I’ve just finished reading ‘Under the Skin’ by Michel Faber. The book is exceptionally well written which is what I wanted when I approached my local Waterstones staff member about a book recommendation for the Christmas holidays. 

The story however is quite horrifying. I’ll not bother trying to hide spoiler details. The book is about a female driver that picks up male hitchhikers up and down the A9 (a highway between Inverness and Perth in Scotland). Turns out she is actually an alien and she’s picking them up as part of an Alien corporation called Vess Incorporated. Turns out these aliens consider humans (or vodsels as she refers to them) as a delicacy for eating. The writer goes into quite horrifying further detail on their methods which I will refrain talking about in this blog post.

Isserley is the female protagonist and she works alone in her car day in day out. Her body has been modified so she is particularly attractive to the human males. The book starts out with the reader guessing whether she is a serial killer or part of some sort of sick cult but as it goes on it just gets darker and darker as the truth is revealed.

But the reason I wanted to write this blog post was some of the thoughts Isserley has as she begins to lose her sanity towards the end. It is revealed that she took the job to escape ‘the Estates’ where members of her race gradually waste away toiling away at what we can only assume are menial, tiring jobs full of drudgery. Isserley also makes reference to the Elite which obviously rule her race. She regards her job as some sort of great opportunity. She has to go through surgery (has her tail cut off and large breasts added to her body) to obtain this position. As the story progresses she meets the son of the owner of Vess Incorporated and Isserley reveals what she knows of the so-called Elite. 

My favourite part of the book however is when Isserley reflects that the Elite actually are as sad as the people on the Estates. They have their high class food, their drugs and their sex but they don’t have what Isserley has. As she reflects on this she is looking at the beauty of the Scottish landscape. 

I can certainly relate to this predatory alien in this instant. Work gives a person a sense of employment, a reason for the pointlessness of life, a reason for the pointlessness of existence. We are complimented for other things but can any compliment really be sincere about anything but our work? I am reminded of Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now at the beginning. He doesn’t know what to do with himself when he is off duty. He just drinks alcohol and sits in his hotel room.

I have often reflected on what I would do if I received a large lump sum of money in moments of desire and longing. But what would I do? In the TV series ‘Lost’ the character Hugo inherits huge sums of money and he ultimately concludes he is more miserable with the money, as the people around him descend into conflict.

In the end this book left me with a mix of emotions. In reading this story I loved it for the writer’s skill with words. But at times I questioned the person who would create such a horrible fictional world, where human beings are treated like livestock. I’ve spent lots of moments in the last 2 days thinking about this book but the feeling I keep coming back to is awe at its brilliance.