Gingerbread

A Novel

By: Helen Oyeyemi

Narrated by: Helen Oyeyemi

Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

"Exhilarating.... A wildly imagined, head-spinning, deeply intelligent novel." (The New York Times Book Review)

"[W]ildly inventive.... [Helen Oyeyemi's] prose is not without its playful bite." (Vogue)

The prize-winning, best-selling author of Boy, Snow, Bird, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, and Peaces returns with a bewitching and imaginative novel.

Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories, beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites listeners into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe.

Perdita Lee may appear to be your average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing, they share a gold-painted seventh-floor walk-up apartment with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread they make. Londoners may find themselves able to take or leave it, but it's very popular in Druhástrana, the faraway (or, according to many sources, nonexistent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. The world's truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread, however, is Harriet's charismatic childhood friend Gretel Kercheval - a figure who seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met.

Decades later, when teenaged Perdita sets out to find her mother's long-lost friend, it prompts a new telling of Harriet's story. As the book follows the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work, wealth, and real estate, gingerbread seems to be the one thing that reliably holds a constant value. Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi's inimitable style and imagination, it is a true feast for the listener.

©2019 Helen Oyeyemi (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Both stunningly beautiful and breathtakingly original... [Oyeyemi’s] imagination, it turns out, is as boundless as her talent. Literary fiction is often knocked for being dismal and cynical, but Oyeyemi proves that it can just as easily be life-affirming, charming and just plain fun. Gingerbread is an enchanting masterpiece by an author who's refreshingly unafraid to be joyful, and it proves that Oyeyemi is one of the best English-language authors in the world today." (Michael Schaub, NPR)

"Exhilarating...Gingerbread is jarring, funny, surprising, unsettling, disorienting and rewarding.... This is a wildly imagined, head-spinning, deeply intelligent novel that requires some effort and attention from its reader. And that is just one of its many pleasures." (New York Times Book Review)

"[T]he novel's real enchantment is its experimentation with storytelling itself...this book is not only about childhood, but also what it feels like to be a child." (Time)

Narration difficult to follow

The narrator, tho has a cute sounding voice, tends to split and speak much too fast. Lacks enunciation. Very difficult to follow.

Beautiful writing - good narration

I don't usually enjoy books narrated by the author, but Helen Oyeyemi's voice really grew on me throughout the recording. I can't imagine anyone else voicing Perdita. I love magical realism and Oyeyemi's writing is beautiful. There were a couple of places in the middle where I kind of got lost, but it always managed to pull me back in. Loved the creativity!

I felt like I fell down the rabbit hole

I wouldn't recommend this book unless you really like fantastic alternative facts with the world turning upside down...

Maybe it would have been different if I had read the book or at least had a copy of the book while I listened

qAt the end of the book, the one thing I could say is "my brain hurt"

The most beautifully written pile of nonsense ever.

I’m not sure how to describe my strong reaction to this book... the performance was perfect and the writing is stunningly beautiful and gripping... and yet, I really disliked this story. The plot was nonsensical and there entire time I was hoping it would somehow form a story arc soon... or that it would just end. Eventually it did the latter.

Um what?

I honestly couldn’t tell you what this was about. It’s cute and quirky, but honestly...

A promising beginning that peters out

If only this author had the chops to follow through on the magical reality which she creates in the beginning of the book.
There are elements of fantasy, mystery, psycho active drugs versus magic.
She winds up never using or explaining these.
Best plan: get this book, listen to half of it and lose the rest.
Whatever story you make up to explain the mystery is goings-on in the beginning will be better than the non-ending miss the actual book gives you.
I hope Helen Oyeyemi writes another book. And she doesn’t get tired of it in the middle next time.

Engrossing but a touch confusing

I really enjoyed this book, despite massive confusion at times (it seems to be written purposely that way, however, as the confusion always resolves itself). The book and storytelling is enchanting, clever, and contemporary.

Intriguing but Unimpressive

I love an alternative take on a fairy tale but this story has too much going on and yet somehow at the same time not enough to keep me hooked. I was simultaneously confused and underwhelmed. Not bad, but disappointing after high expectations.

Hard to follow and formulaic

This “book” reads like an attempt at a screenplay for the next CW teen series. The narrator can only do one voice, so the whirlwind of underdeveloped characters is impossible to keep up with as well.

I hate to bash someone’s art but….

What in all things holy is this fever dream of a word salad that I willingly paid for and tried to sift through? This book is one of the worst things I’ve ever read and it’s the first book in my 45 years that I didn’t finish, despite my best efforts to torture myself. This book is horrid and should be called Fruitcake, not Gingerbread, because it’s so bad.