Deerskin - Robin McKinley

            I think the goal of Deerskin was to provide an honest story of a young woman's survival and recovery and to engage the reader in Lissar's life, her struggles, and, eventually, her achievements. This story is full of emotion and strength. I found that I was drawn into Lissar's emotions, confusion and fear just as if I was a part of her mind throughout the book and that I grew with her. I think that McKinley succeeded in engaging the reader in different aspects of Lissar’s life. It was extremely easy to become engaged with Lissar and relate to her is because her character was so realistic. She was completely damaged from her father, and she doesn’t just recover all of a sudden like magic. It takes time for her to heal. Even in the end, she is not magically healed; she says that she is going to try to keep growing stronger. Another aspect that many people can relate to is her love for dogs. It makes a lot of dog lovers, such as myself, so attached to Lissar because of her dedication to Ash and her puppies.

This is an important book not just because it’s tackling a generally difficult subject and doing it well, but also because it takes the darkness that is at the heart of fairytales and doesn’t flinch away from dealing with it. Fairytales express universal truths, in a symbolic way. We all know these stories, Western culture and we have heard them since we were kids. Disney often beautifies them, but McKinley realizes that they’re more than that. They are darker and older and connect to deeper parts of people, just like we connect with Lissar on a deeper level.