Boy, Snow, Bird in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Aug 01, 2014 Lydia Presley rated it it was ok

Shelves: social_issues, fiction, 2014

I'm struggling so much right now because I really, really wanted to fall in love with BOY, SNOW, BIRD by Helen Oyeyemi. I'm sitting here, struggling with a lack of words to convey my disappointment and struggling as well to try to articulate what exactly about BOY, SNOW, BIRD disappointed me. I asked myself when I finished reading if maybe I had expected too much - Snow White has always been one of my favorite stories, but I really went into this book without reading much of anything except the ...more

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Feb 28, 2014 martha rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle, year-2014

Every time I thought I understood what kind of book this was, it changed on me completely. I was kind of obsessed with it. Gonna have to do some thinking to figure out how everything fit together (or does it?).

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Jun 02, 2014 Christina rated it really liked it

Shelves: popsugar-2016-reading-challenge, fairy-tales

A version of this review appeared on my blog, drinking and ink
Popsugar 2016 Reading Challenge: A Book Based on a Fairy Tale

The last time I read a book by Helen Oyeyemi (that time it was "Mr. Fox"), my review was one sentence long: "I have no idea what I just read, but I liked it." I think she has that effect as an author. You'll come out of the book knowing there was definitely more in there than you got, but you did notice the themes and enjoyed it, so you don't really mind.

"Boy, Snow, Bird" is ...more

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Nov 10, 2013 Hannah added it

Shelves: grownups-fiction, magic-realism-spec-fic

Oh, beautiful. I loved loved loved Oyeyemi's first book when it came out and began to quietly worship her, but it's been awhile (still need to go back and read Mr. Fox and reread the others), and this is like discovering her all over again and remembering why I love this writer so much.

Also, she is adorable and sweet and signed all five of my books. If The Icarus Girl hadn't come out when I needed it in high school, like if I were in high school now, this book would have the same effect on me th ...more

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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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