3.2 out of 4.
A book unlike anything I have ever read or knew existed.
I have never in my life done any type of drug but after reading “What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours” I might as well say I was on a trip the entire time while reading it. Wow, Helen Oyeyemi has quite an imagination and a lot of the stories made my jaw drop with the twists and underlying chill factor. However, I bet a lot of her most icy sentences were lost on me because the writing is so challenging. Some of the words I didn’t even know were in the dictionary! Oyeyemi has quite a following with past books like, “Boy, Snow, Bird”, “Mr. Fox”, and “White is for Witching” so if you fall into her elite – bravo to you. You are a scholar. Maybe one day I will grow into that but for my reading level now – this was a feat.
There are nine short stories in this book and each one is from another planet. Since this book has not come out yet (for sale 3/8/2016) the number of people who read this are slim but I did get the idea from a few Goodread comments that these stories are all linked together with a common concept. Since I was on a cloud trying to piece everything together – I missed that connection. However, the spoiler alert is that the similar thread is that all the characters are connected through “a key” and this key has the ability to unlock truth, honesty, and freedom. In other words the stories are about finding one’s true self. A theme that I usually love! I just wish I could resonate with any of these characters in the stories so I could relate more. After putting this book down, I realized that I am not exposed to a lot of inventive writers and that may be why I was so green to all the plots. Honestly, the most out there thing I have read was Harry Potter. Which shows that I encourage crazy ideas like wizards (in Oyeyemi’s case there is a story about puppets coming alive) but her writing style is so advanced that it was hard to keep up with BOTH highly elevated writing and wild ideas. Know what I mean?
Can’t wait for this book to come out so I can hear what others think. As you can see my mind is still spinning from all the twists and turns Oyeyemi threw at me so hopefully by the release in March my head will calm down a bit to take in other’s points of views. Good luck to those that pick up “What Is Not Yours is Not Yours” it is a doozy but you will be smarter from having gone down the road less traveled..
