A review by jessmahler
Deerskin by Robin McKinley

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

every three or four years, for over twenty years now, I have re-read Deerskin. Not because I wanted to, but because I needed to. Because something in that book called to the trauma in me and demanded I listen. At each step of my healing, this book spoke to me.

For the first time since I was a teenager, I read to this book simply for nostalgia, because I have healed enough to remember it fondly. It feels like I'm seeing it clearly for the first time. 

"This is my body. I reclaim my own body for myself." 

This and so much more that I needed to hear and didn't know I needed, that no one around me knew or cared enough to say.

It is wonderful to come back to it now and read it just as it is, to enjoy the story, the skill used to convey the realities of trauma and recovery that go so far beyond words, the characters, Lissar's journey, and Ash and Ob, and all it. 

I love this book and expect to come back to it many more times -- but from now on for joy and not for healing.
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