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alannaredwood 's review for:
What is Not Yours is Not Yours
by Helen Oyeyemi
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Quite simply not my cup of tea - I read it for a friend, otherwise I would've given up on the first page. If you don't like a very dreamy, surreal, magical realist writing style, this book is not for you. It also is magical realism, which I'm not generally crazy about, but it's the writing style that really got me. Here's a sample of what the entire book sounded like to me:
"A name you haven't heard yet did a strange and shocking-sounding thing. Well, not really; it was more that they did this more broad and still yet stranger thing, in pursuit of something else incredibly strange. The character had a backstory leading up to the strange thing, which is gone into some more detail here. Other characters also exist in this character's life, though you may or may not meet them depending on how this story goes, which is entirely out of your control."
In terms of the plot, I quite liked the open-endedness of each story... but only when I expected most of it to come to some sort of conclusion at the end of the book. One little piece sort of did (we learn that two characters get together), but it really left more questions than answers, and not in a fun way. I wasn't very invested to begin with, so I didn't really care, but I at least would've been entertained if there was a little more narrative.
"A name you haven't heard yet did a strange and shocking-sounding thing. Well, not really; it was more that they did this more broad and still yet stranger thing, in pursuit of something else incredibly strange. The character had a backstory leading up to the strange thing, which is gone into some more detail here. Other characters also exist in this character's life, though you may or may not meet them depending on how this story goes, which is entirely out of your control."
In terms of the plot, I quite liked the open-endedness of each story... but only when I expected most of it to come to some sort of conclusion at the end of the book. One little piece sort of did (we learn that two characters get together), but it really left more questions than answers, and not in a fun way. I wasn't very invested to begin with, so I didn't really care, but I at least would've been entertained if there was a little more narrative.