Thank you Sarah Cypher, Ballantine, and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review!

I thought the writing in this book was beautiful. There were so many themes discussed and I thought they were well done. I did think there would be more magical realism, but there wasn’t and that’s fine. I did find the pacing to be off and it made the book feel way longer than it was. It was a good book, I just don’t think it was the right book for me.

Unfortunately, I just could not get into this book. DNF around 20-25%. What I read was slow, and that POV type is already hard when it's to me the reader, but to me as the reader as someone else...Yeahno.

Also, purely anecdotal, but I only personally am aware of two people who read it at all, but they did both finish it. They agreed it was slow and were tempted to give up on it. One said they liked it and may recommend it, and the other said it was okay and probably would not. Being pro-Palestine, I wanted to continue, but alas. We've only so much time in this life.

I’m not one to DNF books, but I don’t see myself enjoying this read at the moment. The prose is extremely dense, and I just didn’t have the focus to push on. In any case, free Palestine.

This was a very unique story that bordered on being 'too much' for me as a reader. I think the second person narrative distracted me at times. I found myself loving parts, and I can distinctly remember certain scenes but now reflecting overall I can't even tell you what the outcome was. No discernable plot per-se in my opinion, many different stories and histories woven in.
Definitely not my favorite, but I did end up listening to the audiobook so I could've missed certain clues and cues at parts that seemed to confuse me.

I have no idea how a novel with such a strong start, became so horrible.

The first 15 pages or so are pretty amazing but soon after the prose becomes too heavy, the story is hard to follow, and it just becomes boring. The second person narration may have been a bad choice.

A tough read with it’s jarring subject matter but a deep and poignant piece of work that I devoted from start to finish.

This literary fiction with fantastical touches is a quiet reflection on family, legacy, and identity. It's a truly unique book with some thought-provoking narrative choices. I think the fantastical bits could have been taken further because they really brought out some interesting themes. It's the kind of book you finish and immediately want to discuss with someone else who's read it, which makes it a success to me!

2.5 stars, rounding up! Love the concept, but the execution was a bit difficult for me. Not sure if it was the 2nd person POV but I had trouble following this one the further in I got. (I read this in short bursts as well, so maybe if I'd powered through it would have felt more cohesive?)

That being said, the prose is gorgeous without feeling pretentious and had some descriptions of generational trauma/dealing with a family member's mental illness that punched me in the gut. Solid debut novel, not my cup of tea but could be someone else's!

Special thanks to Random House Publishing, Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I really liked this book. The author Sarah Cypher was able to weave myth and facts together in such a great way..

This story of the Rummanis, an Arab family with a daughter. born blue! I loved learning about ancestry, religion, family, her sexuality.

What a wonderful story!

a family saga following Rummani women and exploring their complicated family dynamics. A well-written literay fiction that kept my attention from start to finish

This is an interesting story, with poetic flare, that tells the tale of a family that moved from Palestine to the US. The story is told when the granddaughter goes back to her great aunt grave to remember the past and decide what she should do next. The granddaughter was born with blueish skin, hence the title of the book. I think that at some points the story seems to be a bit too poetic to follow, but it is nonetheless an interesting tale, that takes about immigration, sexuality, heritage, and other aspects of life.

I wanted to love this book (it sounds like something that would be right up my alley), but unfortunately I found it took me a very long time to finish it. It wasn't a "bad" book by any means, but I wasn't motivated to pick it up often. I was much more interested in the stories of Palestine and the older women in the family - the girl with blue skin just didn't hit for me. I hope it works better for other readers, and I would definitely try this author again if she writes another book!

“Here I am. You're lying six feet down, but I'm still carrying some version of you around because you made sure I needed you this much.”

I adored this book so much. Told from the perspective of a Palestinian-American woman speaking to her deceased aunt’s grave as she faces a life changing decision, Cypher takes you on a journey through both Betty and her aunt Nuha’s life in a compelling and lyrical way. The themes of familial obligations, the importance of heritage, and self-discovery were a huge part of the story, but mostly it was about how we sacrifice things we need for what we think we owe others, and at the same time how our own self serving choices can exist in tandem. It makes you wonder, do you ever really know someone at all?

Coupled with touches of magical realism, The Skin and Its Girl is an absolute masterpiece.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this arc!

The Skin and Its Girl is a unique book. I’ve never read a book like this which we follow the main character since birth. I love the way it was written, very different writing style. The beginning of the novel hooked me right away especially the stories the grandmother told. I was lost in the middle of the book, but that does not change how I feel about the book. I loved the way the story is told, and you as the reader can feel everything.

Enjoyable, great pacing, exciting settings kept me hooked. Intriguing novel that will be the perfect to lose yourself in. Thank you Net Galley for ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

A beautifully written book about family history and love.

Told through the viewpoint of Betty, a girl born blue, we learn of her family’s fairytale like history. The strength of this novel was the love between Betty and her aunt Nuha. The story is told as if Betty is speaking to her aunt, which sometimes left me a little confused and made for a slower paced book.

•”I’ve not come to harass the dead. But in spite of my skin and my density and a lifetime of being stared at, I’m still human.”

One of the best stories told was Betty’s friendship with a pen pal in grade school. The feeling of being an other was told with such honesty. The author also has a wonderful sense of humor woven throughout the book. Never missing an opportunity to make a joke.

•”Don’t ever forget the Eleventh Commandment: Make your own cash.”

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys family epic’s. And books written in the second person. Maybe read the first page or so to confirm that you like the writing style.

I really wanted to love this book. The idea was super interesting and the topics that it explored were great. It just fell super flat to me. I had to force myself to finish it and ended up just skimming the end. The pov made it super hard to follow along and I could never tell if it was in the past or present. The writing style also just took me out of the book and was hard to follow along. I feel bad rating this book so low and I’m so upset it didn’t live up to what I expected. Don’t let this review stop you from reading it
though!

The synopsis of The Skin and Its Girl sounded like it would be right up my alley but it just didn't work or me. I actually tried reading the eGalley initially but DNF'ed it. After the book was released, I borrowed an audiobook from my library to give it another try and finished it but wish I had DNF'ed it. One of the major setbacks for me was the fact that I did not understand or like the POV. The Skin and Its Girl is told by a girl born with blue skin facing a big life decision talking to her great aunt who has passed way (Isabel Allende employed a similar narrative in her recent book Violeta which did not work for me either). It often did not make sense as the narrator would recount events during which she was not present including first-hand experiences of her great-aunt... It was confusing but in an effective way for me.

"The whole of human history grew out of our demolished origins: a story in a mess of fragments."


This is one of those books that I’m scared to write a review about, because nothing I can say can do justice to the incredible writing in The Skin and Its Girl. It also hits very, very close to home for me in a lot of ways, in coming from a mixed family and growing up feeling like an alien compared to everyone around you and losing a maternal figure who you looked up to throughout your childhood, so like, bear with me please.

The Skin and Its Girl touches on so many themes running through the life of one sprawling, messy immigrant family, so I don’t know that I can say definitively what it’s about. It deals with queerness, motherhood, mental health, family dynamics and secrets, love, grief, political unrest…it all comes together to paint such a rich, realistic portrayal of the life of its main characters. The story is told as a recounting of the main character Betty’s life, but also the life of the great aunt who raised her (there’s a lot of second-person here, which may not be everyone’s thing but I love it). Betty narrates the story at her aunt’s grave, and there are certainly plenty of heavy moments in the story, but it’s ultimately a story driven by hope and love and a relentless push toward a better future.

Sarah Cypher also does an incredible job with the writing here. She strikes a very delicate balance between thoughtful, intelligent prose and compulsively readable storytelling; there’s so much going on in the language of this book but it’s so easy to read for hours and not even feel the time passing. Not many writers pull that off as successfully as in this book.

I really have nothing bad to say about this one. Please give it a try if it even slightly piques your interest.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

A few weeks later, I can barely remember the plot, but I loved the writing. A girl is born with bright blue skin and lives life surprisingly normally given those conditions and I'm sure it's all a metaphor. I dunno. I like it.