Mr. Fox | 
so-soI loved Oyeyemi‘s BOY, SNOW, BIRD & this one has been on my TBR for a while. But I think there was something lost in the audio version… while the performance is solid & there‘s entertaining elements within, it just felt very disjointed. I never connected with the characters & the #BluebeardRetelling was present, but rather loose at best. I just feel like I probably would have enjoyed this more with a physical copy with clearer transitions.
pickOyeyemi said in an interview (linked below) that this novel was like a game, an outlet for play for her, and this definitely comes through. The imagery is wonderful and there are hints at meaning and symbolism, something about what makes a thing "real" and how real things become so, but none of it quite coalesces. If you're up for a fun, weird fairy tale excursion, you might like this one, but if you want a cohesive story, maybe look elsewhere.
I learned today that I have a hemorrhage in the back of my eye that's causing some visual distortions. The optometrist is totally perplexed because I have none of the risk factors for this. I can still see, it's just disorienting and uncomfortable, so I'm focusing (ha ha) on audiobooks until this resolves. Unfortunately this one is pretty confusing to follow on audio. I think Oyeyemi is doing things with spelling, but I can't tell for sure.
pickInspired by watching her on university challenge at Xmas I dug out of my tbr pile this novel which mixes fairy tale and dark storytelling with some brilliant short stories. Mr fox finds he is confronted by a character from his writing, mary foxe, while his wife daphne suspects him, the story skips time from 30s to today with skill reminding me of Angela Carter. Confusing but interesting and I'm looking forward to reading more of her writing.
pickA dreamy novel about love, stories, and foxes. Oyeyemi's words are as familiar as old fairy tales while at the same time fresh and unique. Mr Fox is an author, married to a woman named Daphne. His muse is an imaginary woman, Mary, who goes after Mr Fox for the needless women's deaths in his stories, by telling her own. She becomes real. She meets Daphne, who worries her husband has been taken away. Interspersed are strange, wonderful fairy tales.
so-soI really wanted to love this. I enjoy the language Oyeyemi uses, I want to quote this for days. I like the characters of Mr. Fox and Miss Foxe. The concept is great. But it just doesn't come together in the storyline.
I spent a lot of time being confused as to what was going on before giving up and just enjoying the language. I am still not 💯 what is going on in the story.
pick#ReadingEurope2020 #CzechRepublic @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB
The writing in this book is intensely creative. What at first seems like separate stories becomes an intricately woven tale about writing and relationships. The mix of reality and fantasy become almost inseparable, and at times you'll wonder where the author is headed with the story. This book has a certain loneliness to it that is also a bit beautiful.
"I waited a moment, to see if she was serious and whether she had anything to add. She was, and she didn't. She stared at me -- really came on with the frost, like she hated me. I whistled."
#IsolationInteractions
Hey, @Exbrarian - what are you reading?
#19in2019
Classics: Beloved, We Have Always Lived in the 🏰 Howards End, The Waves, ❤ Medicine, The 🌍 According to Garp
Future Classics: Constellation of Vital Phenomenon, Station 11, Swamplandia
Non-fiction: The Red Parts, Blue Nights, Stiff, I Am I Am I Am, The Uninhabitable 🌍, The Fire Next Time
Defies Categories: Pastoralia, Invisible Cities, White is for Witching, and my favorite book of the year 🥁🥁....
🦊Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi🦊
#top10ofthedecade #fictionedition
This was interesting to compile. I'm such a backlister that this list was half of all my 5 star reviews of the decade, none are more recent than 2015, and I read all of them except one in the past two years. But...they are all amazing: no slackers here!
@Cinfhen
#Top6Reads @Cinfhen
My favorites of the year so far- I got bored of the usual stacks so I made a monument of my fiction picks, next to a nonfiction audio tower. I think Mr. Fox is my favorite, followed by Invisible Cities and A Constellation of Vital Phenomenon.
Honorable mentions to Station Eleven and Stiff.
pickIntroducing my new favorite read of 2019: my first Oyeyemi was storytelling heaven. A perfect blend of novel and short story collection: the title character is a mystery author who is fond of devising death scenes for women in his novels. But his imaginary Muse Mary Foxe is sick of it and challenges him to swap better stories. The results are sometimes whimsical, other times frightening, but I was utterly immersed in each world within a world.
Book mail. Trying to diversify my reading life. #bookriot
Suddenly realized I‘ve got two books out right now with the name Fox. 🦊
Is it too early to rate this 5 stars? Reading this book feels like love at first sight.
pickI‘m a sucker for books with characters I fall in love with, in one way or another. This book is not that. Oyeyemi‘s rich language and twisting narrative compelled me to read on, regardless. In fact, her prose has possibly ruined lesser writing for me for a while.
pickWhat a devilishly twisting narrative. The book unfolds itself slowly as you read seemingly disparate stories with a dawning realization of what is actually going on the further you go. To say what this book was about would spoil what it attempts to do, so just appreciate that the narrative is enthralling all on its own surface level. Probably Squidapus' favorite Oyeyemi novel as it deals with a subject that any artist or writer would resonate with
#Booked2018 First Season
5/6 prompts complete; which isn‘t bad since my goal was only 3 prompts. 🎉🎊🎉
Part 1 of 2: omg, the annual library book sale was awesome! I got three big tote bags of books for $18. And soooooo many great titles. The Terror in hardcover. Box Office Poison, which I can‘t find anywhere. The new Prince Charle bio. Ahhhhhhhh! 😃😍
pickHelen Oyeyemi has reworked Bluebeard into this complex and lyrical story that has an imaginary woman muse challenging Mr. Fox (aka Bluebeard aka a writer) about why women characters are so often subject to violence and murdered. It's fanciful and brutal and so beautifully written that I cannot *believe* Oyeyemi published it when she was 26!
I love the weird, whimsical writing of Helen Oyeyemi! Enjoying this one so far!
Starting this one!
so-soI wanted to like this book more. There were moments when I thought I was going to, and then...nope. I loved Oyeyemi's Boy, Snow, Bird, and this had potential. I loved Mary's voice and appreciated the exploration of violence against women in the stories, but overall, it left me frustrated.
pickExtremely happy that this worked out well for the #UnconventionalRomance prompt for #Booked2018.
Mr. Fox is in love (lust?) with his muse, Mary Foxe, who ends up coming too life. Their relationship changes the haunted, dark fairytale stories Mr. Fox writes, and seems to question what love really is. Meanwhile, Daphne Fox, the real wife of Mr. Fox, is trying to explore her actual feelings for Mr. Fox.
New (to me) books from Half Price Books!
I finished my reading challenge today, with over a month to spare! 🎉🎉🎉
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ One of the most original books I've ever read; a take on the Bluebeard folktale, but with a writer who kills off his female characters. I got sucked into each of the little stories within the book and fell in love with all of them. And it's so well-written! Definitely worth the read.
panThis book was one of those pay close attention or you'll be really confused. There were a lot of stories wrapped up in one big story and I didn't like the format. Mr. Fox killed all his heroines except for Mary Foxe. She was a weird character to follow. The only person I liked in this story was his wife Daphne and she wasn't that interesting herself. It wasn't for me. I couldn't figure out the point and just finished it to say I did.
WOW. I am almost done with this one in two sittings. Pretty sure I'll knock it out tomorrow, only 100 pages left. Thanks, @bookwrm526 for the recommendation and for lending!
pickSuch a strange book. Dark and twisty and funny and absolutely addicting.
Though I've never put it into words, I have certainly had this thought before. 😂
Am having a hard time putting this book down. #wonderwomanwednesday #diversereads #recommendsday
I don't think anyone writing today can do fairy tales better than Catherynne Valente. She's a genius! And there's a volume of A. S. Byatt, The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye (which of course I can't find right now), that is so beautiful it made me weep. Not cry, that's not poetic enough. 😜#fairytellretellings #photoadaynov16
Diving into my first Helen Oyeyemi.
