Mr Fox (2011) by Helen Oyeyemi is a fantastic read. It is a re-telling of the Bluebeard story.
The book tells the story of Mr Fox, Daphne Fox and Mary Foxe. Mr Fox is a writer who is lost in his imagination and has been for a while. He has created a love interest in Mary Foxe and he finds himself confused about whether he loves Mary or his wife Daphne more. Daphne is at a loss as to how to bring him back from this escape from reality in a bid to save their marriage.
I found the book very well-written. I got very engrossed in it very quickly. There was a mixture of a contemporary style of writing with a classic style of writing which I think worked very well for the book. It felt almost claustrophobic in parts. I found the characters very interesting and I felt very connected to Daphne’s struggle to save her marriage. She was my favourite character. The book had a lot about social issues in it. How women are treated in society by men. How women are blamed for the violence men unleash on them. How Mr Fox is always killing women in his stories and how he seems to love these two women in a strange way but not respect them.
The dialogue in the book flows very well. The characters are very well-rounded. Nothing seemed contrived and the story flowed very well. I found the story within a story within a story style really ambitious but I think it was very polished. I admired how the author brought it all together because it seemed like a lot! 🙂 I could imagine the amount of research, time and work which went into this plot so I found that very admirable.
An amazing read.
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