Lost Memory Of Skin

LOST MEMORY OF SKIN

by Russell Banks

 

Nominations: Carnegie Finalist 2012, PEN/Faulkner Finalist 2012

 

Date Read: October 23, 2020

 

Lost Memory Of Skin is an interesting meditation on how society handles sexual deviants. Frankly, society doesn’t’ so much handle it as relegates those who have been churned through the penal system into an ill-defined purgatory. 

 

The Kid lives on the margins of society, having been convicted of soliciting sex from a minor. The Kid is socially awkward, has no real family to speak of and is, shockingly, still a virgin. After completing his 6 months in jail, he now has to navigate a path into society with impossible burdens – an ankle monitor he has to wear for 10 years, keeping his National Sex Offender Registry information up to date and staying 2500 feet away from any place where he might encounter minors.

 

I understand these requirements. I really do. Sex offenders are the worst of the worst but I only really believe that to be true for anyone who would harm a child. In order to obey these requirements of release, these individuals are unable to secure homes or jobs and live in constant fear of being found out. Some would argue these punishments are justified; others would argue they are too harsh. I am somewhere in between.

 

While living under the Causeway, The Kid meets The Professor who interviews him and slowly gains his trust. Over the course of their relationship, clues begin to surface that The Professor may be a sexual predator himself, a question that is never fully answered.

 

Banks tackles a tough subject here and while I wasn’t overwhelmed by his writing, I found his exploration of the nuance involved in such a gray subject refreshing and realistic.

 

Looking Forward: Affliction, Clousplitter, Continental Drift

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Gentleman In Moscow

Image
A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2018, Goodreads Finalist 2016, Kirkus Finalist 2016   Date Read: February 24, 2017   From Kirkus Reviews:   “Sentenced to house arrest in Moscow's Metropol Hotel by a Bolshevik tribunal for writing a poem deemed to encourage revolt, Count Alexander Rostov nonetheless lives the fullest of lives, discovering the depths of his humanity.   Inside the elegant Metropol, located near the Kremlin and the Bolshoi, the Count slowly adjusts to circumstances as a "Former Person." He makes do with the attic room, to which he is banished after residing for years in a posh third-floor suite. A man of refined taste in wine, food, and literature, he strives to maintain a daily routine, exploring the nooks and crannies of the hotel, bonding with staff, accepting the advances of attractive women, and forming what proves to be a deeply meaningful relationship with a spirited young girl, Nina. "We are bound to find comfo
Read more

An Island

Image
AN ISLAND by Karen Jennings   Nomination: Booker Longlist 2021   Date Read: December 10, 2022   A short but mighty novel, An Island explores the concept of home, family, identity, the impact of political upheaval and the immigrant experience, when one’s suffering is so intense they move from one shitty country to the next. Samuel has finally found a peaceful home on an island somewhere off the coast of Africa. He was hired as a lighthouse keeper and after a tumultuous life, most of which was spent in prison as a political prisoner, he has carved out a life for himself on this island, enjoying a tranquil existence that basks in the quiet tasks of daily living.   Only after exploring Samuel’s life does the reader understand why such an isolated, spare and lonely existence satisfy him, with no desire to escape but only to grow deeper roots. His life witnessed the end of the British occupation, the installation of a brutal dictator and yet another dictator after the first was poisoned. Sam
Read more

The Changeling

Image
THE CHANGELING by Victor LaValle   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2019, LA Times Finalist 2017, PEN/Jean Stein Finalist 2018   Date Read: July 21, 2024   From Kirkus Reviews: “A  tragedy thrusts a mourning father into peculiar, otherworldly corners of New York City. When Apollo and Emma have their baby, Brian, it feels like both reward and challenge for the new dad. Apollo, the son of a single mother, had been scraping by as a bookseller who hunts estate and garage sales for rare first editions, so even the unusual circumstance of Brian's birth (in a stalled subway train) seems like a blessing, as does the way Apollo stumbles across a first edition of  To Kill a Mockingbird  (inscribed by Harper Lee to Truman Capote, no less) shortly after. But after some young-parent squabbles and inexplicable images on their smartphones foreshadow trouble, the story turns nightmarish: Apollo finds himself tied up and beaten by Emma, then forced to listen to the sounds of Brian’s murder. LaValle has
Read more