Reviews

Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi

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I have a soft spot for Oyeyemi. While her best work is still her short fiction, Peaces is probably the most successful of her novels. This is largely because the conceit - travel aboard a train - adds an element of structure that her plotting often lacks when splayed out over the course of a longer narrative. What one would come to expect from Oyeyemi - elements of magical realism, playful uses of language, and surprising twists - abound here. And though the characters lack a certain depth and the movements within the plot are not always handled as deftly as one would like, the experience of this train-journey, scored by theremin music and lined with mysteries, is like a fever-dream. In rendering the reader in such a semi-conscious state, and walking them through the cars and characters involved, Oyeyemi succeeds with aplomb.

mattressy's review against another edition

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Whimsy

emilyfedewa's review

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2.75

this book is just deeply okay. I really wish I'd liked it more. I mean, mongooses (mongeese?) and magic trains and queer love - what's not to like? but I really felt like this book had absolutely no direction, and not in a purposeful way. the subject matter is supposed to be ambiguous, but I feel like we should have been able to follow the story at least a little bit.
I'm gonna rant abt some spoiler-ish stuff really quick:

the climax?? what the actual hell was that?? it just came out of nowhere I feel like. everything moved so fast for like ten pages and then it was over, compared to the slogging pace of the rest of the book. and wow I just really do not like ava at all. I don't understand who she was supposed to be. a mysterious benevolent magical figure? a wicked sorceress who has the power to unsee people out of existence but doesn't really know it yet? on that note, I feel like I didn't know any of the characters at ALL. even though we got plenty of backstory for all of them, I don't feel like any of it mattered all that much. like it mattered to the plot, but not to the characters' relationships to each other if that makes sense.

idk I guess bottom line is this book felt so disjointed, and not in the way it was supposed to feel disjointed and quirky and whimsical. I can't really put my finger on how I feel in an eloquent way right now I just know that I honestly didn't like it all that much.

alexisrt's review

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3.0

I've loved Oyeyemi's other work, but for some reason, things don't quite gel here. It feels like her quirks overwhelm the story. There is a plot--and in retrospect one that's more complex than it first appears--but all I could focus on was the telling. In some novels, that would be a good thing, but here she loads it on so that it almost suffocates the book.

juliagagne's review

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5.0

is it possible to be in a romantic relationship with someone’s writing style because after reading this i’d like to be. this book is gorgeous !!

thatwasmyfavorite's review against another edition

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3.75

This is one of those books that's excellent (and fun!) 90% of the way through, and then dies a sputtering, hopeless death. I actually backed the audiobook up, hoping I'd missed something. Nope. That's really the climax. (Ouch)

lolloreads00's review against another edition

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1.0

Otto and Zander embark on a very mysterious train ride that takes them places they could’ve never imagined. Curious and strange things keep happening as their trip continues. Who is a Ava Kapoor, the full time inhabitant of the train and what’s her relation to Prem? They start looking for clues that’ll hopefully explain who orchestrated this train ride and why.

This was the weirdest book I’ve ever read, also the worst book I’ve ever read. None of it made sense, I had to look up synopsis and read a bunch of reviews to get the gist of it even though I read the entire thing. It’s a fantasy novel so that might have something to do with it.

It was nominated for some type of literary award but personally I would not recommend it, like at all.