Deerskin (original 1993; edition 1994)

Deerskin is based on a fairytale, a pretty disturbing one in which a father decides to marry his daughter, because she is the only one equal to his dead wife in beauty. McKinley's version is darker, because of the detail of it. I found it desperately uncomfortable to read, and the pay-off really wasn't worth the discomfort -- for me, anyway. I read somewhere about a therapist suggesting a client of hers, who had been raped, read it, and that it was helpful in that case. But for me, reading it on my own, it... probably wasn't a good idea.

I might read it again, someday, when I'm more comfortable with the themes. I love stories based on fairytales, particularly less well known ones, and I like McKinley's writing in general, and her writing is a joy to read normally. But... this book wasn't a good idea for me.

I can't even think how to rate it, because it's so tinged by how I felt about the events and themes. So, bear in mind that my rating is based on my personal reaction, and not on any objective judgement. (All my ratings are, in fact, but this more than any.) ( )

This book is wonderful and yet I don’t recommend it, necessarily. The subject matter is very difficult to deal with and I had a very hard time with it. But it’s a great treatment, IMO. [Aug. 2008] ( )

This book has been warming my shelf for quite some time. Robin McKinley has long been one of my favorite fantasy writers and her book The Hero and the Crown is one of the dog-eared paperbacks that I still pick up to read from time to time when I feel like trodding familiar ground and getting lost in a story that I know well.

Deerskin is set in the same world as The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword, though at a totally different time. It tells the story of Lissla Lissar (I think perhaps I selected this book because the main character's name is close to my own), the daughter of the most beautiful King and Queen in all of the land. As a child, she is ignored by her parents, but after her mother dies, her father looks at her with a different eye. Following a rather violent scene, Lissar runs away from home with her dog, Ash. Due the traumatic events with her father, Lissar forgets who she is and takes the name "Deerskin" as her own. She is touched by magic, and given time to heal her wounds.

Much of the rest of the book follows an extremely predictable, though enjoyable, path. I thought that the book started a bit slowly - I found myself getting bored with the long backstory on the King and Queen and impatient for the actual story to really start. But once the ball got rolling, I found myself more and more immersed in the story. This isn't a book that I would read again and again, but I feel like it was worth my time. It entertained me. ( )

Lovely story. Rather quiet, but compelling. ( )

Being mostly neutral about animals, I don't know how I actually made it through this book. There was just too much in it about the dogs. I actually liked the book in the first 100 or so pages, because it was dark and sad and compelling, like a nightmare, and I like it when authors are not afraid to write about the darker things in life. But then Lissar goes off into the woods and the book spends the majority of its pages describing the dogs and their actions and how Lissar takes care of them and how they take care of her. I suppose if I were an animal person, I'd find this endearing. But I'm not and I don't, I was just utterly bored. This book had a very compelling story but I just couldn't get past the lengthy descriptions of the dogs long enough to focus on it. ( )