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lanidacey 's review for:
Gingerbread
by Helen Oyeyemi
Off the bat, I want to say that I really enjoy the surreal, quirky and often times funny tone of Oyeyemi's writing. This book feels like an Afro-British take on Welcome to Night Vale: the strange nation of Druhástrana that appears on no maps, the mischievous (murderous?) Gretel who can change form and never age, the judge-y talking dolls. I dig this universe and the surreal happenings that make up life in it.
However, the story itself left me wanting. The meat of it takes place after Perdita, a teenage girl with Celiac disease, eats a near fatal dose of her mother's special gingerbread. While on the mend, she asks her mother, Harriet, about her childhood in her unheard-of-nation and what it has to do with the numerous batches of gingerbread she bakes up. You see, Harriet makes A LOT of the stuff, giving it away to friends, family and her unsuspecting members of her PTA.
Harriet's story is where things begin lag. We listen as she describes leaving the family home for a job as what can only be described as "a geisha but with just a bunch of gingerbread." It's here she becomes closer to Gretel and learns more of the world outside of Druhástrana. She soon moves in with a family — known as the Kerchevals — and gets entangled with their complex paternal/fraternal/spousal drama.
Life with the Kerchevals is the book's low point for me and where I was tempted to quit. There are so many different members of the family and Oyeyemi overloads us with ultimately unnecessary details about each of them. The Kerchevals are important to the ending and overall theme of the book, but we don't need to be told as much about them as we are.
The ending is sweet and would be more satisfying if I weren't so tired of reading about all the Kerchevals' issues in the previous chapters. The themes of family and friendship are especially strong in the ending, so me being me loved it. Had that middle section of the book been a bit tighter, this would easily be a four- or five-star read.
If you've enjoyed her previous work, you'll probably enjoy this one, too. At this point, I don't know if can I recommend this for those who are new to her work; I'm new to it myself. I'm definitely going to check out more, though, because I enjoy really did love her style.
However, the story itself left me wanting. The meat of it takes place after Perdita, a teenage girl with Celiac disease, eats a near fatal dose of her mother's special gingerbread. While on the mend, she asks her mother, Harriet, about her childhood in her unheard-of-nation and what it has to do with the numerous batches of gingerbread she bakes up. You see, Harriet makes A LOT of the stuff, giving it away to friends, family and her unsuspecting members of her PTA.
Harriet's story is where things begin lag. We listen as she describes leaving the family home for a job as what can only be described as "a geisha but with just a bunch of gingerbread." It's here she becomes closer to Gretel and learns more of the world outside of Druhástrana. She soon moves in with a family — known as the Kerchevals — and gets entangled with their complex paternal/fraternal/spousal drama.
Life with the Kerchevals is the book's low point for me and where I was tempted to quit. There are so many different members of the family and Oyeyemi overloads us with ultimately unnecessary details about each of them. The Kerchevals are important to the ending and overall theme of the book, but we don't need to be told as much about them as we are.
The ending is sweet and would be more satisfying if I weren't so tired of reading about all the Kerchevals' issues in the previous chapters.
Spoiler
Harriet ultimately leaves the family's home — both by choice and necessity — after announcing her unplanned pregnancy. We learn Perdita, desperate to know more about where she came from, contacted a private investigator who was also secretly her uncle. Drawn to the man and his paternal attentions, she later meets with him and the rest of the Kerchevals and is eventually given the ingredients to make the gingerbread that nearly kills her. Everyone gets over this possible crime SOMEHOW and comes together as a family to try and buy a house that eventually runs away. Yes, the house runs away. I still don't know what to do with that plot point lol.If you've enjoyed her previous work, you'll probably enjoy this one, too. At this point, I don't know if can I recommend this for those who are new to her work; I'm new to it myself. I'm definitely going to check out more, though, because I enjoy really did love her style.