Gingerbread

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Oyeyemi, Helen, Adult Book / Fiction / General / Oyeyemi, Helen
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Oyeyemi, Helen	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Oyeyemi, Helen	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Oyeyemi, Helen	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Oyeyemi, Helen	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Oyeyemi, Helen	4-week checkout	Due 03-25-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Oyeyemi, Helen	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Oyeyemi, Helen	4-week checkout	Due 05-19-2024

"The prize-winning, bestselling author of Boy, Snow, Bird and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours returns with a bewitching and inventive novel. Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories, 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 Druhástrana, the far-away (or, according to many sources, non-existent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. The world's truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread, however, 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."-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Dark, fairy-tale inspired, exceptionally well written submitted by Sumerton on June 18, 2019, 5:13pm To start: Helen Oyeyemi is not for everyone. Her books are dark, strange, and require a good deal of attention from the reader. She tackles big themes in a way that does not tell you what you are supposed to think, and she creates weird and sinister landscapes from fairy-tale lore. She is also extremely, darkly funny. I highly recommend this book for readers who like to draw their own conclusions, who enjoy satire and social commentary, and who like to invest a lot of time and thought into a book.

Gingerbread submitted by nemiller on August 25, 2020, 11:33am My favorite book by Oyeyemi yet.

Intricate, interweaving intercultural stories. A sense of the fantastic, of danger and of wonder. A story of many kinds of love, and not just romantic. What it means to be true to yourself, and what it means to belong. Beautifully written, deeply felt, and very very funny. This book is just so so so good.

I found this book more surreal than her other books that I've read, and I had to let go of understanding everything as it happened, just let things just fall into place. I suspect this book will be a fantastic re-read, too, now that I know where everything leads up to.