Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi: a review

This was one of the more wintery/Christmassy books that I picked up for the end of the year. While it’s not explicitly linked to either, there is something about fairy tales, and spiced sweet treats that evoke the holiday spirit.

            Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi is an unusual tale. It’s part fairy tale, part family drama, using magical realism in some wonderfully unusual ways. I’d usually go a little more into the plot, but I feel like it’s one you have to experience for yourself by going in somewhat blind.

            I genuinely don’t know how to feel about this book. It’s objectively good, brilliant even, but for some reason I found myself unable to really focus on it. That’s not to say I wasn’t invested and that I didn’t enjoy it, but rather that sometimes I just felt like I was reading it because I knew I had to get it finished by a certain date.

            I think I want to come back to this at some point in the future to see if it’s the book or just me, but deadlines rarely dampen my enjoyment of a book too much. I want to come back and read it in shorter bursts and savour it.

            The story and concepts raised in this are brilliant. I love that you’re just put into this world. The logic of the world isn’t introduced to you so much as you just find yourself happy to go along with it. It genuinely is a brilliant book, and I think I just need to give it another chance.

            I do recommend exploring this book for yourself. It’s a strange and beautiful experience that should be enjoyed by many.