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A review by youreadtoomuch
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi
5.0
This book was just the right amount of everything. I was hooked and thrown out just when I wanted more but it forced me to close that door and move on. I wish there were a way to bottle the beauty that is this book, and carry it with me, be reminded to leave my mind, body and heart. It's just that good.
Summary:
1. books and roses: Monste was left as a baby with a key around her neck and a note asking her to "wait for me." When working at a laundry house, she meets Senora Lucy who also carries a key around her neck and is also waiting for someone. Years ago, Lucy met Safiye, both scammers. They fell in love and Safiye left to work as a lady's maid. One day, Lucy receives the key to a garden and Safiye is sought for a murder and other crimes. Lucy is waiting for her to return. An advertisement runs looking for her, Montserrat, with a key around her neck who can open a library she will inherit. In the library she finds a letter her mother wrote detailing the man that lived behind the library and his secret garden. Montse walks into the garden and finds Lucy.
2. "sorry" doesn't sweeten her tea: Anton is in charge of looking after his best friend Ched's house where shadows hide behind doors left open and doors need to be locked to remain closed. Anton's boyfriends daughter, Aisha, is a loyal fan to Matyas Faust. When an interview is given from a woman who had sex with Matyas and was then physically assaulted by him, Aisha is unsure of what is the truth and her sister Dayang attempts to soothe her. When Matyas' team does not seek legal action against what could be a false claim, Aisha is sure he is guilty. Instead of issuing a normal apology, Matyas writes a song that is selfish. With the help of Anton's coworker Tyche, Aisha summons Hecate to go after Matyas. Matyas continues to issue different apologies in the forms of interviews and videos and confesses he is haunted by 3 women matching the description of Hecate and they say his apologies are not enough. Aisha ends the story with her thinking that Matyas may be getting there.
3. is your blood redder than this: Radha is in love with Myrna, a puppeteer. Myrna's school is allowing her and another person, Gustav, to choose two new students. To get closer to her, Radha auditions but she does exactly what Myrna dislikes in Gustav and Myrna chooses Tyche instead. Gustav chooses Radha and the two get closer while Myrna continues to avoid her. Radha's puppet, handed to her by someone after hers breaks, is given a voice by Radha. She sees how Radha won't give up on Myrna and meets Rowan, Myrna's puppet, neither he or she but mostly tree. Rowan shares that Myrna has a gift, she can physically relieve others' pain. This is why she doesn't touch people but she is on a quest to see if she can relieve pain without touching others except in order to do so she is hurting them first. It is assumed that Rowan endangers Gustav during a performance and Myrna goes to help but when Gustav comes to he calls for Radha and the two embrace and Myrna is hurt.
4. drownings: Arkady is poor and is taking care of Giacomo and a dog. He is planning to kidnap the state's tyrant's daughter. He used to work for the tyrant's physician, Lokum, but to protect him Lokum fires him. The tyrant is jealous of anybody who may become affectionate with Lokum and drowns them. The tyrant drowns anybody for anything. One day, Arkady is jailed for setting fire to their old apartment building whose rooms all have the same locks. Many died and there is no way to prove him innocent. The tyrant visits Arkady because he recognizes someone as sinister as himself since it's believed Arkady killed and then went home to sleep like nothing happened. Lokum finally agrees to marry the tyrant and sends his daughter, Eirini the fair, and her mother away and comvinces the tyrant to stop the drownings. When Erini leaves she takes a key from her father, the key to Arkady's cell. Displeased with the way Lokum wanted Arkady to live, the tyrant sets her on fire but she cannot burn and she lights him on fire where he dies since the rivers with all the drowned spit him out. Lokum then finds Eirini and gets the key to free Arkady.
5. presence: Jill is concerned her third husband and childhood best friend, Jacob, wants a divorce. She's worrying for nothing. All he wants is to product-test an experience his patients are experiencing: feeling the presence of lost ones. The two retire to separate homes, one an apartment they rent to tenants Radha and her girlfriend, Myrna. Jill and Jacob record conversations they will listen to in the next two weeks. In the apartment, Jill is struck by all the clocks stuck at twelve-thirty. She leaves and returns to her door unlocked. Jacob is there but he doesn't have a shadow or smell like him so she asks him to leave. He does but not without saying he won't return if she is sure. Again at twelve-thirty, she meets a 12 year old in her kitchen. He's the son they never had, haven't had. She sees him grow up before her eyes but it's not real. She asks him to leave and he repeats the words Jacob had said. She returns to Jacob at their other home and they agree they cannot let this project be given to the public.
6. a brief history of the homely wench society: Dayang gets a letter to join her school's Homely Wench Society created in an effort to ridicule the Bettencourt Society of males that ran a list of women they deemed unattractive or homely wenches over 60 years ago. She joins but has feelings for a Bettencourter, Hercules. One of the Homely Wenches gains the security code to the Bettencourters HQ and they sneak in and swap books written by men with their own books written by women. Hercules mentions one of the books they swapped and says he really enjoys it. He says the Bettencourters aren't the same dicks from back then and the Homely Wenches and them could get along. During a Homely Wench meeting, a group of Bettencourters arrives with snacks and waving a white flag.
7. dornicka and the st. martin's goose Dornicka wears a red cape into the woods where she finds the "wolf" that inspired the big bad wolf of many stories. He is waiting for someone younger to pass so he can eat them. Dornicka cannot allow this and agrees to bring the "wolf" something full of life but to wait for her and not eat anyone until then. The "wolf" agrees but not without punching her on her left hip where a horrible, painless lump grows. Dornicka cuts the lump off and buries it outside. When her god-daughter and her daughter, Klaudie, stay with her, Klaudie begins to smell something but it's not anything they can identify. Klaudie is drawn to the tree where Dornicka buried the lump. When they choose their goose for the upcoming holiday, the goose begins to peck at where the lump is buried. Dornicka decides to unbury it and places it in a locked chest in her room but Klaudie keeps going to it but cannot get the lump. Finally, Dornicka feeds the lump to the goose and orders a child's sized red cape. She leaves the gate to the goose open and the goose wakes Dornicka at night wearing the cape and she thanks the goose and drives it into the woods.
8. freddy barrandov checks . . . in?: Freddy is pushed by his mother to become his dad's apprentice as the do-it-all handyman for the hotel his parents manage. He doesn't want to and besides, his sister is better at that kind of stuff. The hotel is known for producing whatever the guests require and is assumed to house more than living guests. At the hotel he meets his presumed dead godfather, Jean-Claude. He asks Freddy to help him save his son Chedorlaomer "Ched" from his girlfriend Tyche Shaw as she is the sort of person Ched should not be with. Freddy's girlfriend Aisha wrote and directed a film the two, Ched and Tyche, starred in. Jean-Claude will pay Freddy to break them up. He attempts to do so by inciting an orgy of sorts but it does not work and then staging that the two are related by falsifying DNA records.
9. if a book is locked there's probably a good reason for that don't you think: Eva is her new colleague. Eva is beautiful and glamorous and doesn't interact with many at work thoughthey try. People begin to think Eva' stuck up and despise her for everything that makes her Eva. She just watches Eva. One day a woman arrives crying with a child, accusing Eva of sleeping with her husband. In the turmoil, Eva drops a locked diary. Coworkers begin to get mean towards Eva. Eva begins to eat lunch with her and the two become friends. One day, she finally asks about the diary. Eva wrote in it for three years of her life when she turned thirteen inspired by Anne Frank. Someone at work steals Eva's diary and Eva is upset. An anonymous note appears saying they'll give the diary back if Eva quits. Eva does so and the diary appears by the water cooler. She decides to return it to Eva but finding her address proves difficult. She manages to unlock the diary and finds an address though she doesn't read anything in the diary. She arrives at the address and a man says Eva doesn't live there but has seen Eva on the roof. She finds Eva on the roof of the building over and returns the diary assuring Eva she didn't read it. To which Eva says, "So you still think that's why I locked it?"
Summary:
Spoiler
1. books and roses: Monste was left as a baby with a key around her neck and a note asking her to "wait for me." When working at a laundry house, she meets Senora Lucy who also carries a key around her neck and is also waiting for someone. Years ago, Lucy met Safiye, both scammers. They fell in love and Safiye left to work as a lady's maid. One day, Lucy receives the key to a garden and Safiye is sought for a murder and other crimes. Lucy is waiting for her to return. An advertisement runs looking for her, Montserrat, with a key around her neck who can open a library she will inherit. In the library she finds a letter her mother wrote detailing the man that lived behind the library and his secret garden. Montse walks into the garden and finds Lucy.
2. "sorry" doesn't sweeten her tea: Anton is in charge of looking after his best friend Ched's house where shadows hide behind doors left open and doors need to be locked to remain closed. Anton's boyfriends daughter, Aisha, is a loyal fan to Matyas Faust. When an interview is given from a woman who had sex with Matyas and was then physically assaulted by him, Aisha is unsure of what is the truth and her sister Dayang attempts to soothe her. When Matyas' team does not seek legal action against what could be a false claim, Aisha is sure he is guilty. Instead of issuing a normal apology, Matyas writes a song that is selfish. With the help of Anton's coworker Tyche, Aisha summons Hecate to go after Matyas. Matyas continues to issue different apologies in the forms of interviews and videos and confesses he is haunted by 3 women matching the description of Hecate and they say his apologies are not enough. Aisha ends the story with her thinking that Matyas may be getting there.
3. is your blood redder than this: Radha is in love with Myrna, a puppeteer. Myrna's school is allowing her and another person, Gustav, to choose two new students. To get closer to her, Radha auditions but she does exactly what Myrna dislikes in Gustav and Myrna chooses Tyche instead. Gustav chooses Radha and the two get closer while Myrna continues to avoid her. Radha's puppet, handed to her by someone after hers breaks, is given a voice by Radha. She sees how Radha won't give up on Myrna and meets Rowan, Myrna's puppet, neither he or she but mostly tree. Rowan shares that Myrna has a gift, she can physically relieve others' pain. This is why she doesn't touch people but she is on a quest to see if she can relieve pain without touching others except in order to do so she is hurting them first. It is assumed that Rowan endangers Gustav during a performance and Myrna goes to help but when Gustav comes to he calls for Radha and the two embrace and Myrna is hurt.
4. drownings: Arkady is poor and is taking care of Giacomo and a dog. He is planning to kidnap the state's tyrant's daughter. He used to work for the tyrant's physician, Lokum, but to protect him Lokum fires him. The tyrant is jealous of anybody who may become affectionate with Lokum and drowns them. The tyrant drowns anybody for anything. One day, Arkady is jailed for setting fire to their old apartment building whose rooms all have the same locks. Many died and there is no way to prove him innocent. The tyrant visits Arkady because he recognizes someone as sinister as himself since it's believed Arkady killed and then went home to sleep like nothing happened. Lokum finally agrees to marry the tyrant and sends his daughter, Eirini the fair, and her mother away and comvinces the tyrant to stop the drownings. When Erini leaves she takes a key from her father, the key to Arkady's cell. Displeased with the way Lokum wanted Arkady to live, the tyrant sets her on fire but she cannot burn and she lights him on fire where he dies since the rivers with all the drowned spit him out. Lokum then finds Eirini and gets the key to free Arkady.
5. presence: Jill is concerned her third husband and childhood best friend, Jacob, wants a divorce. She's worrying for nothing. All he wants is to product-test an experience his patients are experiencing: feeling the presence of lost ones. The two retire to separate homes, one an apartment they rent to tenants Radha and her girlfriend, Myrna. Jill and Jacob record conversations they will listen to in the next two weeks. In the apartment, Jill is struck by all the clocks stuck at twelve-thirty. She leaves and returns to her door unlocked. Jacob is there but he doesn't have a shadow or smell like him so she asks him to leave. He does but not without saying he won't return if she is sure. Again at twelve-thirty, she meets a 12 year old in her kitchen. He's the son they never had, haven't had. She sees him grow up before her eyes but it's not real. She asks him to leave and he repeats the words Jacob had said. She returns to Jacob at their other home and they agree they cannot let this project be given to the public.
6. a brief history of the homely wench society: Dayang gets a letter to join her school's Homely Wench Society created in an effort to ridicule the Bettencourt Society of males that ran a list of women they deemed unattractive or homely wenches over 60 years ago. She joins but has feelings for a Bettencourter, Hercules. One of the Homely Wenches gains the security code to the Bettencourters HQ and they sneak in and swap books written by men with their own books written by women. Hercules mentions one of the books they swapped and says he really enjoys it. He says the Bettencourters aren't the same dicks from back then and the Homely Wenches and them could get along. During a Homely Wench meeting, a group of Bettencourters arrives with snacks and waving a white flag.
7. dornicka and the st. martin's goose Dornicka wears a red cape into the woods where she finds the "wolf" that inspired the big bad wolf of many stories. He is waiting for someone younger to pass so he can eat them. Dornicka cannot allow this and agrees to bring the "wolf" something full of life but to wait for her and not eat anyone until then. The "wolf" agrees but not without punching her on her left hip where a horrible, painless lump grows. Dornicka cuts the lump off and buries it outside. When her god-daughter and her daughter, Klaudie, stay with her, Klaudie begins to smell something but it's not anything they can identify. Klaudie is drawn to the tree where Dornicka buried the lump. When they choose their goose for the upcoming holiday, the goose begins to peck at where the lump is buried. Dornicka decides to unbury it and places it in a locked chest in her room but Klaudie keeps going to it but cannot get the lump. Finally, Dornicka feeds the lump to the goose and orders a child's sized red cape. She leaves the gate to the goose open and the goose wakes Dornicka at night wearing the cape and she thanks the goose and drives it into the woods.
8. freddy barrandov checks . . . in?: Freddy is pushed by his mother to become his dad's apprentice as the do-it-all handyman for the hotel his parents manage. He doesn't want to and besides, his sister is better at that kind of stuff. The hotel is known for producing whatever the guests require and is assumed to house more than living guests. At the hotel he meets his presumed dead godfather, Jean-Claude. He asks Freddy to help him save his son Chedorlaomer "Ched" from his girlfriend Tyche Shaw as she is the sort of person Ched should not be with. Freddy's girlfriend Aisha wrote and directed a film the two, Ched and Tyche, starred in. Jean-Claude will pay Freddy to break them up. He attempts to do so by inciting an orgy of sorts but it does not work and then staging that the two are related by falsifying DNA records.
9. if a book is locked there's probably a good reason for that don't you think: Eva is her new colleague. Eva is beautiful and glamorous and doesn't interact with many at work thoughthey try. People begin to think Eva' stuck up and despise her for everything that makes her Eva. She just watches Eva. One day a woman arrives crying with a child, accusing Eva of sleeping with her husband. In the turmoil, Eva drops a locked diary. Coworkers begin to get mean towards Eva. Eva begins to eat lunch with her and the two become friends. One day, she finally asks about the diary. Eva wrote in it for three years of her life when she turned thirteen inspired by Anne Frank. Someone at work steals Eva's diary and Eva is upset. An anonymous note appears saying they'll give the diary back if Eva quits. Eva does so and the diary appears by the water cooler. She decides to return it to Eva but finding her address proves difficult. She manages to unlock the diary and finds an address though she doesn't read anything in the diary. She arrives at the address and a man says Eva doesn't live there but has seen Eva on the roof. She finds Eva on the roof of the building over and returns the diary assuring Eva she didn't read it. To which Eva says, "So you still think that's why I locked it?"