2.5 stars. I have a feeling that I’m going to be in the minority when it comes to this book, but I just didn’t get it. I was confused and unsure about what was happening 80% of the time, due shifting timelines, elements of magical realism, the multitude of characters and so on. While I spent the other 20% engaged in Oyeyemi’s wonderful writing, I finished this book without any clear idea of what it was about...That said, I think this is a case of ‘It’s not you, it’s me” as I’ve come to realize t...

‘The way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in.’― W.H. AudenAn element of fairy tales that I particularly enjoy is the way you allow the story to happen to you like a wave washing over you. Literature that utilizes the genre effectively taps into a primordial reading experience that bears the wonderment of a world where magic and danger may lurk unexpectedly all around and the fantastical is still possible. You don’t question the oddities, you gleefully plunge deeper down the rabbit hole....

This is imaginative, original, if oblique, absurdist and meandering storytelling from Helen Oyeyemi, a family drama, of friendship, class, and an inheritance of a long held traditional family recipe for Gingerbread, which is instrumental in the shaping of their destiny and fortunes. In a novel entitled Gingerbread, there is almost an inevitability that fairytales are involved, such as the well known Hansel and Gretel tale. Additionally, there are talking dolls, a feel of the gothic, the utilisin...

Gingerbread is one of the most unique books I have ever read. Helen Oyeyemi's writing is so beautiful and descriptive that she transports you to another world where anything is possible. I did have to read slowly and closely as I found this to be a challenging read but it was incredibly rewarding in the end.Thank you to Riverhead Books for providing a free review copy via Edelweiss.

‘’The colour of my heart is black.’’ A mother tries to persuade everyone to try her gingerbread. A daughter tries to survive the harsh school environment and a reality that doesn’t seem to be ‘’real’’ at all. Fairy tales and magic find their way to the human soul.Harriet is a gifted teacher raising her daughter, Perdita, alone, haunted by the traditions and the memories of her homeland. She comes from Druhastrana, a fictional country, in the borders of the Czech Republic, a small nation of ma

'We're as indivisible as gingerbread dough. Shhh, don't ask me what that means!' p. 221Ever since the publication of my 'most liked' review of the execrable and inexplicably award-winning Milkman seven months ago, several people (bless their hearts) have inquired: "Doug, do you think anything will ever surpass Burns' tome in sheer awfulness within your lifetime - and inspire you to even greater heights of takedown-dom?" My reply has always been: "Don't be silly! Milkman is the ne plus ultra, nay...

Someone must have given Helen Oyeyemi a handful of magic beans when she was born in Nigeria because she’s been planting them ever since. This fantastical writer, who completed her first, acclaimed novel at the age of 18, sows her modern-day stories in the fertile ground of ancient myths and fables.But Oyeyemi, now 34, isn’t just goosing old fairy tales with contemporary melodies. She’s drawn to what’s most unsettling about these fables: their disorienting logic, their blithe cruelty, their subtl...

Wow... Oyeyemi is just supremely skilled at making words the centre-point of her writing. This novel at first glance might have little to no plot, and little to no truly identifiable characters... But what it's got in spades is an authentic sense of the here and now. It mixes fable and folklore with issues of feminism and race in what are snippet-sized allegories that link to create this other worldly novel. It's incredibly surreal and wonderfully subversive in its narrative style. It's the type...

Beautiful writing, engaging characters. Some sentences are just to devour. However, it's too abstract for my taste and the plot structure caused me to get bored at times. So, I think I'll stick to a 3 star at this point and say that I partly enjoyed this book :)

Harriet Lee’s gingerbread is not comfort food. There's no nostalgia baked into it, no hearkening back to innocent indulgences and jolly times at nursery. It is not humble, nor is it dusty in the crumb.Gingerbread ~~ Helen OyeyemiBuddy Read with MicahRecently, I read Helen Oyeyemi’s Peaces. I don’t quite know what I read, but I do know that I loved it. I wanted to get right back into Oyeyemi’s universe. A word of advice ~~ put some space between Oyeyemi reads. Reading too much of her writing at o...

Gingerbread was my most anticipated read of 2019, and sadly it was a letdown. Look at that gorgeous cover! (And no, that's not the only reason I was so hyped.) I read Helen Oyeyemi's short story collection What is Not Yours is Not Yours over a year ago and instantly fell in love with her writing. Then this year I read and loved her novels Mr. Fox and White Is for Witching. So I was really amped-up for the release of this one. Gingerbread has everything AND the kitchen sink; it's too much and it'...

DNF at page 70. Aimless and uneventful.

I was glad when this was over and tbh I wanted to give up at 40% or even sooner but nevertheless persisted. The magical realism stuff didn’t work for me.It all felt a bit all over the place, with huge families and widening character circles and time changing frequently. For me it just didn’t work

Looking for a book without a plot?! One that thinks it’s much more clever than it is?!Need a read that rambles aimlessly without direction or thought?Then this book is for you!I found this torturous and was simply begging for it to end... but I’m a person who generally refuses to give up till I’m done.

🍊🍊🍊if Murakami had a take on ‘Great Expectations,’ mixed it with fairytale magic, and sprinkled ‘fucks’ all over it — what a joy. “That heart, ground to ash and shot through with darts of heat, salt, spice, and sulphorous syrup . . . you are phenomenal. You’ve ruined my life forever. Thank you.”

DNF at 30%Magical realism is hit or miss with me. Certain books in the genre are charmingly quirky and others go right over my head. Unfortunately, Gingerbread was a miss for me.Helen Oyeyemi is undoubtedly a talented writer who can expertly command the page so I was excited to read this upcoming release. I appreciate her originality but this novel was underwhelming for me. The quirky lives of Perdita and Harriet Lee are shared in a fairy tale style influenced by the classic children's story Han...

Lewis Carroll's quote: "Curiouser and curiouser" comes to mind as I try to describe this book. It certainly felt like I had gone down the rabbit hold at times. I loved the first half and remained fully fascinated. Was it a stream of consciousness? I thought the writer a genius! The second half was less shiny for me and sometimes caused me to lean out, rather than in, however, overall, it was a marvelous read that touched on many subjects.Indeed, talking of subjects, I would be hard pressed to me...

This was my first time reading this author and I fear it may be the last if her other books are anything like this one. I knew going in it would be a weird story, and I was okay with that. I was in the mood for something weird or magical, or some sort of modern day fairy tale which would distract me from what’s going on in the real world these days. And for the first part of this book, I got what I had imagined and was satisfied. I was intrigued by the off kilter story, and I felt sympathetic to...

What an odd, delightful, confusing book. I just love Oyeyemi's voice and how she weaves these strange books that are like fairy tales and contemporary stories all at once. There were some parts of this story of three generations of women from a maybe fictional country that had me puzzled about what was happening and what significance there was, but also I loved the writing throughout so I didn't mind. There's something being said here about immigration that I'm not catching too. Oh, and some ple...

"the gingerbread recipe is one of the lean-year recipes, and it stands out because the lean-year recipes are all about minimizing waste and making that which is indigestible just about edible. none of it tastes good save the gingerbread, which is exactly as delicious as it has to be. blighted rye was the family's food of last resort, and the jeopardy in using it was so great that it made great-great-great-grandma really think about how to take the edge off. out came the precious ingredients, the...