Silk
by Caitlin R. Kiernan
List Price:
Our Price: $7.50
You Save: $6.50 (46%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.07 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Caitlin R. KiernanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-11-05
ISBN: 0451459008
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Roc Trade
Book Reviews of Silk
Book Review: before the world, there was a war in heaven ...
Summary: 5 Stars
In Silk, Kiernan does what she does best. She takes disenfranchised, marginalized "freaks" and throws them center stage in events that make you question perception, reality, and sanity. She introduces seemingly unrelated characters and slowly draws them together in what sems like a destined act of the Fates. But then again, maybe not. If only Nikki Ky, a wandering Vietnamese girl on the run from her conscious hadn't ran away from her problems at home, if only Spyder Baxter hadn't been so terrified and weaved truth and lies to keep her friends close, if only Daria Parker had never gotten involved with Keith Barry and Stiff Kitten. If ONLY, Keith hadn't decided to play the hero and run-off to rescue Spyder from homophobic thugs hassling her one cold, winter's night. If only they all hadn't decided to follow Nikki who decided to follow Spyder back to Spyder's house the next morning, so many things would have turned out differently. There is a sad elegance in the way that tragedy befalls the characters who have no idea what's coming their way or that they've fallen into a web from which there is no real escape. None of it is really their fault, except that somewhere along the way a decision was made that led them *here*.
Next thing you know ... flying monkeys. Although, Silk isn't as simple or as random or unexpected as all of that. Kiernan builds and layers until what happens in the end kinda has to happen. As events unfold and characters cross paths, a deep and terrible sense of foreboding rises to the surface and all you can do is wait to see how it all turns out.
The other thing that Kiernan does so well is to conflate fantasy and reality so that you're never sure what's real, what's the drugs or mental illness and what's the lie. All four play a part in setting the stage for the novel's tragic, surreal close. It's horrific to discover that maybe all of the creepy, disconcerting corner-of-the-eye mind tricks that permeate the novel are actually real and not just the hallucinations of a woman with a mental illness and her friends, unnerved by a bad trip on peyote. Watching the novel and the characters unravel was sad and deeply affecting. You feel for them as much as you sometimes despise them. Keith for his heroin addiction, Spyder for her needy, bitchy, controlling ways, and Daria for her self-destructive attachment to a man who loves the needle more than he loves her.
Be warned, however. If you're looking for an easy read, Kiernan is not the place to turn. She's challenging and you really have to pay attention. The devil's in the details, but even then, he might slip one past you, well aided by Kiernan's gorgeous nuance of writing as a craft.
Summary of Silk
They are the young misfits...society's castoffs...urban strays looking for a thrill. Something cheap, anything to get them through the night. Sleepwalking on caffeine, nicotine, and drugs, they wait out the dawn in death-rock clubs and shadowy back alleys...Then into their midst comes the enigmatic Spyder. A patron saint of the alienated and lost, she invites them into her mesmerizing world-but has she been sent to redeem them or destroy them?
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Caitlin Kiernan - A Sampler
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror (Mammoth Book of Best New Horror)Carroll & Graf Publishers; Published: 1999-11; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Vampires: Encounters With the UndeadBlack Dog & Leventhal Publishers; Published: 2001-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $27.84
Price in other shops:
Outsiders: 22 All-New Stories From the Edgeby Nancy Holder, Nancy Kilpatrick
Roc Trade; Published: 2005-10-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Love in Vein II : Eighteen More Tales of Vampiric EroticaEos; Published: 1998-02-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.96
Price in other shops:
Lies & Uglinessby Brian Hodge, John Picacio
Night Shade Books; Published: 2002-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.60
Price in other shops:
October Dreams:: A Celebration of Halloweenby Various
Roc Trade; Published: 2002-09-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.59
Price in other shops:
Best New Horror (Mammoth Book of Best New Horror)by Poppy Z. Brite, Christopher Fowler, Glen Hirshberg, Graham Joyce, Tanith Lee, Thomas Ligotti, Many Others
Running Press; Published: 2002-11-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.73
Price in other shops:
Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular CulturePalgrave Macmillan; Published: 2004-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.83
Price in other shops:
Superheroes!: Capes and Crusaders in Comics and Filmsby Roz Kaveney
I. B. Tauris; Published: 2008-03-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.00
Price in other shops:
The goth Bible: A Compendium for the Darkly Inclinedby Nancy Kilpatrick
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2004-10-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.97
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Scent of Shadows (Sign of the Zodiac, Book 1)by Vicki Pettersson
Eos; Published: 2007-03-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.25
Price in other shops:
Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2)by Ilona Andrews
Ace; Published: 2008-04-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.11
Price in other shops:
Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson, Book 2)by Patricia Briggs
Ace; Published: 2007-01-30; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.50
Price in other shops:
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1)by Ilona Andrews
Ace; Published: 2007-03-27; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.94
Price in other shops:
Tales of Pain and Wonderby Caitlin R. Kiernan
Meisha Merlin Publishing, Inc.; Published: 2002-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.22
Price in other shops:
Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, Book 3)by Patricia Briggs
Ace; Published: 2008-01-02; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.51
Price in other shops:
Daughter of Houndsby Caitlin R. Kiernan
Roc; Published: 2008-09-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.05
Price in other shops:
Murder of Angelsby Caitlin R. Kiernan
Published: 2004-08-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.60
Price in other shops:
Low Red Moonby Caitlin R. Kiernan
Published: 2003-11-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.20
Price in other shops:
Thresholdby Caitlin R. Kiernan
Roc; Published: 2007-01-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.93
Price in other shops: