
I rated this book 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars. Thank you to Text Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.
constantreader471's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.
Matthew Cave is a journalist in Nuuk, Greenland. He is sent to the scene of a mummified body discovered on the desolate Greenland ice sheet. After he sees the body and a news photographer take pictures, they return to Nuuk. The next day, the policeman who was left to guard the body is found gruesomely murdered and the mummified body is gone. Matthew soon realizes that the policeman's murder is similar to a series of unsolved murders in Greenland forty years earlier. He starts investigating and the person he trusts the most is Tupaarnaq, a woman recently released from prison for killing her family at the age of 14.
Together they uncover a coverup of murder, rape, incest and more. The book alternates between two narratives, one in 2014 and one in 1973. The 1973 narrative is based upon a diary of a policeman presumed dead. He was investigating the murders and incest, despite orders from superiors to stop investigating. The book moved slowly in the first half, while I tried to put all this together. The murders are resolved, and some of the abusers are exposed. The description of the dead bodies is graphic enough that cozy mystery fans are not going to want to read this. I have been to Nuuk, and I enjoyed the description of Nuuk.
Thanks to Text Publishing Company for sending me this book through NetGalley. #TheGirlWithoutSkin #NetGalley
Matthew Cave is a journalist in Nuuk, Greenland. He is sent to the scene of a mummified body discovered on the desolate Greenland ice sheet. After he sees the body and a news photographer take pictures, they return to Nuuk. The next day, the policeman who was left to guard the body is found gruesomely murdered and the mummified body is gone. Matthew soon realizes that the policeman's murder is similar to a series of unsolved murders in Greenland forty years earlier. He starts investigating and the person he trusts the most is Tupaarnaq, a woman recently released from prison for killing her family at the age of 14.
Together they uncover a coverup of murder, rape, incest and more. The book alternates between two narratives, one in 2014 and one in 1973. The 1973 narrative is based upon a diary of a policeman presumed dead. He was investigating the murders and incest, despite orders from superiors to stop investigating. The book moved slowly in the first half, while I tried to put all this together. The murders are resolved, and some of the abusers are exposed. The description of the dead bodies is graphic enough that cozy mystery fans are not going to want to read this. I have been to Nuuk, and I enjoyed the description of Nuuk.
Thanks to Text Publishing Company for sending me this book through NetGalley. #TheGirlWithoutSkin #NetGalley
abibliofob's review against another edition
3.0
This is an author I have never tried before, but I most certainly will be reading more from. The topic is perhaps not my favorite but the story is very well written and the language is great. I actually read it both in English and Swedish to compare. Its been a long time since I read about Greenland and those books all took place in the early 1900s written by Peter Freuchen. I can really recommend thriller fans to try this. I also have to thank #Netgalley and#TextPublishingCompany for giving me the chance to try something new like #TheGirlWithoutSkin #FlickanUtanHud #PigenUdenHud The first book in a new Greenland series by #MadsPederNordbo
abibliofob's review against another edition
3.0
This is an author I have never tried before, but I most certainly will be reading more from. The topic is perhaps not my favorite but the story is very well written and the language is great. I actually read it both in English and Swedish to compare. Its been a long time since I read about Greenland and those books all took place in the early 1900s written by Peter Freuchen. I can really recommend thriller fans to try this. I also have to thank #Netgalley and#TextPublishingCompany for giving me the chance to try something new like #TheGirlWithoutSkin #FlickanUtanHud #PigenUdenHud The first book in a new Greenland series by #MadsPederNordbo