Kathryn Barker's In The Skin Of A Monster
What is it like to walk in a land of dreams?
“In the Skin of a Monster” is a fiction adventure novel written by Kathryn barker. I loved this book it’s one of the most original and interesting novels i’ve read for a while. It’s so brilliantly written and has so many plot twists, it throws you into a world of imagination and dreams, although the beginning was confusing and the blurb for the book was misleading. The transition between reality and this dream world isn't all that clear, if there is any at all. but it quickly drew me in. As I read more I became interested in how vivid the characters where, I found it hard to put the book down.
Although the text was confusing, it all started to come together when I found out that Kell was a dream version of Alice. Alice always thought that Kell was a dream version of her sister, because she was so mean and vicious, but when Jude told her about the dream that created them she realised that she was capable of being a monster just like her sister. “There couldn’t be much doubt about how similar we were now, could there? Turns out I was definitely capable of being like you given the …show more content…
right circumstances, or the wrong ones. Hell, not even I had been able to tell the difference between a version of you and a version of myself.”
The story was written kind of like a diary to her sister.
Although the style that the novel was weird I can see why Kathryn Barker chose to write the story in this way. It makes a lot of sense to do so once you get what the story is about. But most of all, it makes the story so unique and original. It shakes things up a little bit and moves away from the more traditional stories. I finally understood that her sister was suffering and haunted by her dreams this quote explains this “What was your last feeling before you pulled the trigger? Were you pleased or horrified? Did you feel like a monster? Was pain the last thing you felt in life? And if so, how long had it been going for?” This particular example showed me that in the end she wasn’t as evil as everyone thought. This realization really helped me to understand and enjoy the novel
more.
I found this book hard to relate to, but that’s why I found it so different and refreshing it kept me turning the pages. Three years ago Alice's identical twin sister took a gun to school and kills 7 students in a shooting spree. “Is that what it felt like for you when you put the gun into your mouth? When you turned it on yourself after killing the others? When you bought the death toll up to eight, not that your death ever counted?” Since then Alice has had to deal with the fact that every time someone looks at her they see her sister. “Chances were, whoever it was, I knew them. Chances were I’d played netball in their team, or babysat their kids or skated on their driveway. They wouldn’t know me, though. I’d just be a version of you to them now.” I found this sad because people judge her for her appearance and didn’t even try to understand that’s she’s a victim in this just like they were. It made me think about how people can so easily judge you by your appearance and not your personality. For 3 years Alice has been dealing with the fear that she will become her sister. This is where the book starts. I thought that the book would be interesting enough with just that but no, Kathryn Barker throws her into a dreamscape where she has to face the things she fears most.
By Sian Davis
“In the Skin of a Monster” is a fiction adventure novel written by Kathryn barker. I loved this book it’s one of the most original and interesting novels i’ve read for a while. It’s so brilliantly written and has so many plot twists, it throws you into a world of imagination and dreams, although the beginning was confusing and the blurb for the book was misleading. The transition between reality and this dream world isn't all that clear, if there is any at all. but it quickly drew me in. As I read more I became interested in how vivid the characters where, I found it hard to put the book down.
Although the text was confusing, it all started to come together when I found out that Kell was a dream version of Alice. Alice always thought that Kell was a dream version of her sister, because she was so mean and vicious, but when Jude told her about the dream that created them she realised that she was capable of being a monster just like her sister. “There couldn’t be much doubt about how similar we were now, could there? Turns out I was definitely capable of being like you given the …show more content…
right circumstances, or the wrong ones. Hell, not even I had been able to tell the difference between a version of you and a version of myself.”
The story was written kind of like a diary to her sister.
Although the style that the novel was weird I can see why Kathryn Barker chose to write the story in this way. It makes a lot of sense to do so once you get what the story is about. But most of all, it makes the story so unique and original. It shakes things up a little bit and moves away from the more traditional stories. I finally understood that her sister was suffering and haunted by her dreams this quote explains this “What was your last feeling before you pulled the trigger? Were you pleased or horrified? Did you feel like a monster? Was pain the last thing you felt in life? And if so, how long had it been going for?” This particular example showed me that in the end she wasn’t as evil as everyone thought. This realization really helped me to understand and enjoy the novel
more.
I found this book hard to relate to, but that’s why I found it so different and refreshing it kept me turning the pages. Three years ago Alice's identical twin sister took a gun to school and kills 7 students in a shooting spree. “Is that what it felt like for you when you put the gun into your mouth? When you turned it on yourself after killing the others? When you bought the death toll up to eight, not that your death ever counted?” Since then Alice has had to deal with the fact that every time someone looks at her they see her sister. “Chances were, whoever it was, I knew them. Chances were I’d played netball in their team, or babysat their kids or skated on their driveway. They wouldn’t know me, though. I’d just be a version of you to them now.” I found this sad because people judge her for her appearance and didn’t even try to understand that’s she’s a victim in this just like they were. It made me think about how people can so easily judge you by your appearance and not your personality. For 3 years Alice has been dealing with the fear that she will become her sister. This is where the book starts. I thought that the book would be interesting enough with just that but no, Kathryn Barker throws her into a dreamscape where she has to face the things she fears most.
By Sian Davis