Gingerbread

A Novel

De: Helen Oyeyemi

Narrado por: Helen Oyeyemi

"Exhilarating.... A wildly imagined, head-spinning, deeply intelligent novel." (The New York Times Book Review)

"[W]ildly inventive.... [Helen Oyeyemi's] prose is not without its playful bite." (Vogue)

The prize-winning, best-selling author of Boy, Snow, Bird, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, and Peaces returns with a bewitching and imaginative novel.

Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories, beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites listeners 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 faraway (or, according to many sources, nonexistent) 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 listener.

©2019 Helen Oyeyemi (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Both stunningly beautiful and breathtakingly original... [Oyeyemi’s] imagination, it turns out, is as boundless as her talent. Literary fiction is often knocked for being dismal and cynical, but Oyeyemi proves that it can just as easily be life-affirming, charming and just plain fun. Gingerbread is an enchanting masterpiece by an author who's refreshingly unafraid to be joyful, and it proves that Oyeyemi is one of the best English-language authors in the world today." (Michael Schaub, NPR)

"Exhilarating...Gingerbread is jarring, funny, surprising, unsettling, disorienting and rewarding.... This is a wildly imagined, head-spinning, deeply intelligent novel that requires some effort and attention from its reader. And that is just one of its many pleasures." (New York Times Book Review)

"[T]he novel's real enchantment is its experimentation with storytelling itself...this book is not only about childhood, but also what it feels like to be a child." (Time)

Narration difficult to follow

The narrator, tho has a cute sounding voice, tends to split and speak much too fast. Lacks enunciation. Very difficult to follow.

Slow to capture me but in the end I savored it

Well... weird indeed and hard to parse but there are truths and themes that seem all the more real and universal and evocative for being strange and just out of reach. Both a parable in its symbolism and a fanciful tale about serious emotions and life’s trials, I heartily recommend hanging in there when at first it all makes no sense and seems bent on purposeful confusion! You will be rewarded. And now off to bake some gingerbread!

Beautiful writing - good narration

I don't usually enjoy books narrated by the author, but Helen Oyeyemi's voice really grew on me throughout the recording. I can't imagine anyone else voicing Perdita. I love magical realism and Oyeyemi's writing is beautiful. There were a couple of places in the middle where I kind of got lost, but it always managed to pull me back in. Loved the creativity!

I felt like I fell down the rabbit hole

I wouldn't recommend this book unless you really like fantastic alternative facts with the world turning upside down...

Maybe it would have been different if I had read the book or at least had a copy of the book while I listened

qAt the end of the book, the one thing I could say is "my brain hurt"

Exquisite

This book, and the narration by the author, are simply exquisite. It is not a quick read/listen, it's more something to savor in small increments. Give yourself time to digest this story. Also, the review by purplebrain gets it right - the author's voice is absolutely vital to the story. This is one of the few times I would say it is more important to listen than to read. I would love to explore this author's other works, but won't until she herself records them.

love and confusion

i think I loved it, and I have no idea what just happened. immediate reread.

Beautifully confounding!

Helen Oyeyemi reads her wonderfully unusual tale in the way it deserves -- with voice and pacing that keeps you in it throughout. I can't promise you will keep the multitude of characters straight, but it's a great ride. More than once I found myself smiling and shaking my head, but also shedding a tear at the end.

Um what?

I honestly couldn’t tell you what this was about. It’s cute and quirky, but honestly...

Engrossing but a touch confusing

I really enjoyed this book, despite massive confusion at times (it seems to be written purposely that way, however, as the confusion always resolves itself). The book and storytelling is enchanting, clever, and contemporary.

Maybe the best book I've read ever?

Descriptions that you know to be true, but hadn't put into words before that moment.