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What Members Thought
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
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I have very mixed feelings about this book -- some things resonated beautifully, while other things felt glossed over or missing. I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't even get the "Snow White" connection until I logged on here... She is a gorgeous writer, but I had to keep going back to find what I missed (especially the end!).
I could go on and on, but most reviewers have covered most of how I feel except one thing: I felt discombobulated, like something was off somehow. When I finally saw th ...more
I could go on and on, but most reviewers have covered most of how I feel except one thing: I felt discombobulated, like something was off somehow. When I finally saw th ...more
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
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The first chapter gets five stars. Beautiful writing. Clever allusion to Snow White without getting too close. But then, chapter two slows the plot down until it stalls, and chapter three goes off the rails. I wish Oyeyemi could have maintained the beautiful writing and clever story throughout the novel.
I wanted to love this but it never really hooked me - the narrative was disjointed and hard to follow at times, and I couldn’t get a handle on the characters. Bird’s voice, while fresh and interesting, never really seemed credible for a 13-year-old. And I totally didn’t get the ending.
Jul 15, 2014
Elizabeth
added it
Bitter, caustic, fairy-tale-ish, a book about passing with a twist that isn't particularly hidden (nor does it try to be).
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May 10, 2014
Ching-In
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May 15, 2014
Maria
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May 27, 2014
MacDuff
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Jul 20, 2014
Jana
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Feb 01, 2015
Laura Watkins
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Feb 24, 2015
Paloma
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Apr 19, 2015
Brekke
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Apr 19, 2015
s_evan
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Nov 21, 2015
Laura
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Dec 22, 2015
Jill
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Feb 20, 2016
Wendy E.
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May 28, 2016
Michelle Marie
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Nov 11, 2016
Anne
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Nov 30, 2016
Kathryn
marked it as to-read
