Customer Reviews

The Flawless Skin of Ugly People: A Novel

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Crandell writes so well that some will miss the profound importance of this important work of fiction exposing the reality of our societal constructs of beauty. While dermatologists will rave about how Crandell has been the one to write so beautifully about what they have been trying to communicate to patients and the unconcious public, this book gives us a Beauty and The Beast story like nothing before it. Or does it really? I don't think so. You see the title is for us for our own story, because I just can't find an ugly person in The Flawless Skin of Ugly People, but when I finished the book, it seems like they were all around. Ah, but so were so many more beautiful people that I had been missing all along. Thank you Doug Crandell for Hobbie and the new prescription, I see so many more beautiful people now. Please continue to write books that people can't put down.

Any novelist (first-time or otherwise) who has the shells to (straight faced) evoke Ratt's "Round And Round" for poignancy, and then, just for good measure (and without irony, mind you,) drag in the yellow-and-black-attack of God-Metalists, Stryper, is fine by me. Because, you see, not only do I have that Ratt LP on vinyl, I have the first issue of "To Hell With the Devil" with the controversial artwork featuring a winged and hyper-muscular Michael Sweet et al giving Lucifer a guitar enema. But I digress.

The Flawless Skin of Ugly People also features one of the most cringe-inducing (and I was raised on Stephen King,) and painfully prolonged scenes of self-mutilation I've ever experienced. Equally disturbing is the scene of a child's sexual molestation - only this time it is the brevity and, damn it, the banality that gets under the skin and stays with you. (Crandell pulls off a feat only the most accomplished of novelists manage - I found myself incorporating the protagonist's experiences into my own subconscious. Hence the high shudder factor.)

Sure, it'll make a great movie, but bring on the soundtrack!

Denver's Rocky Mountain News declared Doug Crandell the new J.D. Salinger. Sir Richard Branson saw the talent in this brilliant writer and signed him as Virgin Publishing's inaugural author. What do these folks know that you don't? That Doug Crandell's writing is unpredictable, and that he writes out-loud what our inner voice speaks in whispers. And while our voice is muted by shame or decorum, Crandell's characters push through the polite public veneer with funny and touching regularity. The Flawless Skin of Ugly People follows Crandell's two wonderful memoirs of his youth in Indiana, and one wonders if this isn't just the culmination of a Heartland trilogy. For me, a kid who grew up fat with acne, the writing and dialogue is authentic, hopeful, and never contrived. Anyone with an ounce of compassion in their souls will recognize Crandell's as the voice (some are lucky enough to hear) saying "hey, it's gonna be alright, you'll see." This is another brilliant offering from Doug Crandell. I can't wait for the next one!

doug crandells first novel is excellent....the quirky characters are so well developed that i began to feel i was a part of their quilted together family.....the plot kept me turning each page until at 3 am i finally had to put down the book because i had come to last page......the twists and turns of the lives are so real to life ... i am recommending this book for 5 stars and look forward to future novels by doug.....

There is a lot to like in this novel. The people Crandell writes about are, really, "normal" people. They are people just like you and me, who have insecurities and who do not look perfectly airbrushed, as if they've just stepped from the pages of a magazine. This makes them far more believable as characters than those you find in many other works of literature. Still, there is a great deal of literature out there that also deals with "misfit" characters and that does so better than Crandell's book. It's not a bad book but it could use some work.

While I liked Hobbie, I also found him too self-pitying at times. I certainly don't think that the books portrayal of a person with his condition is all that unrealistic but it did bother me that Hobbie used his acne as a crutch. Still, the book did do a good job of showing how human natures leads us to sometimes resist the changes that, while tough, could actually make a profound difference in life because humans tend to favor the familiar over the scary unknown. I think Hobbie is exactly this type of character, a man who knows there are other possibilities but who is more comfortable with remaining in his niche than he is with taking a chance.

The character I liked least in this novel was Kari. I could certainly see why Hobbie was initially attracted to her as she is one of the few people who saw who he was on the inside rather than allowing the superficial to prejudice her but she treats him very badly during the course of the novel. Not only that, she flees from her father as well and is not there when people truly need her and yet no one seems all that upset by this. Yes, Hobbie does feel angry with her from time to time but he is also quick to forgive.

The strongest aspect of this novel, though, is Hobbie's growth--and there is a lot of it. Even though I was sometimes exasperated with him, I did find him sympathetic and I wanted to see him succeed. His gradual transition is handled well and the understandings he reaches with other characters are touching. There is a very rewarding emotional payoff to seeing how characters come together, how they love one another both in spite of and because of their flaws.

I totally agree with the reviewer's title who said it reads like a movie in your mind.

I know a book is good when that's how it reads for me. And then when the movie does come out 5 years later, those characters are still so envisioned in my head that no matter how good the actor is at becoming them, I'm still a little disappointed.

This is what happened to me with Everything is Illuminated, The Hours, A Home at the End of the World etc. all of which were great movies but even better books.

So I don't know who will play Hobbie or Kari or Roth or what tiny piece I'll be so mad that they edit out, but I'm sure I'll still feel a little sad that they aren't what I've already come to know.

Crandell's book, the Flawless Skin of Ugly people reflects the wounds of human judgment and the stunning restoration of love. Hobbie is not unlike a family member we all know who makes up the background of our lives: quiet, hidden, and uncomfortably there at holidays. Not forgotten, just never remembered.

But Hobbie no longer lives in anonymity with his obese girlfriend of 20 years. Kari left to change her life and has now gone missing. Hobbie becomes our guide on a quest to find Kari. We ride along following Hobbie's roadmap where quirky characters provide the landmarks for life's turns. Hobbie's common-law family and hangers-on reveal what lies beneath the surface: character and honesty. Crandell's story is a convex mirror of his characters' lives. Past events begin fainter at the edges then come into broad view, dead-center. Crandell reflects the hurt as well as the fortitude of Hobbie, Terry, Kari, Roth, Sally, and yes, even Donny.

The details of Hobbie's painful excoriations of his face were difficult to read. Not only is Crandell unrelenting in the gory details, but we want to help Hobbie purge the hurting beneath his skin. At least I did. Crandell shows that we all have ways of hiding what hurts us. I don't think anyone can read this book and not find a feature of themselves somewhere inside. I loved this book and think you will too.

First let me say that I enjoyed this book. I never wanted to put it down. I felt like I could personally relate to the characters and that they are well written, thought out and fully developed. I enjoyed the author's accurate description of southern life. I was surprised that the author's crafted descriptions of situations and environments are the same way I internally process them. If you are looking for a book that is weird and wonderful this is the book for you. As a bonus you will a multitude of new characters to choose from that can act as your hero in life.

Just as with all of his writings it was hard to put down. .
Hobbie is someone I want to know. I have questions I want to ask him. It's hard to remember he's not a real person or is he? It's amazing to me that I feel such strong emotions about these people who are really just from Doug's imagination. This will be a great Christmas gift for my adult child, other family members and friends.

Doug Crandell writes this, his first novel, with authenticity that so matches the candor of his two stellar memoirs, "Pig Boy's Wicked Bird" and "An All American Industrial Motel", that you turn page after page awaiting a contextual link. You won't find it because this work of fiction is exactly that, but rings so true you and so tellingly of it's characters that you are left looking for them in your daily life, just hoping you will have the pleasure of their far from ugly company.