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sararahjane's review
3.0
I absolutely love Helen Oyeyemi, and her writing is just as gorgeous and layered here as in Gingerbread and Boy, Snow, Bird. That said, I truly had no idea what was going on for 90% of the book and I might not have read the whole thing if I didn’t implicitly trust her as an author. Many of the lovely vignettes stuck with me as stand-alone stories, but this won’t be my fave of her books.
aleffert's review
5.0
Anything I said about this book would not really convey it. There are characters writing each other stories, only one of them is imaginary, and the characters themselves weave in and out of the stories and there is a lot of lust and death.
It is beautifully and disorienting, a whirlpool of a novel.
It is beautifully and disorienting, a whirlpool of a novel.
moorealexa's review against another edition
4.0
"She looked into his eyes - they were like a famine. Seeing them sent hurt and light through her. His eyes kept asking, asking, and she knew that a person could die trying to love him."
i have no idea what the fuck was going on but i had a really great time ! this was just a really whimsical and fun ride and Helen Oyeyemi's writing is amazing. the audiobook narrator was also super good and i feel like really made the story for me.
i have no idea what the fuck was going on but i had a really great time ! this was just a really whimsical and fun ride and Helen Oyeyemi's writing is amazing. the audiobook narrator was also super good and i feel like really made the story for me.
alaiyo0685's review
4.0
A strange but highly engrossing fantastical novel. Having just finished it, I have a bit of a "What did I just read?" sort of feeling, but in a good way.
dude_watchin_with_the_brontes's review against another edition
5.0
I would join a feminist magical realist book club dedicated entirely to Helen Oyeyemi.
calypsogilstrap's review
1.0
I am so thoroughly confused. I felt like this was very Naked Lunch, Mrs Dalloway, and On the Road ish in the writing style where character and reality are confusing and it was very difficult to read for it being late summer. I felt little literary value.
queenrat's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best novels I ever read, the content of which I did not even remotely understand. Oyeyemi has a way of making every sentence sound like it is the most profound, most important thing you have ever read in your life. It's the kind of novel you read bits of out loud to friends, family, strangers on the train, and whoever else you can get to listen. I found myself rereading passages over and over, in awe and complete confusion.
brie_zimmermann's review
3.0
- right off the bat man is acting like he owns his wife, like she’s one of his characters he can control, saying he “fixed her” to never complain
- mary seems like a force of nature and i love it; fox is probably intrigued because she can’t be controlled/he is not in control of what’s happening
- really interesting premise but the story itself is hard to follow, which i know is kind of the point but even 70% of the way through i still barely have an idea of what’s going on, what’s real and what’s just in fox’s head, who mary and fox each are in each of the stories, etc.
- almost more like a compilation of related short stories than a novel
- he’s chasing whichever women he doesn’t feel he has control over, switched bn mary and daphne based on how much control he feels he has
- it’s giving coriolanus
mildibobildi's review
1.0
oh boy, this is not for me. Disjointed and confusing are the two words that came to mind in describing this book.
I found the premise interesting; Mr. Fox is a writer who kills the women in his book. He's married to Mrs. Fox, but he's also in love with his muse, Ms. Foxe, who is not a real person. The book is written in short stories, with the narrative switching back and forth between the three characters. Unfortunately for me, I can't always figure out whose narrative it was, and even between what's real and what's the imagination of the characters.
I managed to get into the first few chapters. After that it got tiresome very quickly. I finished it, with effort, hoping it'll get better at the end, but I was disappointed.
I found the premise interesting; Mr. Fox is a writer who kills the women in his book. He's married to Mrs. Fox, but he's also in love with his muse, Ms. Foxe, who is not a real person. The book is written in short stories, with the narrative switching back and forth between the three characters. Unfortunately for me, I can't always figure out whose narrative it was, and even between what's real and what's the imagination of the characters.
I managed to get into the first few chapters. After that it got tiresome very quickly. I finished it, with effort, hoping it'll get better at the end, but I was disappointed.