mfred's review
4.0
I reviewed this book for the Lesbrary. You can read the complete review at http://lesbrary.wordpress.com
Here's a snippet:
I cannot adequately explain the joy, the incredible sense of pleasure, I derived from reading this book. Even as the book’s plot unraveled a bit at the end, I enjoyed every moment of reading Nairne Holtz’s Skin Beneath. The first paragraph:
What an opening, right? First, the sentence is not a fluke– the entire novel occurs in present tense. Which is just… amazing. In a lesser writer’s hands, it could have come across as gimmicky, or even intrusive. It was a little mesmerizing, instead, to experience the events of a book at the same time as the protagonist. And secondly, the subject matter! A dead sister! A conspiracy! Holtz not only writes well, she also imagines a great plot.
Here's a snippet:
I cannot adequately explain the joy, the incredible sense of pleasure, I derived from reading this book. Even as the book’s plot unraveled a bit at the end, I enjoyed every moment of reading Nairne Holtz’s Skin Beneath. The first paragraph:
Sam unlocks the mailbox in the lobby of her building, takes out a single envelope, opens the back flap to discover a postcard inside. She reads the words on the postcard: “Your sister died while investigating a political conspiracy. Coincidence? How often do women kill themselves with a gun? Think about it.”
What an opening, right? First, the sentence is not a fluke– the entire novel occurs in present tense. Which is just… amazing. In a lesser writer’s hands, it could have come across as gimmicky, or even intrusive. It was a little mesmerizing, instead, to experience the events of a book at the same time as the protagonist. And secondly, the subject matter! A dead sister! A conspiracy! Holtz not only writes well, she also imagines a great plot.
mgncpr's review
3.0
Although this is billed as a lesbian mystery, it really doesn’t fit that genre – it fits more comfortably as literature, Canadian Literature to be exact. This is a well-written and intriguing book that takes a bit more thought than most of the books that I have been reading recently. The story follows Sam, a young woman who seems rather at loose ends until she receives a postcard suggesting that her sister (Choe)’s death was not a suicide. She leaves her life in Toronto and moves to Montreal to trace her sister’s life, finding a job where her sister used to work and contacting her sister’s friends and beginning a relationship with her sister’s ex roommate. The two sisters are as different as could be, but Sam’s idolization of Chloe results in her identity being caught up in her sister’s. As the story progresses, she learns more about her sister’s last few years and in doing so learns more about herself.
Overall, I found this to be an interesting read. The characters were quite fascinating and multi-facteted. No one was what they necessarily appeared to be at first – there were no heroes of villains, everyone was painfully human and realistically portrayed. The narrative style is a bit jarring at first – the story is told third person, present tense. It is an effective style – dragging the reader into the story, but I’m not sure why Holtz set the story in the 90s if she was planning on using present tense. Regardless, it is an effective style, albeit a bit jarring at first and she does alternate with flashback chapters told in past tense which makes it a bit less daunting. Stylistically, this is a wonderfully crafted book and it was a welcome departure from the fluffy lesbian themed books and the other spec fic books that I’ve been reading.
Overall, I found this to be an interesting read. The characters were quite fascinating and multi-facteted. No one was what they necessarily appeared to be at first – there were no heroes of villains, everyone was painfully human and realistically portrayed. The narrative style is a bit jarring at first – the story is told third person, present tense. It is an effective style – dragging the reader into the story, but I’m not sure why Holtz set the story in the 90s if she was planning on using present tense. Regardless, it is an effective style, albeit a bit jarring at first and she does alternate with flashback chapters told in past tense which makes it a bit less daunting. Stylistically, this is a wonderfully crafted book and it was a welcome departure from the fluffy lesbian themed books and the other spec fic books that I’ve been reading.
jeslaine's review
3.0
The first half of this book reminded me a lot of Delible also by Insomniac Press. The age of Kurt Cobain, Canadian punk and a girl's love and frustration with her sister.
It's a very quick read and falls somewhere between murder mystery and literature, not really nailing either genre. There is a lot of intelligence in Holtz's writing but I'm not sure the book's story is weighty enough to carry some of her ideas and themes. The running idea of ecdysis (shedding a skin) to partially reveal hidden truths seems to falter near the end, providing a too neat excuse to not have answers to the character questions raised throughout the book.
I'd be interested to see what Holtz's next book is like.
It's a very quick read and falls somewhere between murder mystery and literature, not really nailing either genre. There is a lot of intelligence in Holtz's writing but I'm not sure the book's story is weighty enough to carry some of her ideas and themes. The running idea of ecdysis (shedding a skin) to partially reveal hidden truths seems to falter near the end, providing a too neat excuse to not have answers to the character questions raised throughout the book.
I'd be interested to see what Holtz's next book is like.
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