Mysterious Skin: A Novel

Very sad story, but I couldn't stop reading. Such a brilliant and terrifying depiction of childhood abuse and trauma. Definitely a mature read.

Great book, and great movie. i love them both so much and i cant wait to read through this!! definitely buy it😽

absolutely gut wrenching but beautifully put.

A gripping novel, the first book I read written by Scott Heim. Quite frightening to see how easy it can be to abuse children even in places like rural Kansas. The fascinating thing about this book is to discover how children can react in a different way to what happens to them and also how this "experience" has different effects during the years that they grow up. Both Brian and Neil come from "broken" families where there are no more dads which doesn't help to come clear with what happened. Even their mutual friend Eric living with his grandparents seem to be lost having lost both of his parents. The book ends when they are all around nineteen years old, you wonder how their future will look like.

Wow; fascinating and at times deeply moving book; heavy topic of child abuse handled with confidence and perception. Well crafted.

Very good book which arrived in very good condition

Fine

Review: Mysterious Skin Scott Heim I’ve just finished Mysterious Skin, and I’m exhausted. It is really, very dark and upsetting. There were moments, many moments, that I felt I could not carry on (reading about explicit, graphic sexual acts carried out on minors was just horrendous), but at the same time, I could do nothing but read on, drawn in by Brian and Neil, (and the brilliant supporting characters) and the journey towards the realisation of what happened to them both, and how they were, and will always be, bonded, connected. This is a hard, heartbreaking, horrific read. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart but I’m glad I’ve read it. In the same breath, it’s a book I will never revisit. I can’t put myself through that again. Ever!

What a great novel. I really liked it . I recommend to watch Gregg Araki’s movie version as well .

Mysterious Skin è un libro disturbante, sconvolgente, che probabilmente vi colpirà, positivamente o negativamente, ma che vi costringerà a fare i conti con un tema sconcertante. Un pugno nello stomaco, certe pagine vi costringeranno a chiuderlo e a rimetterlo a posto nella vostra libreria, ma il giorno dopo ricomincerete a leggerlo, curiosi di sapere come si conclude la storia. E il finale è il paragrafo migliore che abbia mai letto in tutta la mia vita. Ho letto questo libro dopo aver visto e amato il film di Gregg Araki, e il regista è riuscito a trarne un ottima pellicola, anche se il romanzo, a mio parere, è superiore. La trama è ricca di suspence, mistero, lacrime, sorrisi, terrore e turbamento, un libro da leggere, ma solamente per chi ha fegato.

I know many people who love Mysterious Skin but admit that it's difficult to get through. They say things like "I'm glad I read it, but I don't need to read it again." I've felt the same way about other novels, including those by Dennis Cooper, which are often compared to Mysterious Skin. The difference is, Dennis Cooper's novels can come from a place of cruelty--cruelty that resides in a story's tone, setting, or central character. Mysterious Skin, on the other hand, is dispassionate, sometimes even kind. Brian, Neil, Eric, the mothers: they're good people at heart, not cruel in the least. In other words: I loved this book, and in time, I'll be happy to re-read it. First and foremost, I loved Heim's storytelling. The story was perfectly paced, and he did a beautiful job of describing the world that the characters inhabit, of positioning it in time and space: rural America, the 1980s and 1990s, the complicated era of adolescence. I also loved the characters, especially Neil. Like Neil, I grew up a gay kid in a small American town in the late twentieth century. I wasn't nearly as brazen among my peers as Neil was, but I matured early and had sexual experiences with people my age and older. I know now that I wasn't alone in that, but it's rare to see that kind of sexual agency depicted in novels. Last but not least, I loved the scenes that Heim created--scenes full of tension, often involving kids doing things they shouldn't in places they shouldn't. In the hands of another writer, the kids would've always gotten caught and punished to reinforce some kind of moral code. In Heim's case, the rate seemed closer to 50/50. Yes, sometimes the characters were caught red-handed, and consequences followed (or not). But other times, no one discovered them, there was no punishment, tension just built and slowly dissipated, an ambiguous, unusual moment in otherwise usual lives. P.S. I should mention that Scott Heim is a friend. Not a close friend, but we've met, we move in similar circles, and we stay in touch. I can say in all honesty that this had no effect on my experience of the book or my review.

映画を見て、原作もぜひと探したところ日本語版がなかったのでこちらを購入しました。 映画では触れられていないところも載っていて、（子供時代のエピソードや、友人のエリックのエピソードなど）とても面白かったです。 テーマはとてもシリアスでありながら思わず笑ってしまうところもしばしば。 児童虐待という現実を多角的な視野からみた作品だと思います。是非色々な方に読んでいただきたいです。

eu li em intervalos grandes de tempo então não foi difícil de acompanhar todos os acontecimentos