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Boy, Snow, Bird (2014)

by Helen Oyeyemi(Favorite Author)

3.29 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1594631395 (ISBN13: 9781594631399)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Riverhead Hardcover

review 1: Um, I didn't get it exactly. I mean, I did get it, sort of but I feel like I was tricked a little. I definitely thought this was going to be more fantasy/fairy tale as an updated version of Snow White, but it wasn't. It was a very topical book - about race relations, sexual orientation, gender, love, etc. but it felt a bit disconnected. I wasn't expecting there to be a lot of philosophical moments, and there were. And I maybe have to read it again (though I doubt I will) to understand the disconnected stories told and the mysterious parts of the girls in the book. I don't know. It wasn't what I expected and it was hard to get into and continue to read. The blessing was that it really isn't that long of a book. I suppose any of my book clubs would have thought out themes a... morend we would have had a good discussion, but for something that I don't plan to talk about with others, I didn't care for this book. So, you know, read it if you want.
review 2: Myths and fairy tales resonate with us because they contain hidden truths: beautiful ones, ugly ones. We can find a thread of our realities even in the most magical of stories and that’s why we still read them (or maybe believe in them too, sometimes). Boy, Snow, Bird has been called a retelling of Snow White, but that’s not really accurate. Yes, there is a stepmother (Boy)—and she’s not fond of Snow, her step-daughter. But every character is more nuanced than the one-dimensional fairy tale figure they’re sketched upon and the story is more complex than Snow White’s straightforward use of jealousy to explain a host of bad (even evil) behavior. Oyeyemi uses race as a key plot point and employs it to discuss identity and self-reflection, both public and private. Segregation is here too, in the world around them (the book is set between 1940-1960-ish) and in their lives at home. And, like any fairy tale, the question of maternity and family feature prominently. So many fairy tales emphasize motherhood…or a lack thereof. Why does this theme appear again and again? I think it’s because motherhood is a universal truth. We can understand the importance of the idea of mother and the concept of motherhood even if—especially if—our individual experiences may be wholly different. While romantic love is often the crux of a fairy tale, the meat of the story is actually the threads of maternal love, jealousy, indifference, absence, reunion—a host of human emotion—that weave throughout the lives of the characters. Oyeyemi uses this to her advantage, showing us the mystery and the heartbreak of the weird world we’ve created for ourselves, and the secrets that every family holds and cannot part with. less

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