Product Description

This remarkable book defies categorisation. Under the Skin introduces Isserley, a woman obsessed with picking up male hitchhikers - so long as they're well-muscled and alone. But why? As the novel unfolds and the reason becomes clear, the reader is drawn inexorably into a completely unexpected and increasingly terrifying world.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69994 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review

Isserley always drove straight past a hitch-hiker when she first saw him, to give herself time to size him up. She was looking for big muscles: a hunk on legs. Puny, scrawny specimens were no use to her.

So begins Michel Faber's first novel: a lone female scouts the Scottish Highlands in search of well-proportioned men and the reader is given to expect the unfolding of some latter-day psychosexual drama. But commonplace expectation is no guide for this strange and deeply unsettling book; small details at first, then more major clues, suggest that something deeply bizarre is afoot. What are the reason's for Isserley's extensive surgical scarring, her thick glasses (which are just glass), her excruciating backache? Who are the solitary few who work on the farm where her cottage is located? And why are they all nervous about the arrival of someone called Amlis Vess?

The ensuing narrative is one of such cumulative, compelling strangeness that it almost defies description--the one thing that can be said with certainty is that Under The Skin is unlike anything else you have ever read. The result is a narrative of enormous imaginative and emotional coherence from a writer whose control of his medium is nearly flawless and who applies the rules of psychological realism to a fictional world that is terrifying and unearthly to the point that the reader's identification with Isserley becomes one of absolute sympathy.

Michel Faber's debut deserves to inherit and expand upon the acclaim bestowed upon his short-story collection Some Rain Must Fall. Under the Skin is a reviewer's nightmare and a reader's dream: a book so distinctive, so elegantly written and so original that all one can say is simply to experience it. An extraordinary first book. -- Burhan Tufail

Review
'The fantastic is so nicely played against the day-to-day that one feels the strangeness of both ... A remarkable novel.' New York Times

From the Publisher
Unlike anything you will ever have read
Michel Faber, born in Holland, raised in Australia and currently living in Scotland, is that rare thing - a novelist with an utterly original vision. As his publisher I can only say that the excitement building up behind this book is unlike anything I have witnessed. By the end of 1999 he will have co-publishers in at least eight countries and has already sold to four extremely prestigious houses outside of Britain.

I love this book with a passion. If you are a vodsel (you'll know what I'm talking about by the time you've read it, if you read it) then I defy you not to be deeply affected by this wise, humane, funny and serious novel.

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Customer Reviews

A stunning, intensely clever book
Under The Skin is a really excellent novel. This book is truly unputdownable. Not only is it a gripping page turner, it is very, very well written. Also it gives the reader an opportunity to examine the issues involved at a higher level if they so wish. I will not explain anything of the plot, as I would not want to spoil anyone else's pleasure in the suspense and intrigue. Enough to say that you are puzzled and surprised right up to the end. Not a word is wasted. Although there are a few red herrings thrown about this is by no means a criticism. Faber draws us in, and then surprises us with another strange dimension. He could have been tempted into politicising or sentimentality, but he keeps his narrative firmly on the rails. The message in the book speaks for itself, and, when I reluctantly finished it, I was very surprised to find myself thinking about a lot more that hitch hikers in Scotland. This book has been placed on my shelf of 'best ever reads', which is still fairly small despite nearly thirty years of reading adult fiction. Thank you Michel Faber, and I look forward to reading more of your work.

Flawed But Fabulous: It Really Does Get Under Your Skin
I wonder if Faber chose the title because he knew what effect it would have on his readers? If so, he was spot on: you can forget any horror / sci-fi/ psychological thriller you may have read before, because this novel will invade your mind and keep you awake at night.
Set against the bleak emptiness of rural Scotland, Isserley cruises up and down the lonely roads searching for fit young male hitchikers. What promises to be a raunchy exploration of female sexuality, turns into something strange sinister and nasty, and it has to be said - completely unexpected.
This book blew me away. I have never read a novel that has "got" to me as much, and not only because in parts it is pretty graphic, but also because it made me sit up and evaluate humanity's relationship with other creatures, and our blind imperialism over species not our own.
There are flaws: Given Isserley's past, she should be an immaculately constructed character in her own right. She is not, and this wekens the considerable impact of the book. Likewise, the reader's disbelief is occasionally asked to suspend a bridge too far, but these are minor quibbles in a generally excellent work.
"Under The Skin" is a refreshing and unconventional tale with a disturbing flavour and unsettling plot. Faber's greatest achievement however, is to make us sympathise with Isserley, a character we cannot begin to understand.

CREEPY...SINISTER...MACABRE...STUNNING...
This is a wonderfully inventive novel that is strangely compelling. It cuts across many genres, as it certainly qualifies as literary fiction, horror, satire, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy. It is extraordinarily riveting in its telling, propelled by a narrative that is all at once creepy, faintly sinister and macabre, as well as, at times, poignant. Beautifully written in clear, spare prose, this stunning novel grips the reader until the last page is turned.

The main protagonist, Isserley, cruises the highways of the Scottish countryside in her specially equipped compact car looking for beefcake. On the prowl for muscular, well-built, healthy men who are hitchhiking, rolling stones with little or no ties to family, friends, and community, she picks them up and gets their life's story before she makes a momentous decision that will forever alter their lives.

These unsuspecting men take note of Isserley for a number of reasons. After all, she is a tiny snippet of a being, strangely erotic, with very large, beautiful and luminous eyes, hidden behind coke bottle thick glasses. She has a small heart-shaped, puffy-cheeked, virtually chinless face, dotted with a tiny nose and lush lips. Her arms are long and thin with knobby elbows and wrists from which large scarred hands flow. Of course, her large breasts are extraordinary and ripe in her always low cut top. It is those perfect protuberances that helps her to ensnare her prey.

Who Isserley is and what Isserley does with her prey is at the heart of this book, which is one that should not be missed by those who enjoy unusual, slightly twisted novels. Though ultimately allegorical, it is a gripping, perfectly wrought tale that conceptually defies categorization, so original and imaginative are its tantalizing plot and characters. As for Isserley, the reader will weep for her, so poignant a portrait does the author paint with his elegant prose. This is, indeed, one of my favorite books, and one that should not be missed by those who love beautifully written fiction. Bravo!