The back cover of Boy, Snow, Bird says that it "recasts the 'Snow White' fairy tale," but that's not quite true. The story does have a central character named Snow Whitman whose stepmother sends her away, but it also has allusions to other fairy tales like the Three Blind Mice and Cinderella. The fairy tale elements provide color rather than an organizing principle.
Once every few chapters, all of the pieces come together beautifully: the prose, the themes, and the plot. The first chapter is wonderful, as is the chapter introducing the first major plot twist. Between them, however, I felt like the story drifted aimlessly. And the last plot twist was a twist too far, in my opinion.
Stripped of its fairy tale trappings, Boy, Snow, Bird is a story about the ethics of "passing" -- light-skinned blacks passing as white. The saddest incident came when Boy, the obviously colored daughter who reveals the family's race, dresses as Alice in Wonderland for Halloween but everyone sees her as a housekeeper or washerwoman. This episode clearly relates to the fraught relationship the characters have with mirrors.
I was also intrigued by the characterization of the "evil" stepmother as being evil "not powers of darkness or something you can protect yourself from with crosses and holy water... [but she would] find someone who was unhappy, and once she'd found them she'd use her gift to make it worse." She avoided happy people.
I should also mention that the cover of the paperback edition is beautifully designed.
Once every few chapters, all of the pieces come together beautifully: the prose, the themes, and the plot. The first chapter is wonderful, as is the chapter introducing the first major plot twist. Between them, however, I felt like the story drifted aimlessly. And the last plot twist was a twist too far, in my opinion.
Stripped of its fairy tale trappings, Boy, Snow, Bird is a story about the ethics of "passing" -- light-skinned blacks passing as white. The saddest incident came when Boy, the obviously colored daughter who reveals the family's race, dresses as Alice in Wonderland for Halloween but everyone sees her as a housekeeper or washerwoman. This episode clearly relates to the fraught relationship the characters have with mirrors.
I was also intrigued by the characterization of the "evil" stepmother as being evil "not powers of darkness or something you can protect yourself from with crosses and holy water... [but she would] find someone who was unhappy, and once she'd found them she'd use her gift to make it worse." She avoided happy people.
I should also mention that the cover of the paperback edition is beautifully designed.
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