Customer Reviews

Second Skin

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Second Skin is a lyrical, difficult but ultimately rewarding novel. It focuses on Skipper, the narrator, who simply tries to survive a series of life tragedies ranging from being the victim of a mutiny to losing his wife and daughter to suicide.

To say these things is not to give away the plot. Because Skipper does not tell his story in a linear fashion, we know what will happen from the beginning. The pleasure is in listening to the narrative voice tell his "naked history" (as Skipper calls it).

John Hawkes is an under-appreciated writer and a brilliant prose stylists. For anyone who loves to read beautiful sentences, this book is highly recommended.

As with most things in life I know entirely rely on Amazon to tell me what I like, and what I will read next. Once again I was not let down.

This was a book I had to put down and come back to many times. It is written almost like poetry the pours from that saddest places in every person's spirit. John Hawkes is a brilliant and deep writer. My only complaint is that he isn't necessarily captivating. I struggled in the beginning to find my footing in the endless lamenting. Eventually I was tempted to shelf the book indefinitely but one day I found myself woven into the tapestry of this world, and desiring to know more.

I recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind "working for it" (if you know what i mean).