Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

Summary of the Summary of the Summary:

Quirky, quiet, charming

Summary of the Summary:

A quiet tale of a girl who escapes her abusive father by settling in a small Massachusetts town and marrying a local man with a daughter. Allusions to fairy tales are scattered throughout, but seemingly in contrast to the story at hand which is anything but a fairy tale. Anticlimactic twists are
scattered throughout, including at the end. An exploration if identity.

Summary:

I'm torn as to whether I actually enjoyed this novel or not. I went into it with no expectations except that someone had told me "it's a retelling of a fairy tale." Except, it isn't. Not that I could tell. There are definitely fairy tale allusions sprinkled throughout: mentions of an evil stepmother, the idea that mirrors wouldn't display someone's image if they aren't fair, etc. But the way I interpreted it, the allusions weren't there to draw comparisons, but rather to create a contrast between idealistic fairy tales that always have a happy ending, and the stories of Boy, Snow, and Bird (those are characters' names) who each have their own less-than-fairy-tale-esque character arcs.

The story starts out by following Boy as she escapes her abusive father in New York by taking the first train she can find out of there, which happens to be going to a small town in Massachusetts. The town is painted as idyllic for those who have lived there their whole lives, but Boy is seen as an outsider. This doesn't stop her from making the town her home, and she soon embeds herself by marrying a local man and becoming step-mother to his adored (by the whole town) daughter, Snow.

There are several twists that occur throughout the story, beginning with the discovery of a secret once Boy has a daughter of her own, Bird. For me, the twists are anti-climactic, as they are presented matter-of-factly rather than built to. That is most likely the author's intention, as this isn't meant to be a thriller, but rather a story exploring identity and it's fluidity.

Overall, the story is very quiet and matter-of-fact. Perhaps why I'm not sure if I enjoyed it is because it isn't exactly a page-turner. It doesn't build, there's no suspense, and any mysteries are solved pretty quickly. But there was something charming about its quietness and the way it presents itself. It's very sure of itself, moving smoothly from page to page. It hit a bump for me in part 2 when the point of view switches as well as time jumps forward. I had a hard time grasping this switch and what it meant for the characters, but it switches back in part 3.

The most disappointing part of the story for me was the very end, where it ends abruptly after a twist is revealed. Before this, there is somewhat of a happy ending for the characters, though far from the ending of a fairy tale, but the ending just leaves it in no man's land. It can't really be considered a cliffhanger, but it just left me feeling unsatisfied. It felt as if the story wasn't finished yet, but perhaps the author felt that what followed was a story for another time.

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Happy Reading!

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