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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Nope, nope, nope.
I was so confused. Maybe I need this to be made into a movie so I can understand/keep track of what's going on.
I was so confused. Maybe I need this to be made into a movie so I can understand/keep track of what's going on.
Enjoyed the reading experience but ultimately feel like I didn’t get it
Genre: Fiction/Magical Realism 3 Stars
Perhaps you need to be eating some of the Gingerbread to fully appreciate this story.
Hesitant to recommend.
Perhaps you need to be eating some of the Gingerbread to fully appreciate this story.
Hesitant to recommend.
I had such hopes for this book, but I was disappointed. After 70 pages, I still didn't care what happened.
I don't know if there was much realism in this magical realism book, and it had a bit of a slow beginning, but once it got into the narrative of Harriet's life, it sucked me in.
adventurous
challenging
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I had high hopes for this because I tend to enjoy magical realism and language and a bit of weirdness in a book. I wanted it to carry me away but Oyeyemi’s writing style made me have to concentrate more than I expected to stay with it and understand what was happening between the characters, what was the story in the story and who was related to who. There were moments that sparkled but other moments where I felt her descriptions were so roundabout as to be distracting and it took me out of the world she was building. I had a hard time remembering this was set in the present because of the fantastical elements of the settings and traditional aspects of the Harriet’s country of origin. It was easier when I imagined this as a work of quirky cinema with a narrator, only revealed at the very end. Bottom line, I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would. I have questions that another read would probably help with but I’m not a repeater by habit.
3.5 stars. This one challenged me. I struggled to follow the story at times, and found that I most enjoyed the book when I let go of trying to fully make sense of the narrative and just enjoyed the language. Oyeyemi's writing is so, so beautiful. If you're a fan of surrealist fiction, this would be one for you. There were lengths of time I felt like I was reading a fairytale or piece of folklore, then would become grounded hard in reality (for example, a character would text another). There was probably so much I did not pick up on and, honestly, I would be open to re-reading this again in the future to see what the experience would be like.