(S)kin / Ibi Zoboi / Book Review

(S)KIN

Marisol is a soucouyant. Like her mother and her mother's mother and her mother's mother's mother, she sheds her skin every new moon and shifts into a blazing fireball witch. She drinks from the lives of others to sustain herself, like the women who came before her. But unlike the islands that raised her, Brooklyn is no place for a fireball witch. Bright lights, heavy traffic, and windows shut tight against the cold...

Genevieve isn't sure what she is. The daughter of a college professor and an unnamed woman from the islands he loves, she has always wondered if she might be half mermaid or half... something. Something mythological, from the stories her father collects. But trapped in a city and a family that doesn't quite know what to do with her, Genevieve has never felt at home.

When Genevieve's stepmother hires a new nanny to care for her squalling newborn twins, Genevieve is relieved to have some peace and quiet around the apartment. But this nanny has brought with her a teenage daughter, an accent thick with the islands, and more secrets than Genevieve would believe...

THOUGHTS

Ibi Zoboi wields poetry like a weapon, carving out lyrical passages that would be ungraspable in prose. And that's an incredible feat. I often find that novels-in-verse (especially for a younger audience) don't utilize poetry to its full extent, but that is definitely not the case here. Tandem voices, clashing identities: poetry wrestles the hard truths of this book into submission. I just wish it had been longer, lingered in some of its moments, but that's one drawback of verse that I don't think can be remedied.

PROS

Poetic Practice	This book alternates between half-sisters, girls who have had radically different upbringings and who hold (for the most part) radically different opinions on life. And the verse used in this book really captures their voices, alternating alignment on the page between them so their individual experiences stand out. And I loved that use of verse, the way verse can be formatted to benefit its message, which makes for a really dynamic reading experience.
Real World Problems	As much as this book is a fantasy, it is rooted in the real world, in everyday experiences. It trudges through the ramifications of racism, colonialism, and colorism in island life and in NYC. Superstition and prejudice play an important part in the literal magic of the story, but those prejudices are drawn from very real experiences. The uncomfortable facets of these -isms open room for great, if difficult, conversations about very real-world, ongoing injustice and maltreatment.
Messy Dynamics	Who doesn't love a messy family dynamic? And boy is this family messy. We have a single mother and her daughter, who already have a bit of a manipulative relationship fostered between them. Then we introduce a half-sister and her father... and her stepmother and her new baby half-siblings. And a ton of secrets. And a lot of unspoken half-truths. And a lot of heavy feelings (some justified and some not). Mix this all together with a bit of myth-made-fact, and it all feels perfectly complicated.

CONS

This book takes a long time to get where its going. It is slow to build anywhere, and while it does nurture the characters along the way, this slow pace might not be the best fit for every reader. Especially in a book marketed as YA, some might find it takes too long to build anywhere good. I didn't mind it, but if you need something fast to snag your attention, this might not be the read for you.	Slow Build
As much as I loved how Zoboi was able to use the freedom and the structure of poetry to really add to the dynamic nature of this book, there is one limitation of novel-in-verse that couldn't be overcome. I just didn't get enough of the story. There are so many gaps, so many things left unsaid because of the nature of poetry versus prose, and I just wish there had been more room in the structure for fleshing things out. I'm not sure this could have been fixed, given the format. But I still wish I had more here.	Not Enough
As much as I love a messy family dynamic, I was still a bit disappointed. Because the biggest villain of them all was Lourdes, the mother of these two girls. And she made a lot of mistakes. And she made some very bad (and very intentional) choices. So she isn't blameless by any means. But I felt like there could have been so much to her character--felt like the writing hinted at so much behind her--that just didn't get explored. And that was a great loss. She became too much of a villain, and I don't think that was the intention. And I really do hate when the women get the brunt of the blame, you know?	Parental Problems

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7/10

Fans of Heather Kamins's The Moth Girl will like how fantasy mingles with reality to create a compelling commentary here. Those who loved Patrice Caldwell's collection A Phoenix First Must Burn will like this taste of #BlackGirlMagic.

Details Publisher: Versify Date: February 11, 2025 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.