Writers of Color Book Club discussion

In this discussion board we will discuss part one of Boy, Snow, Bird (page 3-144.)

Please indicate if your comment includes spoilers!

Let us know your expectations of the novel, and how you are liking it so far!

I have thoughts!
Up until page 100, I really thought that the writing style was hard to follow in some places and the logic and motivations of some of the characters didn't make sense to me. (view spoiler)[After Boy and Arturo get married and the mysterious sister reveals herself, things start to seem more coherent. (hide spoiler)]

I also had some trouble with the style at first! I find it was a bit disconnected.

But I grew to like the style, even though the characters confused me quite a bit. It kind of felt like a fairy tale, at least the tone (it was slightly mysterious...)

I just finished part one and it's taken a much better turn!

I'm curious to see what you think of part 2!

I can't wait to see what the mysterious sister, Clara is like.

I thought the exact opposite of Part 1, I felt like this section was more clear in plot and tone than the other sections. Boy seems a bit too vapid and wishy washy to me to make a real good protagonists. I'm interested to see what you all think of Part 2.

Questiion: Have you found any connection to Boy and the Evil Queen in Snow White? (view spoiler)[ I thought that maybe Boy's connection to the Queen has to do with the mirrors maybe, but I can't figure it out. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ BTW I really assumed by some random thought that Boy was going to be the one who was masquerading as a White woman since it is usually the woman in a novel who chooses to pass opposed to men. So I was extremely interested in the "passing" aspect of the story to see how Oyeyemi used it from a male's perspective. (hide spoiler)]

Adira wrote: "I thought the exact opposite of Part 1, I felt like this section was more clear in plot and tone than the other sections. Boy seems a bit too vapid and wishy washy to me to make a real good protago..."

(view spoiler)[ You know, when she sent Snow away I was thinking that she was the evil Queen in this version of the story, the wicked stepmother... (hide spoiler)]

The part with the mirrors kind of confused me, to be honest...

Elli (The Bibliophile) wrote: "The part with the mirrors kind of confused me, to be honest..."

Same here! :/

I'm on page 80 right now. I quite like the first part. The writing flows very well, and I'm generally interested in how characters who are normally portrayed as "evil" develope.

I thought the mirrors were a foreshadowing technique. I assumed it would play a larger part later in the book and would be a theme carried through the narrative. You know the whole "Mirror, mirror on the wall who's the fairest of them all bit." Based on where I am in the book it's already clear that Boy is jealous of Julia and Snow's beauty.

I find the issues of beauty and body image which have already been brought up interesting. (view spoiler)[Boy doesn't have anything going for her in life aside from her looks. It's clear she doesn't value herself much and has self worth issues based on her childhood. She doesn't seem to value her appearance, but is aware others value it. It also makes me wonder how reliable she is as a narrator. Boy acts pretty vapid and vain, but in her internal dialog insists she's not. (hide spoiler)]

Nicole wrote: "I'm on page 80 right now. I quite like the first part. The writing flows very well, and I'm generally interested in how characters who are normally portrayed as "evil" develope.

I thought the mirr..."

I thought the same of her as a narrator!
Maybe I wasn't paying that much attention but is it said that Boy was beautiful? or did it say she was pretty plain-looking. I know there was a part int he beginning that said she could be described as having "sharp features"?

Lynecia wrote: "Nicole wrote: "I'm on page 80 right now. I quite like the first part. The writing flows very well, and I'm generally interested in how characters who are normally portrayed as "evil" develope.

I t..."

Boy never says she's beautiful directly, but I surmised that she is. Based on (view spoiler)[the reactions she describes of how the boys in high school reacted to her, the fact that Webster asks her to go on double dates as opposed another girl at the boarding house (despite Boy's dubious social skills,) and the reasons given for why she was hired for her various jobs (employer's claiming she has the "look" or "voice" or whatever non-quantifiable skill they're looking for.) (hide spoiler)]

For the most part, I felt Boy's direct descriptions of herself were based on insecurity and/or trying to appear modest. Until the last bit I read (view spoiler)[which was the tea party seen with the mother, sister, and former mother in-law. There Boy muses about aging beautifully and suggests she wants to age beautifully (which implies she perceives herself as beautiful.) (hide spoiler)]

It might be worth while to check out the original Grimm fairy tale. It's been a long time since I read it, but I remember it being all about beauty and jealousy. And the description of Snow and her age in the book match up with the fairy tale.

Nicole wrote: "Lynecia wrote: "Nicole wrote: "I'm on page 80 right now. I quite like the first part. The writing flows very well, and I'm generally interested in how characters who are normally portrayed as "evil..."

Ah yes! (this is why I love reading books with others! I didn't pick up on that!) you're totally right. She downplayed her looks (view spoiler)[but said that the boys went wild over her, and when she went to get the hosting gig that called for beautiful women, she got it. and I think it could explain why Arturo married her, even though he supposedly "couldn't stand her" (hide spoiler)]

While I read this book a little while ago. I remember I was okay with Part One of the book. But once I finished the book this was my favorite part of the three parts.

Also the book blurbs had mentioned it was a retelling of Snow White but for me I found that it was more about using elements/techniques used in Snow White to tell this story.

Yes, we will learn definitely learn more about the mirrors in later parts of the book.

But mirrors give us a reflection of who were are and sometimes we look to mirrors to reaffirm who we are and at times we avoid mirrors because we do not like who we are or do not want to see what is in the mirror.

So as happened in the fairytale - Mirror Mirror on the wall, etc - it was the reply that was important as the same question gets asked each time.

I never connected the fact of Boy being jealous of Snow and Julia to their beauty. I think this is because I always saw this character as being described as beautiful too since like Nicole points out, she gets treated as such and always hints that she believes that she is.

For me, I thought the dislike of Julia came from her still having a presence in the Whitman's house/lives. In terms of Boy's hatred of Snow, (view spoiler)[ I thought it had to do with Snow being the token light-skinned grandchild whereas, Bird (who is Boy's daughter) was born dark-skinned and Boy wanted to protect her own child from the Grandmother's scrutiny. (hide spoiler)] Overall, I do agree with the group that Boy seems like a two-sided character that isn't to be trusted yet, (view spoiler)[ I'm not sure if Oyeyemi ever solidifies this point in the entirety of her novel. (hide spoiler)] I'm excited for everyone to get to part 3 so we can discuss the action there.

**********Minor spoilers from part 3.**************

I finished off the first part yesterday. A few general thoughts, I'm a little suprised at how those of you who have already finished have rated this book kind of low. I quite like it so far, it makes the remaining 2/3 of the book a bit ominous. Boy is super oblivious, and it makes me wonder what she's not telling us. I'm curious about how the plots which involve the Rat Catcher and Charlie will be resolved. The Rat Catcher gets mentioned an awful lot for a character who isn't even in the same place.

Speculation: I figure Charlie will turn out to be (view spoiler)[the huntsmen from the Snow White story. I think something terrible will happen to Snow. Especially after the bit where Boy was thinking they should abduct Snow and run away together, like what was that??? (hide spoiler)]

That said, Oyeyemi is developing an awful lot of plots for such a short book. I suspect one of them will end up getting short changed.

A couple of thoughts on the last chapter in response to Adira: (view spoiler)[ I felt Boy sent Snow away as a means of punishing the Whitman's for lying to her. Her in-laws withheld a major secret from her and would have continued lying to her until they got caught, I'd be pissed too! I think she correctly identified Snow as the best way to hurt them, but I think Boy liked Snow enough that she didn't want to go full on Rat Catcher on Snow and sent her away instead. I'm sure race and skin color played into the decision either consciously or unconsciously, but if the decision was all about race, I think she would have sent Bird away instead. While Boy holds many racist ideas, they seem to be more a product of her society than anything else. She strikes me as a person who never really considered race and it's impact on society until she was forced to. (hide spoiler)]

Nicole wrote: "I finished off the first part yesterday. A few general thoughts, I'm a little suprised at how those of you who have already finished have rated this book kind of low. I quite like it so far, it mak..."

Agreed! Boy doesn't seem like a character who acts malicious based on her views of race, she just seems to be an opportunists. (view spoiler)[ I just got frustrated with that whole scene for why the Whitman's passed. No one, but the mom was even phased by the fact that they had been caught. Snow was an innocent bystander and basically just ended up in the crossfire. This character just seems to be an airy type of person who's not really meant to be anything, but ethereal and an image of purity. I want her to do something drastic by the book ends just to shake things up. (hide spoiler)]

I agree with you guys, RE: Boy not being malicious. It also seemed (view spoiler)[that she sent Snow away in order to hurt the Whitman's but also because she started to resent the little girl and wanted to protect her from her resentment. (hide spoiler)]

What I found was kind of confusing when I found out this was a retelling of Snow White is that, like others have said, Boy doesnt seem malicious. I found the relationship between Snow and Boy overall quite underdeveloped. Or, at least, I wanted more.

The relationship had so much promise during the second portion when Snow wanted Boy to rescue her from the "monsters" and her dad sent her back to bed. Then, it took a nosedive and grounded to a halt. (view spoiler)[That whole second half of the book left me confused and looking for the rest of the book's plot. (hide spoiler)]

Instead of being a title character, Snow seemed like a side character in the drama. It was almost like she had no inner life at all - we only just knew what Boy said about her. She was so under used and under developed. :/