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1.07k reviews for:
Krótka historia Stowarzyszenia Nieurodziwych Dziewuch i inne opowiadania
Helen Oyeyemi
3.76 AVERAGE
1.07k reviews for:
Krótka historia Stowarzyszenia Nieurodziwych Dziewuch i inne opowiadania
Helen Oyeyemi
3.76 AVERAGE
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Fantastic collection, every story was good and interesting. My favourites: a brief history of the homely wench society, is your blood red as this and "sorry" doesn't sweeten her tea. Still, as I said they're all great.
Even though this book is meant to be a collection of stories all set in the same universe, the types of magic felt inconsistent across tales and oftentimes the characters were difficult to keep track of. Several of the individual stories had their merits but their purpose felt buried under layers of excess—excess characters and details that made it difficult to draw the connections between them, in a way that was frustrating more than engaging.
I’m a sucker for prose and magical realism, and there certainly were some one-liners that made me think more than the stories as a whole (“Do you think that maybe we’re able to love someone best when that person doesn’t know how we feel?”, Presence), that buoyed this up from a 2 to a 3/5.
I’m a sucker for prose and magical realism, and there certainly were some one-liners that made me think more than the stories as a whole (“Do you think that maybe we’re able to love someone best when that person doesn’t know how we feel?”, Presence), that buoyed this up from a 2 to a 3/5.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I went into this really excited because I’ve really love Oyeyemi’s work in the past. I think her writing is impeccable and her plots are always weird and intriguing, but I did find myself feeling lost in some of the stories.
3.5/5 stars.
Weird, but also wonderful at the same time. Again, I always find it so hard to review short story collections because I often find myself only liking a few. I particularly liked the last story, "if a book is locked there's probably a good reason for that don't you think."
Weird, but also wonderful at the same time. Again, I always find it so hard to review short story collections because I often find myself only liking a few. I particularly liked the last story, "if a book is locked there's probably a good reason for that don't you think."
It's hard to find the right words to describe this collection of stories. Charmingly eerie? Eerily charming? Quirky & imaginative & simply perfect. A thread of keys & locks loosely connects the collection, as do characters who show up tangentially in stories other than their own. Helen Oyeyemi is the kind of writer that makes me want to be a writer: she's brilliantly talented in an accessible, inspiring, inviting kind of way.
“Books and Roses”, the first tale in Helen Oyeyemi’s short story collection What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, tells the story of Montserrat; a young black girl left at an Italian monastery at an early age with a mysterious key around her neck. It is a charming, discursive tale that loops through several stories (including a romance between two dashing female thieves) before finally reaching an ambiguous conclusion. And, as with all of Oyeyemi’s work, there is always an intriguing sense of uncertainty about what is real and what conclusions to draw about a story.
If you enjoy being left to puzzle away at a story, all the while knowing there aren’t any definite answers, then What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is the collection for you. Although this selection of stories is characterised by seemingly straight-talking, plain-dealing language, narrators, and protagonists they are also full of fantasy which cannot be confirmed or denied. And Oyeyemi's tales are prone to ending just as the reader begins to expect explanation. Familiar characters reappear in later stories in totally new guises. This collection delights in teasing its reader with uncertainty, and winding its way through multiple plots where only one seemed to be promised.
The stories are wide ranging in subject and style but at their heart feel like contemporary fairy tales without the easy morals. Even when they do contain moral lessons, for example in the second story " 'Sorry' Doesn’t Sweeten Her Tea", (which, among other things, looks at a celebrity’s public apology) they’re sharp, smart, and relevant. The narrator and his boyfriend, Noor, try to help their daughters after the internet backs up their favourite pop star when he assaults a woman but sometimes only witchcraft will do.
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is a gorgeous collection of linked fantasy stories about family, love, books, and society. I can't wait to see what Oyeyemi's mind conjures up next.
If you enjoy being left to puzzle away at a story, all the while knowing there aren’t any definite answers, then What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is the collection for you. Although this selection of stories is characterised by seemingly straight-talking, plain-dealing language, narrators, and protagonists they are also full of fantasy which cannot be confirmed or denied. And Oyeyemi's tales are prone to ending just as the reader begins to expect explanation. Familiar characters reappear in later stories in totally new guises. This collection delights in teasing its reader with uncertainty, and winding its way through multiple plots where only one seemed to be promised.
The stories are wide ranging in subject and style but at their heart feel like contemporary fairy tales without the easy morals. Even when they do contain moral lessons, for example in the second story " 'Sorry' Doesn’t Sweeten Her Tea", (which, among other things, looks at a celebrity’s public apology) they’re sharp, smart, and relevant. The narrator and his boyfriend, Noor, try to help their daughters after the internet backs up their favourite pop star when he assaults a woman but sometimes only witchcraft will do.
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is a gorgeous collection of linked fantasy stories about family, love, books, and society. I can't wait to see what Oyeyemi's mind conjures up next.
I really don’t know how to rate this book. Mostly the stories where just confusing, though there were also a few captivating ones. But the only one I really liked was presence.