I thought the color metaphor of Brian's memory of the skin of his "abductor" changing slowly from blue to white especially remarkable, as well as skin imagery throughout. Skin imagery is a kind of plot-moving or foreshadowing angle that I don't recall much in the novels I read.

As usual, Deborah clobbered me. She announced her verdict in a voice that echoed over Little River's homes: "Colonel Mustard, in the study, with the wrench."Arrrrrrrrrrrraaaaahhhhhhhhh bl***y GR! Wrote a review but 'an error occurred' whilst saving ! If I'm in a better mood later I'll try again :-( Heim is breathtakingly unafraid to take chances, and the fact that he doesn't self-destruct in the process is one of the reasons he can rightly be called a promising author." San Francisco Chronicle Noises drifted through the house above me. I recognized the lull of my sister's voice as she sang along to the radio. "Deborah," I yelled. The music's volume lowered. I heard a doorknob twisting; feet clomping down stairs. The crawl space door slid open. Noises drifted through the house above me. I recognized the lull of my sister’s voice as she sang along to the radio. “Deborah,” I yelled. The music’s volume lowered. I heard a doorknob twisting; feet clomping down stairs. The crawl space door slid open. Heim switches points of views frequently, from Brian and Neil to Brian's sister, Neil's best friend, and the orphan boy who is in love him. I'm sure there are readers who were annoyed by this structural choice, or who felt it was unnecessary, but I think it was pivotal to our overall understanding of the characters. The same can be said for the sex scenes. None of them, I felt, were there just for the sake of it. Each of them contributed to the development of Neil's character and showed his current mental standing. The pacing was good, even if Brian's parts dragged more than Neil's. Whether it was a conscious decision or not, it fit the plot, mirroring the character's growth - Neil grew up too fast, too soon, and Brian couldn't move on from his past and it dragged with him until he finally sorted things through. The symbolism in this book is excellent. Scenes like the final one are so rich with subtext, so laden with imagery that they remind of me of A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, which was equally layered and had room for endless interpretations and analysis.

Maimunah, Loren Damayanti. "Children Sexual Abuse in Araki's Mysterious Skin (2004)" (PDF). unair.ac.id. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 19, 2021 . Retrieved February 3, 2019.

Selected

Two things defined my father’s life: food and sports. Since I had disappointed him by quitting baseball, I decided to share in his passion for eating. I fixed hot dogs, bowls of popcorn, and lemon-lime gelatin, grapes buoyed beneath the molded surface like infant jellyfish. I climbed the ladder to the roof and served him. We ate together in silence. Byrnes, Paul (August 18, 2005). "Mysterious Skin". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021 . Retrieved September 4, 2009. Mysterious Skin is a profoundly moving film, disturbing and beautiful and painful. How anyone could have wanted it banned is beyond me - but of course, the people who wanted it banned hadn't seen it.

The summer I was eight years old, five hours disappeared from my life. I can't explain. I remember this: first, sitting on the bench during my Little League team's 7 p.m. game, and second, waking in the crawl space of my house near midnight. Whatever happened during that empty expanse of time remains a blur. The protection of innocence and its theft is what some people would consider the transitional point between child and adult. You are no longer a child if you are corrupted, yet, that is hardly the case since no one in the story gives off the feeling of being a responsible adults. The adults in the story struggle to raise their children while their own personal lives come crashing down like a vase into a thousand tiny pieces. They are child molesters, rapists, lonely men who slowly drive by parks looking for prostitutes are examples of those on the more degenerate side, and at best, they are too busy wrestling with their own problems to do anything about the problems of others. And if they are not blind to the problems of their children, they can do little about it except watch them grow up as one would an inevitable train crash. Brian's mother is as close to a responsible adult as one gets in the story, bless her soul. Heim is breathtakingly unafraid to take chances, and the fact that he doesn't self-destruct in the process is one of the reasons he can rightly be called a promising author." — San Francisco ChronicleI told your father baseball was a stupid idea," she said. She kissed my eyelids shut. I pinched my nose; took a deep breath. She guided my head under the level of sudsy water. Dr. Kaufman wore a bow tie, a tweed cap, and a white robe. He ushered me into his office and propped me on his table. I held my breath when the stethoscope’s tip grazed my chest. “Like an ice cube, isn’t it?” he said.