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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
I finished basically every story wondering what on earth I had just read. The writing was good, but the style (or maybe genre?not sure) just wasn't my cup of tea.
I'm not the biggest fan of short story collections, I should just put that out there. This was a book club choice and I probably wouldn't have chosen it off the shelf, I find that I loose interest and when I'm done, I never really know how to sum up a collection of short stories. Each one is so incredibly different, with no real overarching theme except maybe the idea the every one of us is hiding something - and each of us will need something particular to unlock it.
I like that they all had a foreign glaze (well, foreign to me as an American) - one seeped us in Spain, others in London, several in the Czech Republic and Prague in particular, some that clearly aren't HERE but aren't really anywhere we know either. Her writing is both beautiful and lush. I had to look up words I didn't know and when I did, my reading experience was richer for it. Her characters are sometimes so blah that they are intentionally impossible to understand and other times they are intriguing and full of life. Nearly every story has characters who are of color or LGBTQ without that being the point. I really liked how in so many instances there were characters that we would meet in one story that would pop up later, which just made the threads in my head race around trying to place people and events in some kind of context.
There are puppeteers. There are washerwomen and artists who possess keys to secret gardens. There are feminists and readers and peasant women, office workers and psychologists. The pages of this collection drip with magical realism, which I usually really like but was hit or miss here. Sometimes they were just too much of a stretch for me or they ended before I was invested enough to super care. Maybe her depth and the just-strange-enough-names of her characters made my brain work too hard for me to fully enjoy myself.
note: there is language and a few graphic scenes
I like that they all had a foreign glaze (well, foreign to me as an American) - one seeped us in Spain, others in London, several in the Czech Republic and Prague in particular, some that clearly aren't HERE but aren't really anywhere we know either. Her writing is both beautiful and lush. I had to look up words I didn't know and when I did, my reading experience was richer for it. Her characters are sometimes so blah that they are intentionally impossible to understand and other times they are intriguing and full of life. Nearly every story has characters who are of color or LGBTQ without that being the point. I really liked how in so many instances there were characters that we would meet in one story that would pop up later, which just made the threads in my head race around trying to place people and events in some kind of context.
There are puppeteers. There are washerwomen and artists who possess keys to secret gardens. There are feminists and readers and peasant women, office workers and psychologists. The pages of this collection drip with magical realism, which I usually really like but was hit or miss here. Sometimes they were just too much of a stretch for me or they ended before I was invested enough to super care. Maybe her depth and the just-strange-enough-names of her characters made my brain work too hard for me to fully enjoy myself.
note: there is language and a few graphic scenes
Unusual stories, keep you engaged but some turns and endings were not entirely clear.
Short stories collections are 99% sure to disappoint. I haven’t read one that was all pure delight. This one is no exception.
I DNF’d on ebook at 30%. This collection of short stories are character-driven and a bit all over the place. I read through 2 stories and the writing style was not for me.
Reasons I didn’t like it:
1) Somethjng about the writing feels off. It was descriptive but the descriptions didn’t help me figure out what was happening. Nothing pulled me in.
2) I didn’t love the characters. In the stories I read I found myself a bit bored with the characters. I think it was partially the style of writing but I didn’t love it.
3) I was confused. In both stories I was left at the end feeling like I had missed something. The plot jumps around a lot or it felt like too much was happening at once.
TW: dark thematic elements
Reasons I didn’t like it:
1) Somethjng about the writing feels off. It was descriptive but the descriptions didn’t help me figure out what was happening. Nothing pulled me in.
2) I didn’t love the characters. In the stories I read I found myself a bit bored with the characters. I think it was partially the style of writing but I didn’t love it.
3) I was confused. In both stories I was left at the end feeling like I had missed something. The plot jumps around a lot or it felt like too much was happening at once.
TW: dark thematic elements
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love Oyeyemi's style and imaginative ideas, which is why it is so disappointing to me that everything I've read by her has felt so unfinished. [b:White is for Witching|6277227|White is for Witching|Helen Oyeyemi|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328020246s/6277227.jpg|6460728] would have been 5 stars up until the second half, when it just lost...something. It's so confusing, because I can't exactly put my finger on what makes Oyeyemi's books so disjointed. I think some of this disjointedness must be on purpose, because she seems like such a talent, and that just leaves me confused. I feel sad that I can't seem to love her work and that makes me tempted to keep trying...
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A