“The Icarus Girl,” Helen Oyeyemi
“The Icarus Girl,” Helen Oyeyemi
I decided to break with tradition in my reading and have just finished an outstanding novel by a not-white, not-dead, not-just-British person. Helen Oyeyemi is, in fact, like her protagonist, a living half-Nigerian, half-Brit.
I officially hate her. She wrote this novel before her nineteenth birthday and just graduated from Cambridge in 2006. Jealous much, Catbird? *pout*
Plot basics: “The Icarus Girl” tells the story of an eight-year-old little girl with a Nigerian mother and a British father. Jessamy is precocious to the point of brilliance, and an outcast at school, partially for her inexplicable panic attacks & screaming and partially for her bi-racial heritage. Over the summer, her parents take her to Nigeria for the first time to meet her Nigerian family. While there, Jess makes her first friend. It becomes increasingly unclear if Titiola (whose name Jess can’t pronounce & she calls TillyTilly) is another little girl, an imaginary friend, or a supernatural being from Nigerian mythology. TillyTilly’s role in Jessamy’s life becomes increasingly sinister and her friend reveals strange powers. (Okay, no more spoilers.)
This novel is outstanding. Its treatment of racism is moving and subtle and Jessamy is a shockingly credible eight-year-old in a way few adults can write. Oyeyemi’s offers a fascinating depiction of the problems facing a family that is not only bi-racial, but international. The friction between her mother’s Nigerian parenting attitudes and her father’s British ones are sympathetic and I loved both of her parents, though her dad won a special place in my heart.
Dualities, light/dark symbolism, Nigerian mythology, etc . . . The book is very literary without being dry. It is lyrical, suspenseful and intense. Outstanding. I highly recommend it.
5/5
I decided to break with tradition in my reading and have just finished an outstanding novel by a not-white, not-dead, not-just-British person. Helen Oyeyemi is, in fact, like her protagonist, a living half-Nigerian, half-Brit.
I officially hate her. She wrote this novel before her nineteenth birthday and just graduated from Cambridge in 2006. Jealous much, Catbird? *pout*
Plot basics: “The Icarus Girl” tells the story of an eight-year-old little girl with a Nigerian mother and a British father. Jessamy is precocious to the point of brilliance, and an outcast at school, partially for her inexplicable panic attacks & screaming and partially for her bi-racial heritage. Over the summer, her parents take her to Nigeria for the first time to meet her Nigerian family. While there, Jess makes her first friend. It becomes increasingly unclear if Titiola (whose name Jess can’t pronounce & she calls TillyTilly) is another little girl, an imaginary friend, or a supernatural being from Nigerian mythology. TillyTilly’s role in Jessamy’s life becomes increasingly sinister and her friend reveals strange powers. (Okay, no more spoilers.)
This novel is outstanding. Its treatment of racism is moving and subtle and Jessamy is a shockingly credible eight-year-old in a way few adults can write. Oyeyemi’s offers a fascinating depiction of the problems facing a family that is not only bi-racial, but international. The friction between her mother’s Nigerian parenting attitudes and her father’s British ones are sympathetic and I loved both of her parents, though her dad won a special place in my heart.
Dualities, light/dark symbolism, Nigerian mythology, etc . . . The book is very literary without being dry. It is lyrical, suspenseful and intense. Outstanding. I highly recommend it.
5/5