The key to a house, the key to a heart, the key to a secret—Oyeyemi’s keys not only unlock elements of her characters’ lives, they promise further labyrinths on the other side. In “Books and Roses” one special key opens a library, a garden, and clues to at least two lovers’ fates. In “Is Your Blood as Red as This?” an unlikely key opens the heart of a student at a puppeteering school. “‘Sorry’ Doesn’t Sweeten Her Tea” involves a “house of locks,” where doors can be closed only with a key—with surprising, unobservable developments. And in “If a Book Is Locked There’s Probably a Good Reason for That Don't You Think,” a key keeps a mystical diary locked (for good reason).
Oyeyemi’s tales span multiple times and landscapes as they tease boundaries between coexisting realities. Is a key a gate, a gift, or an invitation?
Review:
I read this book because Simon from The Readers podcast mentioned it on his Booktube (aka YouTube) review. It's mid-December and I haven't quite completed my Goodreads 2016 Reading Challenge so I've been seeking out titles to help me accomplish that. I'm glad I decided to actually read it because I enjoyed it very much.
The book is a collection of short stories. Although they are all meant to have the theme of keys, there were a few where the key wasn't as obvious to me as in the others. The stories are lightly interconnected; characters from other stories are mentioned but play no part in the story you're reading. Simon mentions that they are fairy tale-like and there are some where this is more obvious, especially the one with the red cape and the "wolf". However, none of them seem to me to be retellings of the "famous" (Western world) fairy tales. They just require a certain amount of suspension of disbelief because of the tangled realities.
Because it is a book of short stories, I found it hard to follow the plot/story sometimes because of short, interrupted reading (a short lunch break, for example). But I found the writing compelling, even in the weird stories that I didn't "get", enough to continue reading.
As a single (aromantic asexual) white female, I wholeheartedly enjoyed the fluidity of gender relationships in this book. This book talks indirectly about romantic relationships as if the ideal world already existed where the gender of who you love is irrelevant. In a book where labels were not affixed, it made me realize that the labels for same-sex relationships are too harsh for what they represent. Especially in this book where relationships are not always the focus of the story/plot.
The first story in the collection, "Books and Roses", was my absolute favourite. I LOVED it. I took a break after reading it just so I could contemplate the various threads and how they interwove.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fairy tales that aren't exactly fairy tales, light fantasy, and/or short stories in general.
Read on,
Paula
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