Genre: Fiction
Themes: family, race, abuse, friendship
My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤
I have given this book three out of five even though it probably deserves more. The writing is quite inspired in places, and I think some people would really love the original style of this book, but I found it took me a while to get into it. I suppose this book is out of my comfort zone, and there is a strange unsettling quality to it, which readers will either embrace or pull away from, as it combines beautiful writing with the utmost cruelty.
The main character is a girl named Boy whose childhood is filled with episodes of violent physical abuse at the hands of her father who is the local rat-catcher. Her mother died when she was born, so there is no-where else to go, and in the end she is around college age before she flees from her home and takes a night bus to Flax Hill at the end of the route. She is free at last, but she has no money and no skills and has to start a whole new life.
Because of her troubled childhood, Boy approaches any kind of relationship with caution and has a deep suspicion of anyone who tries to be sweet and kind. She is more comfortable around people who don't try to get too close, and she cannot understand the way other girls put on an act in order to attract a man. She sees marriage as a transaction, that will bring her the comforts of a decent home, but still allow her to be herself and not be smothered to death by routine.
The story is a tight weave of harsh reality and fairy tale and there are flights of imagination that are sometimes distracting and sometimes wonderful. There were one or two sections within the story that I felt were spun out a little too far for my taste, but if they were removed, the book would certainly lose some of its unique qualities. Maybe I should try another book by Helen Oyeyemi before I get too sure her books are not for me.
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