Title: Boy, Snow, Bird
Writer: Helen Oyeyemi
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction
Version: Penguin Group – Hamish Hamilton Paperback
Pages: 305
Rating:
Well, it’s been a busy few months and so we are just getting back into it. I’ve been trying to read more and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future! As a result, I will have a whole bunch of book reviews coming up shortly. Some may be popular books, while others may be a little more obscure. Without further ado, Boy, Snow, Bird.
In the winter of 1953, Boy Novak arrives by chance in a small town in Massachusetts looking, she believes, for beauty-the opposite of the life she’s left behind in New York. She marries Arturo Whitman, a local widower, and becomes stepmother to his winsome daughter, Snow.
A wicked stepmother is a creature Boy never imagined she’d become, but elements of the familiar tale of aesthetic obsession begin to play themselves out when the birth of Boy’s daughter, Bird, who is dark-skinned, exposes the Whitmans as light-skinned African Americans passing for white. And even as Boy, Snow, and Bird are divided, their estrangement is complicated by an insistent curiosity about one another. In seeking an understanding that is separate from the image each presents to the world, Boy, Snow, and Bird confront the tyranny of the mirror to ask how much power surfaces really hold.
This book is pretty much that, a more modern take on an old fairy tale. Initially, we learn a little about Boy and her past, how she ends up in a small Massachusetts town. After the birth of her daughter, Bird, we read more of the story from the perspective of teenager Bird. It is a mixture about the treatment of black people in the 1970s and a story of discovery.
I read this book because it was recommended to me. A friend suggested I read it and even stated that I would love it. I received this book about a year and a half ago now and I just finished it. While it may be enticing to some readers, I found it slow and dull. The concept was intriguing enough to get me to pick up the book; however, I was greatly disappointed by the progression of the story. It lacked interesting elements and adventure.
On saying that, this book would be great for the reader who enjoys a slow novel. It would be best suited to those readers who like reading a little before bed each night and don’t want to go to sleep with cliffhangers haunting their dreams. For readers who want excitement and adventure, this is not the book.
There were a few things that I think Oyeyemi could have done better in this novel. In the original fairy tale, a mirror played a great role. The mirror did surface (ha!) in this novel as well, but its importance was downplayed and not explained well. It was more like a passing mention than something that played an integral role. I think if there was more emphasis put on the mirror and what Boy, Snow, and Bird see – or don’t see – in the mirror it would have made the novel a little more engaging.
One thing I did enjoy about the novel is that it wasn’t like the old fairy tales where the characters fall in love at first sight. There is some reluctance in Boy to marry Arturo and it makes her character believable. For all of the things I do not like about the novel, I do enjoy how believable and realistic the characters are.
I cannot recommend this book, though. It was a disappointment to me and it is unlikely that I will ever read it again. It may sit on my shelf and collect dust for the next 20 years, but it is unlikely that I will even loan it to a friend. There may be people who enjoy the slow pace, but it is not for me.
inksheds 
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