Skin Folk

Nalo Hopkinson

Completed 11/27/2024 Reviewed 11/27/24

4 Stars

I’ve read quite a bit by Hopkinson.  Sister Mine, The Salt Roads, and the amazing Brown Girl in the Ring are just a few of the books by her I’ve read.  Skin Folk is a collection of short fiction, all of which are based in Caribbean mythos, which is her specialty.  Specifically, these stories all have the similar theme of being able to change or remove one’s skin, literally or figuratively.  They vary greatly from story to story, some more magical realism, some fantasy, some fairy tale, some science fiction.  But they all deal with the concept of acceptance.  

Several of the stories were way over my head.  I felt like I completely missed their message or the point of the story.  However, the prose was always wonderful to read, even if I didn’t get the story.  I could also have been the fact that these are short stories based in unfamiliar mythology.  Even though I’ve read many of her novels, I still don’t know a lot about Caribbean mythology.  It could also be that I’m more used to getting the mythos with a longer narrative.  Whatever the case, reading Hopkinson is always an adventure, and usually an exciting one.  Here are several I found noteworthy:

Snake – A very disturbing story of a serial child molester and murderer who receives justice at the hands of old people and birds.

The Glass Bottle Trick – Sort of a Mr Fox/Bluebeard type tale.  A woman marries a man and finds out he murdered his previous wives for getting pregnant.

Slow Cold Chick – A woman cracks an egg that holds an odd baby bird.  She accidently gets hot sauce on it and it grows into a violent cockatrice.  With the help of magical neighbors, she tames the creature.

Fisherman – A woman dresses as a man and works as a fisherman, trying to gain acceptance from her coworkers.  So she goes to the local cathouse like them and has her first sexual encounter with a prostitute with a heart of gold.  

Greedy Choke Puppy – A tale about Caribbean werewolves and vampires.  Specifically, the soucouyant is a woman who can shed her skin and as a ball of energy, can suck the life force from babies.

Ganger (Ball Lightning) – A very strange tale about a couple who use special body suits to enhance their sense of touch during sex.  After an intense session, they leave the suits charged and at the foot of their bed, jumbled together.  The suits’ contact generates a Ganger, a being of energy that attacks the couple.

As you can see, the stories are quite strange and intense.  After about the first five, I started to really get the point of them and found them profound.  I give this book four stars out of five, missing five stars only because I didn’t get the first few, which could be me, a function of not really knowing Caribbean mythology, or simply the story not being long enough to get the point across to me.  Still it’s a great collection and I look forward to reading other short works of hers.