Boy, Snow, Bird

"Wanderer, there is no road, the road is made by walking."

Helen Oyeyemi

Boy, Snow, Bird

Over the past several years, the book market has been flooded with retellings of fairy tails. Which, frankly, is awesome. So when I saw there was a retelling of Snow White that was set in the 1950's with no magic I was instantly curious. Helen Oyeyemi, the only female and ethnic author that I have read so far in this study (I shall have to remedy that), delivers with Boy, Snow, Bird.

This story follows the character of Boys, blond, beautiful, and otherworldly, after she runs away from her home in New York with her father, the rat catcher. There she meets a jeweler with a beautiful daughter, Snow. They get married and the arrival of their first child shows that Boys new husbands family, are light skinned African Americans passing for white in an age of segregation. The story follows Boys attempts to raise the two girls, and to overcome the expectations set on the family due to the color of their skin.

This book was charming and something all together new. I was very impressed, as most of it is told from Boys point of view, the point of view of the wicked step mother. She is completely human, and relateable. She makes mistakes and she fixes them, and she never is cast as wicked, which was wonderful. Her daughter Bird, adds a wonderful foil to her, and the two characters play off of each other magnificently. There are also a few Anansi stories included in the book, which was a great link back to the fantasy the Neil Gaiman spun together a few weeks ago.

Charming, and a quick read, I recommend this book. It is the book selection for my book group, the Rebel Alliance, for the month of April and I am very excited to see what they thought.