Reviews

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

mackenziencheez's review

3.0

2.5 Doesn't strike the balance of exposition/dialogue--especially in part one. It was difficult for me to feel invested and to keep reading. Also, the ending didn't feel like an ending. It felt incomplete.

knittingtipsy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

chandramukhi's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A beautiful, emotional, and sometimes unnerving tale dripping in fantasy. 

skmiles's review

3.0

Oyeyemi's writing is, as always, breathtaking. Much like Carmen Maria Machado, Oyeyemi makes creative use of a combination of magical realism and soft horror that makes you a bit uneasy while also desperately wanting to learn more.
Set up to delve into an complex theme of race relations and motherhood, the book takes a bit of a left turn towards the end that left me unsatisfied.

omgitsmandy's review

4.0

Giving four stars because the ending wasn't particularly my favorite, I liked it, but didn't love it. Anyways, great book that deals with some really deep topics in a way where it doesn't necessarily directly acknowledge it. I don't know if that makes sense because it's not exactly right, but it's the best I can describe it. I really liked the way it talked about perspective especially with how you looked at people, and even oneself. It goes into reflections and the way we view other people from the outside, and then differently once on the inside. Would recommend to almost anyone, I think it's a very enjoyable read that deals with things that are good to bring to attention. I also feel that the story in general is just nice and very well rounded.

petrathepoet's review

3.0

Started really strong and I was all ready to go out and buy a copy after finishing the one I borrowed from the library. And the ending just...sucked out all the joy I got from the delightfully weird beginning.

Spoiler

I contemplated two stars because I think the ending was a deplorable treatment of transness, but ultimately gave it three because of how much I enjoyed 90% of it. I loved it until the last two chapters. Without those chapters, I would have given it five stars.

vegantrav's review

4.0

Having very much enjoyed Helen Oyeyemi's Mr. Fox, I was excited to read Boy, Snow, Bird. All I knew about the book going in was that it is supposed to be a modern adaptation of the Snow White story. It is not. There is a stepmother in the story, and she is, undoubtedly, a bad stepmother, but she really doesn't rise to the heights of evil to merit the wicked stepmother moniker. There is nothing else remotely Snow-White-ish about this story.

More than anything, Boy, Snow, Bird is a family drama, and to say too much more about the plot would spoil it. But I can say that this is a tale about mothers and daughters, about sisters, about in-laws, and about intra-family conflict. And it's a fascinating tale, very well told.

There are two big twists in this novel, one that occurs about a third of the way through, and the other that comes at the end, and both make the reader look back at what has passed previously in an entirely different light. Now, some people hate major plot twists or unexpected revelations, and some authors wield them rather bluntly and to poor effect, but Oyeyemi deftly weaves these elements into the story with such brilliant narrative logic that these twists aren't simply thrust upon the reader for their shock value: they very much contribute to the overall development of the story and give the story a degree of emotional weight that it otherwise would not have.

The ending will probably disappoint some readers. I know it disappointed me because I felt that the story simply ended two or three chapters too early. There was one major plot element that I would really have liked to see addressed.

Spoiler

I very much would have liked to see Boy's reunion with her mother/father, Frances/Frank, in New York, but we are left with Boy, Arturo, Mia, Snow, and Bird on the way to New York and never get to see the reunion.

Had the ending been more satisfying, I would have rated this 5 stars instead of 4. Still, I loved this book, and I was delighted with Oyeyemi's prose: she is a natural writer whose prose flows effortlessly and gorgeously. It's simply a delight to read Oyeyemi's words on the page, especially in comparison to much of the dreck that one encounters in contemporary fiction.

Final thought: an English literature major could probably write an entire thesis on the significance and symbolism of the names and themes in this book. Boy, Snow, Bird is gold mine for anyone who loves to exegete and analyze great literature.

jamielea86's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

migema's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

tjmgibson's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0