Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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I have no idea what the h*ck I just read

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi

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You know the blinking white guy gif? That was me for like the entirety of this book. I still have no idea what the hell it was about or what happened to why. This one needs a deep read, not a piece-by-piece metro read but I gave it what I had and I am still so lost. Can someone smarter than me tell me what I just read? Gingerbread is part Hansel and Gretel, part bedtime story, and part fever dream. There’s the start of the book where it feels like nothing happens for pages and pages and pages and […]

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4/16/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:31 |

For reasons of my own I take note of the way people act when they’re around mirrors

Boy Snow Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

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If I am going to read a book based in a fairy tale, I do appreciate the light touch going on here. The elements of the story are heavy and present, but the fairy tale world created in this one are considerably small in comparison. In addition, I appreciate how the different narrative voices moved us away from the traditional telling of the story and especially gave us half the book in the voice of the “evil” stepmother. In this story, we fist meet Boy, a white woman who runs away from an abusive father, and settles down with Arturo, […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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2/13/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:86 |

Mirrors that don’t reflect reality

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

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I received Boy, Snow, Bird from an earlier CBR book exchange, but it had been collecting dust for a few years. I finally had a reason to pick it back up when my Mocha Girls Read book club selected it for a fairytale’s retold theme. Helen Oyeyemi’s novel is a VERY loose version of Snow White set in the 1950s. Boy Novak runs away to a small town to escape her abusive father. She meets a man named Arturo who isn’t quite a prince, but he adores her. After sort of wearing her down and her own loneliness, she marries him […]

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12/29/2018 's CBR10 Review No:14 |

Modern Fairytale. Race Relations. Intriguing premise, flat execution.

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

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Ohhhhh boy.  This book.  This was the last pick of the local library book club of the year, and it was much anticipated.  It has received much acclaim, NPR said great things about it, and but for me, and my book club, it widely missed the mark.  It was NOT loved.  Or liked even.  At this club we (about 16 folks) go around the room and give a score to a scale of 5 and this one didn’t even get past three.  And there were a few zeroes. On that scale I personally gave it a 3 for creativity and a […]

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5/26/2017 's CBR9 Review No:15 |

Meh. A lot.

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

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I’m supposed to like this book. I like things that are a bit bizarre. I like England (where it is set). And everyone seems to rave about both this author and this book. So I’ve clearly – once again – missed something. And yet… I should have known. The blurb on the front, from The Boston Globe, is “Profoundly chilling…a slow-building neo-Gothic that will leave persevering readers breathless.” Did you catch that? “persevering readers.” Apparently I was in for a bit of a slog. A book that was going to make me work for the reward. Which makes me wonder – do […]

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5/20/2016 's CBR8 Review No:35 |

Keys and Locks

What is Not Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi

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This collection of short stories by Helen Oyeyemi is a mix of fairy tale and the modern world, of the fanciful and the dark, with a generous portion of sexuality thrown in. In some ways, it reminds me of Angela Carter’s work, but Oyeyemi’s stories, while dealing with heavy themes such as betrayal, abandonment and disappointment, maintain a lightness. Her characters demonstrate a quality that’s not exactly optimism, but a willingness to carry on, a good natured fatalism that tempers the darkness. The nine stories are loosely connected, sometimes by recurring characters, usually by the motifs of keys, locks and […]

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4/11/2016 's CBR8 Review No:18 |

Merry Bookmas to Me!

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

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It’s like somehow the Delivery Gods knew that I’d have to spend all day in a building where the floors were being waxed and sent a lovely surprise to cheer me up via teresaelectro!! I am so, so excited to dive into these! I’ve always wanted to check out some of Richelle Meade’s other books, so thank you! This really did make my day/week/month to get these two lovelies in the mail. You rock, teresaelectro! I now have my first couple CBR7 reads and reviews set. I’m editing to add I also got a lovely package of tea as well! It […]

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12/15/2014 's CBR6 Review No:0 |

“When something catches your attention just keep your attention on it, stick with it ’til the end, and somewhere along the line there’ll be weirdness.”

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

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It would be reductive to sum this book up as ‘Snow White in the ’60s with racism,’ but you could if you really wanted to. That’s the hook that caught me, after all. But really, the Snow White story is just the way in. It’s not really concerned with the same things that Snow White (or other fairy-tales) is concerned with. Boy, Snow, Bird is not as mysterious of a title as it first appears. Boy, Snow and Bird are all characters in the novel. Boy Novak takes the ‘evil stepmother’ role, although she’s not evil. Most of the novel […]

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10/23/2014 's CBR6 Review No:88 |


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