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bufally47 's review for:
What is Not Yours is Not Yours
by Helen Oyeyemi
--Thoughts when I was two stories in: The stories are intensely engaging, but so far both have had 2-3 distinct storylines that only mesh tangentially and the secondary storyline is left abandoned, without resolution. I appreciate that this is supposed to be a reflection of real life in which not everything is resolved, but A) it’s a repeated technique (which may be evident in a SS collection but of course not a novel), and B) even the primary story didn’t have a totally satisfactory resolution that might in some way excuse the lack of resolution for the second story line (ok in the Maytas Fuk storyline I did like the ending, but in the first story the ending left me wanting).
--Thoughts upon finishing: I intend to read more Oyeyemi because both her writing and storylines are eerie, off-kilter, disturbing, yet full of subtle truths. I suppose they could be called magical realism, but the unearthliness is mostly present in the tone; not that much happens that’s actually physically impossible. I’m torn because I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the story “is your blood as red as this?” but I’m deeply in love with the story “presence.” The latter reminds me of a short story I started myself a few years ago, which I’ll now have to sweep under the rug because “presence” was so much more beautifully complex and haunting. The former just seemed gimmicky with the puppets, and showed Oyeyemi at her worst: weird for the sake of weird. Overall, though, I liked this collection quite a bit and I’m curious to see how the author operates in the space of a novel.
--Thoughts upon finishing: I intend to read more Oyeyemi because both her writing and storylines are eerie, off-kilter, disturbing, yet full of subtle truths. I suppose they could be called magical realism, but the unearthliness is mostly present in the tone; not that much happens that’s actually physically impossible. I’m torn because I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the story “is your blood as red as this?” but I’m deeply in love with the story “presence.” The latter reminds me of a short story I started myself a few years ago, which I’ll now have to sweep under the rug because “presence” was so much more beautifully complex and haunting. The former just seemed gimmicky with the puppets, and showed Oyeyemi at her worst: weird for the sake of weird. Overall, though, I liked this collection quite a bit and I’m curious to see how the author operates in the space of a novel.