Skin
by Kerry Andrew
A Book Review
When Joe Ronan sets off to work one morning in 1985, it seems just like any other day. But Joe fails to return to his London home in the evening. It seems as if he has disappeared in thin air, leaving his wife Rosa and eleven-year old Matty none the wiser. Matty believes that Joe is dead, an impression which Rosa actively encourages. Joe has last been seen at the Highgate’s Men’s Pond, and Matty starts to spend whole days there, hoping to discover a solution to the mystery of Joe’s disappearance, a solution which seems increasingly out of reach. Among the diverse community of the Pond, Matty gains new perspectives on life, and develops a taste for wild swimming, the last link to a missing dad. Fourteen years later, Matty, still living an untethered life, goes on a trip to Ireland, where Joe originally came from. What seems like a hare-brained scheme, will turn into a journey of discovery for Matty.
I was very excited to read her new novel “Skin” but, having just completed it, I must admit that I am in two minds about it. I will try to explain my reaction, even though admittedly it is a frustrating novel to review. “Skin” has a twist at the end of its first part and it would be unfair to reveal it, even though not revealing it makes it difficult to discuss the novel as whole. Suffice it to say that Andrew’s sleight of hand is particularly effective because rather than just propel the plot (as twists are wont to do), this development is central to Matty’s character and, by implication, strikes at the heart of the novel itself.
Indeed, the initial chapters of Skin are intriguing and enigmatic, and possibly the best part of the novel. When the action turns to 1999 and Matty’s Irish visit, the novel tends to become too diffuse, even though there are moments of great beauty, as in the descriptions of Matty’s swims in freezing loughs (wild swimming is an activity Kerry Andrew knows well, and served as inspiration for her chamber-opera Dart’s Love.)
Skin has the makings of an interesting and different Bildungsroman, in which Matty finally makes sense of past events and starts to live anew. However, the novel becomes embroiled in subplots which seem to have walked (swum?) in from a different book, including half-hearted stabs at romance and even elements of crime fiction. The final chapters move dangerously close to schmalz. I have my sentimental side and did not mind that at all. But that didn’t make the ending any less improbable.
In the concluding Author’s Note Kerry Andrew teases out folkloric elements in her novel, particularly the references to water myths (which inspired her folk album Keld). Certain passages in “Skin” do have echoes of magical realism, but I felt that the mythical element is much less present here than in Andrew’s debut novel.
All in all, “Skin” is worth reading, especially for its
portrayal of Matty. But I must confess my reaction was less enthusiastic
than for Swansong.
No comments:
Post a Comment