From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…

Boy, Snow, Bird

Helen Oyeyemi

Start date: January 6, 2015

Why we're reading this: Retelling Snow White in 1950s New England from the perspective of the wicked stepmother.
[close] Retelling Snow White in 1950s New England from the perspective of the wicked stepmother.

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Oct 16, 2016 Jessica rated it liked it

Shelves: kindle

I'm not entirely sure what to think about Boy, Snow, Bird. I loved the writing, and as a novel it felt more fully realized than Oyeyemi's first book The Icarus Girl, but it still seemed like a book that wasn't quite sure what it wanted to be. It veers a little into fairy tale, a little into race relations, and spends quite a bit of time looking at the dynamics of unhealthy families.

I gave this book four stars when I finished reading it, but a day later I'm taking it down to three and am questio I'm not entirely sure what to think about Boy, Snow, Bird. I loved the writing, and as a novel it felt more fully realized than Oyeyemi's first book The Icarus Girl, but it still seemed like a book that wasn't quite sure what it wanted to be. It veers a little into fairy tale, a little into race relations, and spends quite a bit of time looking at the dynamics of unhealthy families.

I gave this book four stars when I finished reading it, but a day later I'm taking it down to three and am questioning if that's still being too generous. I really liked the experience of reading Boy, Snow, Bird, but while it tackles a lot of topics I'm not sure it was really about anything. I would care about certain characters for a while, and then something would change and I couldn't tell whom I was supposed to be sympathizing with anymore. Nobody turns out to be very likable for long.

I really liked the character of Boy in the first part of the novel; she escapes an abusive situation and finds a way to start over and make the best of things in a new place. She's stubborn and idealistic, and I really did care about her in part one. However, in part two, we're given heavy symbolism that Boy is actually the wicked stepmother in a fairy tale; she sends her husband's beautiful, beloved daughter from his first marriage packing the moment they have their own daughter together. Boy wonders whether she's done the right thing (is Snow really as perfect as everyone thinks, or is she masking some kind of evil under her charming facade?) but the book could have gone much deeper into this question and really falls short. By sending Snow away, Boy keeps us from ever getting to know Snow enough to be able to understand her character, and so we can't really get invested in whether either one of them is "the bad guy." Part three gets unnecessarily weird, and I really didn't like the device used to explain away why Boy's father is so cruel.

The more I think about it, the more I feel let down by Boy, Snow, Bird. I love Oyeyemi's writing and will keep giving her some more tries, but so far neither of the books of hers I've read have quite worked for me. ...more

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May 28, 2014 jenn rated it liked it

Shelves: fiftyfiftyme, 2014

I really loved Boy as a re-working of Snow White's evil stepmother ("There's a word for people who think the world's out to get them." "Right, PERCEPTIVE!") but a lot of the other characterizations fell flat, and some story elements were handled unevenly. ...more

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