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3.0
gingerbread
ByPublisher Description
The prize-winning, bestselling author of Boy, Snow, Bird and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours returns with a bewitching and inventive novel.The prize-winning, bestselling author of The prize-winning, bestselling author of Boy, Snow, BirdBoy, Snow, BirdBoy, Snow, Bird and and What Is Not Yours Is Not YoursWhat Is Not Yours Is Not YoursWhat Is Not Yours Is Not Yours returns with a bewitching and inventive novel returns with a bewitching and inventive novel.
Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories—equal parts wholesome and uncanny, from the tantalizing witch's house in "Hansel and Gretel" to the man-shaped confection who one day decides to run as fast as he can—beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe.
Perdita Lee may appear to be your average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing, they share a gold-painted, seventh-floor walk-up apartment with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread they make. Londoners may find themselves able to take or leave it, but it's very popular in Druh�strana, the far-away (and, according to Wikipedia, non-existent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. In fact, the world's truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread is Harriet's charismatic childhood friend, Gretel Kercheval—a figure who seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met.
Decades later, when teenaged Perdita sets out to find her mother's long-lost friend, it prompts a new telling of Harriet's story. As the book follows the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work, wealth, and real estate, gingerbread seems to be the one thing that reliably holds a constant value. Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi's inimitable style and imagination, it is a true feast for the reader.
Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories—equal parts wholesome and uncanny, from the tantalizing witch's house in "Hansel and Gretel" to the man-shaped confection who one day decides to run as fast as he can—beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe.
Perdita Lee may appear to be your average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing, they share a gold-painted, seventh-floor walk-up apartment with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread they make. Londoners may find themselves able to take or leave it, but it's very popular in Druh�strana, the far-away (and, according to Wikipedia, non-existent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. In fact, the world's truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread is Harriet's charismatic childhood friend, Gretel Kercheval—a figure who seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met.
Decades later, when teenaged Perdita sets out to find her mother's long-lost friend, it prompts a new telling of Harriet's story. As the book follows the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work, wealth, and real estate, gingerbread seems to be the one thing that reliably holds a constant value. Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi's inimitable style and imagination, it is a true feast for the reader.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesgingerbread Reviews
3.0
“I was about 80 pages in and couldn't take it anymore. The story was getting nowhere and the author was using too many words to describe one incident that didn't even really matter or have anything to do with the actual story.
I'm disappointed because I've heard such great things about Helen Oyeyemi and I maybe should've started with a different book by her and not this one.”
“I actually wanna give it 2.5 stars. But I rounded up because I like this author. The other reviews are right: this novel is just kinda frustrating and not in a good way.
I don’t know where to begin other than to just say that this book is not at all what the synopsis sets it up to be. Which, sure, okay, that’s not the worst thing in the world—but man does this book lose its plot. I’m no stranger to magical realism, but to be honest, it almost feels like this book wasn’t even edited. It feels like the author handed it to the publisher and they just didn’t even read over it. I’ve read some books with less neat plots and endings than others, but this just doesn’t seem to know or care where it’s going, and not only that, it just feels purposeless. The book begins with a suicide attempt and we literally barely even see Perdita the rest of the novel. I wanted to like this book. I really did. I feel awful that I didn’t like it. But I didn’t.”
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