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cnorrick's review
3.5
It was weird which was fine, but I think too weird for me to get into the characters and how they changed over time.
jess_mango's review against another edition
3.0
This counts towards the Reading Women Challenge 2019 task #22: read a book based on its cover
This book. It was certainly a unique read. It was very confusing for me to follow at the beginning but got better as it went on. The writing is wonderful and magic. It as just that I sometimes found myself getting lost by the storyline.
The Lee women are known for their gingerbread. Their gingerbread weaves a thread through the occurrences in their lives.
There are fairy tale elements in this story that help add to the interesting narrative. Very magical realism.
This book. It was certainly a unique read. It was very confusing for me to follow at the beginning but got better as it went on. The writing is wonderful and magic. It as just that I sometimes found myself getting lost by the storyline.
The Lee women are known for their gingerbread. Their gingerbread weaves a thread through the occurrences in their lives.
There are fairy tale elements in this story that help add to the interesting narrative. Very magical realism.
greensmartie's review against another edition
3.0
3.5⭐️
This is a very hard to rate story...
I would call it a confusing maze that carries its dwellers through dark corners and rewards them with bits of magic and delightful tomfoolery along the way.
This is a very hard to rate story...
I would call it a confusing maze that carries its dwellers through dark corners and rewards them with bits of magic and delightful tomfoolery along the way.
huldra's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
a delightful, meandering fairytale, but the ending was unnecessary and made it end on a low note.
squirmosauruslex's review
I found the plot hard to follow and couldn’t devote enough attention to trying to figure out what was happening/who talk the characters were.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt
erintowner's review against another edition
3.0
This is a hard book to review.
I'm a huge fan of fractured fairytales so I'm the target audience for this type of story. Additionally, lately I've been trying to read fiction with female characters that are unlikeable in the way that many classic male characters are. I'm tired of reading about poor, misunderstood suffering white dude artists, but unlikeable characters are interesting to me so I'm seeking out literature with female protagonists that explore these same ideas. Boy oh boy are the characters in 'Gingerbread' unlikeable. I don't know how to feel about it. It's my opinion that Helen Oyeyemi writes them that way purposefully because she's drawing on old tales of the fey, who are dangerous and amoral--interesting enough, but it made a less enjoyable reading experience for me because spending time with characters who I like is important to me in a story.
This book doesn't really have a plot or ending. I kept having to reread certain passages because I could tell they were supposed to make the reader think, but I honestly couldn't figure out what I was supposed to be thinking. Is this good or bad? I honestly don't know. There are lots of art history and literary references scattered throughout the book which were fun to look up and learn about, but pausing to do the research also disrupted my reading flow, and this is a book that needs to be concentrated on and not picked up and put back down sporadically.
All that said, I didn't dislike this book. It's unusual. It feels a tad overwritten and the plot is underdeveloped so I likely won't recommend it to friends, but it made me think.
I'm a huge fan of fractured fairytales so I'm the target audience for this type of story. Additionally, lately I've been trying to read fiction with female characters that are unlikeable in the way that many classic male characters are. I'm tired of reading about poor, misunderstood suffering white dude artists, but unlikeable characters are interesting to me so I'm seeking out literature with female protagonists that explore these same ideas. Boy oh boy are the characters in 'Gingerbread' unlikeable. I don't know how to feel about it. It's my opinion that Helen Oyeyemi writes them that way purposefully because she's drawing on old tales of the fey, who are dangerous and amoral--interesting enough, but it made a less enjoyable reading experience for me because spending time with characters who I like is important to me in a story.
This book doesn't really have a plot or ending. I kept having to reread certain passages because I could tell they were supposed to make the reader think, but I honestly couldn't figure out what I was supposed to be thinking. Is this good or bad? I honestly don't know. There are lots of art history and literary references scattered throughout the book which were fun to look up and learn about, but pausing to do the research also disrupted my reading flow, and this is a book that needs to be concentrated on and not picked up and put back down sporadically.
All that said, I didn't dislike this book. It's unusual. It feels a tad overwritten and the plot is underdeveloped so I likely won't recommend it to friends, but it made me think.