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| Boy, Snow, Bird |
by Helen Oyeyemi
A modern-day fairy tale, Boy, Snow, Bird takes place in
small town Massachusetts, 1953. Fleeing
an abusive father, Boy Novak arrives in Flax Hill and adopts it as her
home. She meets and marries Arturo
Whitman and becomes a mother to his beautiful daughter, Snow.
Snow’s goodness and beauty is legendary, and she’s often
treated like a delicate doll. At first
Boy is absolutely taken with her, but when her own daughter, Bird, is born, Boy
becomes, shockingly, the wicked stepmother. To Boy's surprise, Bird is dark-skinned. Her birth reveals deep secrets about the Whitman
family. Boy loves her daughter and cannot
stand the contrast between Bird and the perfect Snow. She sends Snow away, and Bird grows up
knowing little about her sister.
Helen Oyeyemi’s novel touches on dark family secrets. It features chilling scenes with Boy’s
father (the rat catcher), and later portrays a family that
shuns its own racial heritage. The final chapters reveal the strangest secret of all as Boy’s family ties are finally explored. The end will leave readers feeling breathless…
and wanting more.
