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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Jul 21, 2014 Dana Berglund rated it liked it

Shelves: books-for-grown-ups

This is a tricky book to write a review on. It is layered, complex, brilliant, and frustrating. A blurb on the inside jacket both gives away too much and misleads. There were pieces of genius in here, threads of nuanced explorations of race, gender, family, parenthood, friendship, self-image, and identity. Many thoughtful questions are posed, but I didn't find many answers. For some, this is purposeful and reasonable- all questions about race, family, and identity cannot be answered in a normal ...more

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May 13, 2015 Loretta rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: my-book-club-reads, reading-for-craft

Read this for my book club, and if I recall correctly I think it was actually my pick for the book club. Happy with my selection and I think (hope!) it will generate some interesting discussion.

I fell in love with the writing in the first part. The voice of Boy was original and compelling to me, and the way she described her world and her relationships made me want to take notes and break out the highlighter. I didn't get too hung up on the "re-telling of Snow White" descriptor, but definitely Read this for my book club, and if I recall correctly I think it was actually my pick for the book club. Happy with my selection and I think (hope!) it will generate some interesting discussion.

I fell in love with the writing in the first part. The voice of Boy was original and compelling to me, and the way she described her world and her relationships made me want to take notes and break out the highlighter. I didn't get too hung up on the "re-telling of Snow White" descriptor, but definitely noticed the links and themes (mirrors, step-mothers). I have to say, I love this way of taking a story that is so known it's practically a myth and basically f*cking around with it. Taking the idea of "who's the fairest of them all" and turning it into a novel about race, about passing, about beauty and who decides who is beautiful and what beautiful means.

The second and third parts were still good but I felt lost a little bit, although I do appreciate the need for the change in the point of view from both the story and the craft perspective. As the reader, I needed to see Boy from Bird's perspective. (and it is interesting that we don't get Snow's point-of-view, except in her letters, the reliability and honesty of which are left somewhat ambiguous). And I have to say that the ending was...well. Not really satisfying. And in certain respects, actually deeply problematic. (see under the spoiler tag). Except in that, as noted above, it was yet another way to f*ck around with the general-accepted conventions of fairy tales. (view spoiler)

But overall, a very very good read, and I will definitely read more of Oyeyemi. ...more

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Mar 16, 2014 Andrea Thatcher marked it as to-read

look for the audiobook? loved her reading on The Dinner Party Download.

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Mar 23, 2014 Jennifer rated it really liked it

Shelves: literaryfiction

This was a supra or at every turn. Lushly written, with a lot of the fairy tale feel I adore... But this is a whole other world. So glad it was about more than Snow. So glad I read it. And so sad that I was side swiped by it being a book about failure and race and humanity, and my not catching on to so much of it for so long. So sue me. No easy answers for anyone in this narrative, just living with the reality and fantasy of their intertwined stories.

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Aug 15, 2014 Meghan rated it liked it

About halfway through this book, I was so hopeful and found the story vibrant in perspective, but the scope of the story ended up going haywire and subplots were dropped left and right with a fairly unnecessary twist thrown in for good measure. You've consigned me to a sports metaphor, book. You could have won the game, but you lost it all in the fourth quarter. 3.5 stars ...more

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