What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
I came to write this review and I'm suddenly realizing that I barely remember this book. Which is weird. It hasn't been that long since I read it. I expected it to stick with me longer than this. Oyeyemi's work generally does (I'm still haunted by certain sentences in Mr. Fox).
And I guess that ought to inform this review. There were a few stories in here that stuck with me, for good or ill. The first one, Books and Roses, was amazing and deserves a re-read to untangle all the different layers. Is Your Blood as Red as This? is also lodged in my memory, but more because it's weird than because I enjoyed it. And other stories have escaped my memory completely.
I know that I enjoyed reading this book. And maybe it was just that I was too tired, or trying to fit it around caring for Gavin in a way that didn't work. The stories weren't really long enough to sink into completely, but they were too long for me to read any of them in a single sitting. Except The Homely Wench Society, read during one of Gavin's naps, which I enjoyed immensely, and which even went some way to making me feel like Oyeyemi has grown as a person since the horrific ending of Boy, Snow, Bird.
I also remember feeling like this collection felt incomplete, and maybe that was intentional. The stories are loosely tied together by the characters. Minor characters keep showing up in the background. But I never got more information about the characters I actually cared about. There were mysteries left unsolved in a way that frustrated me more because other information was provided.
So I liked this book at the time. I still have positive feelings towards half the stories and have either forgotten or feel negatively about the other half. Not bad as these things go. But I think I wanted more from Helen Oyeyemi, who usually hits it out of the park for me and gives me a lot to think about. Maybe I just need more sleep. It's probably worth revisiting this book in a few years when Gavin's a bit older and I can actually dedicate the brainpower Oyeyemi demands.
And I guess that ought to inform this review. There were a few stories in here that stuck with me, for good or ill. The first one, Books and Roses, was amazing and deserves a re-read to untangle all the different layers. Is Your Blood as Red as This? is also lodged in my memory, but more because it's weird than because I enjoyed it. And other stories have escaped my memory completely.
I know that I enjoyed reading this book. And maybe it was just that I was too tired, or trying to fit it around caring for Gavin in a way that didn't work. The stories weren't really long enough to sink into completely, but they were too long for me to read any of them in a single sitting. Except The Homely Wench Society, read during one of Gavin's naps, which I enjoyed immensely, and which even went some way to making me feel like Oyeyemi has grown as a person since the horrific ending of Boy, Snow, Bird.
I also remember feeling like this collection felt incomplete, and maybe that was intentional. The stories are loosely tied together by the characters. Minor characters keep showing up in the background. But I never got more information about the characters I actually cared about. There were mysteries left unsolved in a way that frustrated me more because other information was provided.
So I liked this book at the time. I still have positive feelings towards half the stories and have either forgotten or feel negatively about the other half. Not bad as these things go. But I think I wanted more from Helen Oyeyemi, who usually hits it out of the park for me and gives me a lot to think about. Maybe I just need more sleep. It's probably worth revisiting this book in a few years when Gavin's a bit older and I can actually dedicate the brainpower Oyeyemi demands.
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