Reviews

Juniper's Whitening / Victimese by Helen Oyeyemi

florisugent's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

longhairzuko's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced

4.0

I didn't understand it but I loved every minute of it. I think that confusion is part of the beauty. Oyeyemi's writing is a gift. 

Juniper's Whitening: 5 stars
Victimese: 3 stars

his_reidness's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

radioactve_piano's review against another edition

3.0

This is the only thing I've read by Oyeyemi that I haven't fell madly in love with. Perhaps it's because I love her prose, and something was lost in her plays? (I probably would have enjoyed both a lot more if I'd read them before I read her novels.)

frankenqueer's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

jskedjn's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

3.0

ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

“Don’t nursery rhymes drive you mad? They circle in such cruel patterns, over and over, and almost all of them sound eerie sung in the dark.” 
“I don’t know… even in the dark, I think nursery rhymes are kind of… safe. I mean, what happens when you don’t want tot think about something? You could start mumbling ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’, or you could drown in memories. Pretty simple choice, I think.” 
“Repeating ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ is no way to hang on to your sanity, Juniper.” 
— from “Juniper’s Whitening” 

 

TITLE—Juniper’s Whitening & Victimese 

AUTHOR—Helen Oyeyemi 

PUBLISHED—2005 

 

GENRE—drama 

SETTING—a room? in an undisclosed place?; a university dormroom 

MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—neurodivergency, mental illness, relationships, death, dark academia 

 

WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

BONUS ELEMENT/S—I loved the dark academia vibes of the second play. 

PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

 

“Yes, there’s a formula—you know what I’m talking about. I’d need to start speaking victimese to you; tell you about how much I’m hurting and how it all seems so hopeless—I’m supposed to honour you with the pretence that you can reach me, that you can actually make a difference to what’s happening in my head, and then when you have these ego-coins in your hand, you’ll lavish your help on me. Only it wouldn’t really be help at all. Besides, I can’t remember the victimese for ‘thank you’.” — from “Victimese” 

 

I’ll be honest and say that a) reading plays or drama is not really my thing, I have a hard time picking up on the metaphors and allegories etc. and b) these plays definitely went way over my head. 😅 I feel like I “got” some of what they were trying to say but definitely couldn’t like write an essay explaining it or anything. I would LOVE to see these plays performed though as I feel like then I’d probably see what I don’t see when reading just the scripts (I know, obviously, right? 😂) 

 

Anyway these plays still definitely had that Oyeyemi darkness and mysterious allure. The language was really poignant and the visual direction seemed SO powerful. I especially loved the creeping, claustrophobic feeling of the first play, and the tense desperation and dark academia vibes of the second one. I’ll definitely be giving these a reread this fall and hopefully more of what’s hidden will reveal itself to me then. ❤️ 

 

“Do you fear for your soul?” 
“Yes, because I have to keep snatching it back from somewhere.” 
— from “Juniper’s Whitening” 

 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 

 

TW // self harm, incest, child abuse  (Please feel free to message me privately to ask about specifics regarding any of these or other TWs in this book!) 

 

Further Reading— 

• everything else by Helen Oyeyemi especially White is for Witching, and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
• The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern
• Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo—TBR
• Oligarchy, by Scarlett Thomas—TBR

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Incest, and Child abuse

catdad77a45's review

1.0

.1, rounded up to 1.

I detested Oyeyemi's latest novel, [b:Gingerbread|40634915|Gingerbread|Helen Oyeyemi|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1549556368s/40634915.jpg|63138438], but was warily curious as to what she might be like as a playwright, since theatre is my forte. I should have realized she'd have not an ounce of talent there either, and been 'done in one'. These are not only terrible reading, neither of them are at all stage worthy (and indeed one seems to have only been staged once during Oyeyemi's college days, and the other never performed at all).

The first, 'Jupiter's Whitening' is just gibberish that makes no objective sense, not even on the simplest of levels. The second, 'Victimese' at least has a theme, but the characters, such as they are, are all one dimensional and their dialogue is not only unrealistic but ... painful. A total waste of time, even though it only took a little over an hour to read both.