If you've ever gotten a tattoo or piercing, you know that the Gods of Body Mod can be, shall we say, a little snotty. If you're not the "right" kind of client, you get icy treatment. I made the cut, as it were (I had 25 piercings by 1991, and back then, maaaan, that gave me The Cred), but I always hated hated hated that McOutlaw audition process you had to go through. "Are you a non-conformist just like us? Well, okay then! If not...hmph."

Griffin drips contempt for every deb, dude, novice, suburbanite, sorority girl, or otherwise non-hipster damaged person who crosses her path, and who crosses the threshold of the tat shop. Mix that with her hue and cry over the corruption of the West (oh GOD, that cliche again?) *and* the corruption of the sanctity of tattooing and you've got a great writer who you can't stand! Shame. She's got some real chops.

Only in the afterword does she a) pretty much confess that she herself is a whitebread exile in the McOutlaw world or b) show any thoughtfulness and generosity toward others regarding external markers and what they mean about identity (she finally realizes they don't mean much at all. welcome to adulthood, dollface.)

It's savagely ironic for someone who sells their tattoo skills to whine about the increasing popularity of tattooing. If you want to stay pure, stay out of the marketplace and stay in your tidy, kooler than thou bubble. It'll be lonely as hell, but at least you'll be assured that everyone around you meets your exacting alterna-snob standard.

Her use of language is fun and alive, but what she's choosing to communicate is petty and ugly and, frankly, about as tired as a tribal tat on the lower back.


A Great Read   October 14, 2003
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This book is fabulous.
Karol describes her life, her town, and her art with a passionate voice. She truly believes in what she did and whom she loved, and her genuine feeling pulls the reader in- I meant to read just a page or two before bed, and stayed up half the night to finish it.
Since I live in Laramie, Wyoming, I feel a special connection to her work and see how funny her honesty really is. Her description of a gay couple, tattooed ayymasterayy and ayyslaveayy and bedecked in full rodeo finery, as appearing to tourists to be the most authentic cowboys in town was particularly astute- I laughed out loud.
There is enough love, heartbreak, reality, art, and emotional depth here for several books, let alone just one. If you read it, you wonayyt be disappointed.


A great book even if you don't like tattoos   October 10, 2003
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This will not be one of those books that goes down in history as one of the great literary works but i thought it is a pretty good read covering the memoirs of the author who lives in laramie wyoming and works various jobs and eventually befriends the local tattoo artist and they develop along friendship which eventually leads to apprenticeship and eventually her own shop.

Along the way it also follows her relationships (failed)with different who fall into different catorgories of outlaws.She also follow how people come form big city america to places like laramie with fantasys of how the west should be and giving these reason why they move to these places only to make changes to make them like places they have left.This tyed with how people have done kind of the same thing with tattoos now being so main stream and in thing todo.

I thought the description of the tattooing process and the going through apprenticeship were very thourgh even for someone who has never been in a tattoo shop before.Thought it was really cool that she got her [body part] pierced at a shop in denver ....Give this book a try ieven if tattoos are not of real interest to you i think you'll like it


thumbs up   November 16, 2003
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

The last three people who posted reviews didn't bother to read the book first. At least I did my homework. I usually dont like nonfiction accounts of peoples lives but I found this to be a very interesting book. This writer seems sincere in her desire to tell her lifes story as a tattoo artist. It appears she got the bad end of the stick a time or two even though she brought a lot of it on herself. Though I can't figure out if this chick is for real or a poser, that doesn't really matter. The book was well written and she comes off as a person trying to make some sense of her nonconventional life, mistakes and all and she should be respected for her candidness.


Takes the myths of the West on faith   February 7, 2004
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Karol Griffin takes the myths of the West (and surrounding the outlaw image) on faith in Skin Deep as she encounters a body art workshop in Laramie Wyoming, only to find a new vocation on the fringes of polite society. Griffin's newfound career as a tattoo artist leads to plenty of social insights and commentary in this lively unusual, "reader engaging", and very highly recommended discourse.