Riverhead Books, September 2011
A true literary novel, Helen Oyeyemi's Mr. Fox calls for the same sort of intentional reading as books by Angela Carter, which it resembles in many ways, with its fairy tale elements and compelling mixture of violence, love, and beauty.
Although in interviews Oyeyemi is totally forthright and charming, the situations in Mr. Fox are nowhere near as transparent - because they tell the story of love. Mr. Fox is a writer who kills off the heroines of his novels, which his wife, Daphne, finds upsetting. She wants him to stop, but he can't, or won't. When his muse, Mary Foxe, comes to life, they begin to write and rewrite the stories, changing Mr. Fox. As these stories are told, Mr. Fox learns something about his love for Daphne and he struggles with his desire for the vivacious, delightfully inappropriate Mary. It becomes a true love triangle when Mary and Daphne meet. Although I didn't always understand where the novel was heading, its emotion is completely authentic. Oyeyemi expertly captures how people feel when they're in love, both good and bad.
Perhaps the best description of the novel's events is magical. But that doesn't mean they're all happy. In fact, there's quite a bit of violence, mostly perpetrated upon women by men. Nevertheless, Oyeyemi's writing is transformative. It's as insightful about regular human life as F. Scott Fitzgerald or Henry James:
A true literary novel, Helen Oyeyemi's Mr. Fox calls for the same sort of intentional reading as books by Angela Carter, which it resembles in many ways, with its fairy tale elements and compelling mixture of violence, love, and beauty.
Although in interviews Oyeyemi is totally forthright and charming, the situations in Mr. Fox are nowhere near as transparent - because they tell the story of love. Mr. Fox is a writer who kills off the heroines of his novels, which his wife, Daphne, finds upsetting. She wants him to stop, but he can't, or won't. When his muse, Mary Foxe, comes to life, they begin to write and rewrite the stories, changing Mr. Fox. As these stories are told, Mr. Fox learns something about his love for Daphne and he struggles with his desire for the vivacious, delightfully inappropriate Mary. It becomes a true love triangle when Mary and Daphne meet. Although I didn't always understand where the novel was heading, its emotion is completely authentic. Oyeyemi expertly captures how people feel when they're in love, both good and bad.
Perhaps the best description of the novel's events is magical. But that doesn't mean they're all happy. In fact, there's quite a bit of violence, mostly perpetrated upon women by men. Nevertheless, Oyeyemi's writing is transformative. It's as insightful about regular human life as F. Scott Fitzgerald or Henry James:
"Katherine is completely different from me, and it's more than just the fact that her father's money will erode her until she is no longer abrasive to the rest of her social set, until she is able to mingle and marry amongst them quite contentedly."
But the book handles the emotions of a fox and a woman in love just as easily. "She [the woman] told him that she had looked after him [the red fox] because of the white hairs on his forehead that grew into the shape of a star. Sometimes you see that someone is marked and you're helpless after that-you love. She wanted to tell him that, but she decided it was better not to. He hadn't known that there were such hairs on his forehead, or that such a thing could be of significance. She sat and he lay near her, and a little time passed, quiet and bright."
The stories in this book move seamlessly from one to the other, always advancing the thread of Mr. Fox's relationships with Mary and Daphne, but they also work as individual narratives. Mary Foxe tutors a teenager to protect her from her parents' lifestyle; a Yoruba woman loves an Englishman, kills him, and brings him back to life; a woman dies on an airplane; St. John Fox is jealous of Daphne's friend John Pizarsky; a girl hides her heart, literally; another girl befriends a soldier but damages her mother's reputation; and a fox and a woman fall in love. How do these stories make a coherent narrative? It's truly like magic, but Oyeyemi achieves it, and this book is worth reading to understand how - with your heart rather than your head.
But the book handles the emotions of a fox and a woman in love just as easily. "She [the woman] told him that she had looked after him [the red fox] because of the white hairs on his forehead that grew into the shape of a star. Sometimes you see that someone is marked and you're helpless after that-you love. She wanted to tell him that, but she decided it was better not to. He hadn't known that there were such hairs on his forehead, or that such a thing could be of significance. She sat and he lay near her, and a little time passed, quiet and bright."
The stories in this book move seamlessly from one to the other, always advancing the thread of Mr. Fox's relationships with Mary and Daphne, but they also work as individual narratives. Mary Foxe tutors a teenager to protect her from her parents' lifestyle; a Yoruba woman loves an Englishman, kills him, and brings him back to life; a woman dies on an airplane; St. John Fox is jealous of Daphne's friend John Pizarsky; a girl hides her heart, literally; another girl befriends a soldier but damages her mother's reputation; and a fox and a woman fall in love. How do these stories make a coherent narrative? It's truly like magic, but Oyeyemi achieves it, and this book is worth reading to understand how - with your heart rather than your head.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
