Skin Folk
Genre: Short Stories, Horror, Sci-Fi
Original publication date: December 1, 2001
Book description (from Scribd): In Skin Folk, with works ranging from science fiction to Caribbean folklore, passionate love to chilling horror, Nalo Hopkinson is at her award-winning best spinning tales like “Precious,” in which the narrator spews valuable coins and gems from her mouth whenever she attempts to talk or sing. In “A Habit of Waste,” a self-conscious woman undergoes elective surgery to alter her appearance; days later she’s shocked to see her former body climbing onto a public bus. In “The Glass Bottle Trick,” the young protagonist ignores her intuition regarding her new husband’s superstitions—to horrifying consequences.
Thoughts:
This is a collection of short stories that leave you thinking about them even after finishing the book.
It includes:
*Riding the red. This is red riding hood giving advice to her own granddaughter but she mentions how it is likely that the girl will not learn from other's mistakes and will make her own.
*Money tree left me without much to say. This is about a young man looking for a pirate fortune. Morgan is going crazy with his wish for money. Suddenly he goes missing and people suspect he was dealing with drugs and his remaining family, Silky his sister, she is a siren daughter. Her brother was punished due to his greediness. Silky manages to pull him out of the River.
*Something to hitch meat to is about a man who is in a job he finds no passion in and feels he's not doing enough. His boss limits his creations. One day he gets a visit from a mysterious little girl who grants him the gift to change. He suddenly has the ability to change reality and he does!
*Snake, this tells us about a man who has very peculiar ideas. We see everything in town through his eyes. One of his obsessions is a little girl. There is a very unique attack and spoiler rescue.
*Under glass is a very odd fantastical world plagued by ice and glass living is difficult and yet there are still people around who hope to find love, family, hope for a better life.
*The glass bottle trick a young bride his totally in love with her husband, she had several men pinning for her affection and she tells us a bit of why she picked him even if he older. She leaves school and starts to be only a housewife. He is superstitious and she does not fully understand why. But once she discovers his secret, the consequences are negative.
There are a few more and they all were amazing in their own way. It is hard to categorize it, some are sci-fi and yet others feel more like horror stories. I do not recognize if they are based on specific tales as I have zero experience in the traditional Caribean folk tales, but this way is a great way to get a glimpse of them.
This is a great way to get introduced to Nalo Hopkinson's writing. The writing is vivid, intense, sensual, and gorgeous. Some of the stories are fabulist, some have magical realism blended in so it gives you a good idea of a whole lot of things she can come up with.
Some of the stories made me uncomfortable but can't say if that's good or bad so that's why it could not get the 5-star rating.
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