Reviews

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi

sorryomari's review against another edition

4.0

Another beautifully written novel by Ms. Oyeyemi. I listened to her read it and was soothed by her voice and her words. It captured me in a the way the druhastranian lullabies must as you lay in bed drifting off to sleep but holding on to the dreams the song implants only your mind. It is not the masterpiece in the way Boy, Snow, Bird is, but it is its own. Driven by metaphor and song rather than plot, I enjoyed my time with this book.

kidbristol's review against another edition

4.0

I’ve rarely been so baffled by something I could tell was so good. I’m let down, but less by the book than by my ability to understand it. Oh well. Maybe I’ll read it years from now and wonder why I was so thick.

abbie_'s review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

3.75

This is the first audiobook I’ve listened to in who knows how long at 1x speed. Oyeyemi has no time for handholding with her magic & fantasy worlds, so I wanted to make sure I was catching everything. Even when I didn’t, I think it’s one of those books where you can just enjoy the vibes, you know? It’s whimsical but it has an edge. The writing is gorgeous, there’s humour running throughout and I like the way it has a fairytale feel while being thoroughly rooted in today’s world. There were slightly too many characters to keep proper track of via audio, especially by the end when all the Kerchevals came along. If you’re an Erin Morgenstern fan then I definitely think you’ll get on well with this one!

teawiththefates's review against another edition

2.0

I wanted to like this. Elements of the world were so cool, and I'm usually a sucker for magical realism. But the combination of present tense and lack of dialogue made this story so hard to engage with right off the bat. I felt very much kept at a distance, which is not what I want from a novel. Even when the prose later changed to past tense and proper dialogue usage, the plot felt aimless and overly abstracted. I could definitely see things the author did intentionally, and I liked the concept of blurring the lines between what is real and what is not (to the point that even the reader can't tell), but ultimately this book just wasn't for me.

harry_gl's review against another edition

2.0

DNF ☹️ I gave it 2.5 hours, but it didn't get me in. I'd be willing to re-attempt this at some future time, but definitely in physical format rather than audiobook.

lah123's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

megrob's review against another edition

4.0

Slightly confusing at times, but that may be due more to my level of attention. I enjoyed the magical realism and the relationships between the mothers, daughters, and a best friend.

corporalmaladict's review against another edition

4.0

Reading recommendations from authors I like are such a gift tbh. I picked this one up on a whim while searching for available audiobooks before a trip home to visit my family and because Akwaeke Emezi has name dropped Oyeyemi in at least one of their books.
It felt rich and easy to let the strange flow of time and association carry me. I laughed several times, breathed out sighs of "wow" at particular sentences. I hope I reread it one day because there were questions that arose naturally about association and meaning and parable that feel like I could have happily sat in the questions for a while. But I also just enjoyed letting the book carry me.
The fun thing about audiobooks is sometimes I have no idea how the words and names are spelled so I thought "Kercheval" was spelled "Queue de Cheval" the whole time.

mwmakar's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Had some Oppenheimer syndrome where the book kinda set up its focus away from what I care about. The story-within-the-story kinda collapsed the mother-daughter relationship and made me way less interested in the Kerchevals than I think I was supposed to be? Loved the concept of Druhastrana, a debatably existent place, and I feel like that element got way downplayed? The list of essays of people from
Druha made me crack up. 

mcbuffypants's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0