Touch

Touch is one of the most fascinating books I’ve read this year. The idea behind Touch is that there exist “ghosts” who survive by possessing people’s bodies and transferring from body to body by touch. The narrator is one such ghost, who was beaten to death in an alleyway… but right before death gripped the shoulder of the attacker and thus lived on, in a new body. A couple hundred years later, the narrator has negotiated a deal with a woman named Josephine. The narrator gets the use of Josephine’s body for three months, and she gets ten thousand euros and a new start on life. Only, before the three months are up, Josephine is assassinated by a shadowy organization bent on destroying all ghosts. Instead of running, the narrator decides to go looking for the truth and to seek vengeance for her death. The narrator of Touch prefers to slip entirely inside the lives of the host bodies, taking both their names and genders and trying to construct a story of the body’s life. The narrator is never given a continuing gender, and all information about the original body is concealed, except for manner of death. The narrator is also nameless, although the shadowy organization calls them “Kepler.” The narrator (hence referred to as “Kepler” for convenience’s sake) tries to insist that they don’t have a self – they are which ever body they inhabit. Yet over the course of the book, Kepler does seem to come closer to admitting the truth that they exist as an individual, distinct from any of the lives they’ve stolen. Something else I really love about Touch is the moral ambiguity and how Kepler is not a very good person. They are accused of being a parasite, and this claim is never really refuted. They are a parasite – their entire existence relies upon stealing time from other people, sometimes up to years at a time. Instead of denying it, Kepler will try to say that they are better than others of their kind, or point to people like Josephine, who’s body they inhabited willingly. There’s moments in Touch when you realize just how horrifying Kepler’s manner of existing is – imagine waking up with time from your live gone and with no idea of what someone else has been doing with your body. But given the narrator, you see the story entirely through Kepler’s point of view, in which they try to paint themself as sympathetic. They will constantly try to justify their actions, but really they will do about anything to survive. And can you blame them for wanting to keep living? The entire process is fascinating and makes me want to reread the book at some point in the future. Touch is also very fast paced and incredibly gripping. It is not a short book, but I was driven to finish it in under twenty-four hours. Not only does Touch have an intriguing premise and some complex themes about identity and morality, it is also genuinely fun to read. I highly recommend Touch. It’s interesting and thrilling and by far one of the best new releases of 2015. I am so glad that I read it.

I really enjoyed this book. I bought this immediately after reading the author's first novel, "The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August", which I absolutely loved. The premise is rock solid and very unique. The book takes place in our world with the addition of people who can become "ghosts" - they can transfer their consciousness from the body they're currently inhabiting to another by touching skin. The author does a fantastic job exploring every nuance of this premise through following the first person lens of a long lived ghost. She explores a huge range of Really Big Questions: What makes us human? What is beauty? What is love? What is the purpose of human life/existence? These are just a few that the author touches on. The characterizations are really wonderful throughout the novel. The protagonist (who we never really discover the name of) reveals more and more facets of its personality as the story goes on. I say "its" because we also never find out the original gender of the entity that is called Kepler, which itself is another question raised by the author - if you can effortlessly switch bodies and genders, does the original gender of a consciousness really matter after decades or centuries of life as both? The ultimate antagonist is chillingly rendered. In fact, there were a few scenes that I was really uncomfortable reading because of just how alien and terrible that one is rendered by the author, it was that well done. The overall plot was both simple and complex. Simple in that basically the protagonist has an attempt on her life at the start of the book, searches for the ultimate source of this attempt, and ultimately confronts it. Complex in that this narrative is peppered throughout with glimpses of the protagonist's past experiences, giving insights into both the nature of a "ghost" entity and Kepler's formation in particular. And also complex because, again, the author really explores the ramifications of an entity who can switch bodies so easily, and the daily life of a ghost is really very alien with just a few moments of commonality with our own lives. There are really just two reasons I don't give this one 5 stars. The first is that I had a hard time identifying with the protagonist, because unlike some of the other ghosts we meet in the novel, he/she/it never shows a core identity of consciousness that we can come to know as a character. Throughout the entire novel, almost every time someone calls it by "Kepler" it says "don't call me that". It always identifies itself as the name of whatever body it's currently inhabiting, completely subsuming any self identity by the identity of it's current host. I know this is intentional by the author, exploring another question: if you end up switching bodies hundreds and thousands of times over decades and centuries, what defines your self identity? Or put another way, how much of most people's sense of self is defined by their physical body vs. more intangible qualities? Or even more subtly, how much does our physical body influence our other intangible qualities? (e.g. if you tend to be naturally fit, does this lead to you being hard working, or is that independent?) But even though I know this is intentional, it left me really struggling to completely identify with the protagonist. Just the fact that I can't even give a real name to it (or gender) makes it tough. The second reason for just 4 stars is that the ending left me a little wanting. Without giving anything away, I just felt like the last few pages were a little anticlimactic after what was a really wonderfully done climax. Again I think this was intentional on the part of the author to further illustrate the life of a ghost, but it was really unsatisfying for me personally. Overall, a very solid second entry by an author who I think will become a major name in science fiction and literature in general.

The idea of living as someone else not vicariously but actually being them is an interesting idea. Borrowing their skins is not as simple as borrowing a rain coat. Becoming someone means knowing their histories. Borrowing a skin means keeping your personality and walking around as someone else. I suppose the book is more about the borrowing of skins rather than knowing someone’s history. I think I thoroughly enjoyed the book as science fiction novel but not as a crime novel. I found the writing a bit desperate at the end, and it seemed like the writer really had a tough time finishing it off. It feels like the author wanted to end her own pain. Its hard for most books to have a good ending, but this one left me very luke warm after a fiery beginning. A great book for Book Club.

Brilliant, imaginative, unusual! A wonderful and terrible monster deeply examined and presented. Claire North has again (after Harry August) proven her vision and originality, and her discipline in bringing such unusual characters to vivid life. The rhythm of her prose is marvellous. It was so good to sink into her writing again! Here, her immortal monster-parasite struggles between the fear of death and the cost to others of her life. So many aspects of life as such an entity are deeply examined by North. To be such a creature stealing moments or minutes from people's lives is to be a thief. To live as a monster stealing months or years is the most cruel of assaults, a kind of murder. Indeed, we see one victim whose entire adult life has been stolen for decades, leaving him a broken old man. Truly monstrous. North's careful examination and consideration of these issues is the very best aspect of this book. Wonderful! The pacing is very good and twists in the story are clever and satisfying. At only one point did I feel that a plot shortcut was pressed on the reader, but it was brief and only a bump in the road. The action sequences are wonderfully confusing, as the viewpoint switches at a maddening pace. Just as in Harry August, North again imagines an ancient daydream of human minds and brings it to vibrant, fascinating life!

I am distressed knowing that I don't have another Clair North novel to read (having started with what I thought was the peerless Fifteen Lives of Harry August. A novel that sets up an incredible fantasy in a way that reads as completely possible. I was struck the subtle observations on gender and the self and the fluidity and lightness of the author's touch. North sets up the ever changing switching inherent to the conceit of the book, that there are beings who can jump from one person to inhabit the body of the another person with a mere touch, with a thoroughness and completeness that boggles the mind. I can only imagine the headaches this must have given the editor and can only offer thanks for the result.

ゴーストの視点で書かれたこの本は読みやすく、風景も想像しやすい。 人に乗り移れるゴーストという設定は面白い。 和訳の接触を試し読みしたが本書を読んだ方がtouch やskin のイメージが伝わった。

Ihre Bücher sind einfach feeselnd und mitreißend! Auch dieses konnte ich wieder nicht aus der Hand legen. Daumen hoch und unbedingt lesen.

Another great book, a bit hard to follow at times as the main character changes their body quite a bit, but nevertheless another winner from the author Clair North!