Year 7, Book 51

51. The Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks
This story centers around a young man nicknamed The Kid, who was convicted of sex crime and upon his release from prison is being monitored via an ankle bracelet and is unable to live anywhere within 2500 feet of where children might gather leaving him to take up residence with other convicted sex offenders under a causeway. He is befriended by a sociology Professor who shows up at the encampment claiming to want to study it and its residents. After the encampment is swept away in a hurricane the Kid begins to rely on the Professor to him create a new life until dark secrets from the Professor’s own past begin to surface.

I enjoyed the beginning of this book with the intial story of the Kid and his life under the causeway. The book went off the rails for me though once it started focusing on the Professor and his bizarre secret past. It also felt way too long and started to really drag in the middle for me. I give it a 5 out of 10.