Please join us for a discussion of Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi led by Emily Vinci:
From the prizewinning author of Mr. Fox, the Snow White fairy tale brilliantly recast as a story of family secrets, race, beauty, and vanity.
In the winter of 1953, Boy Novak arrives by chance in a small town in Massachusetts, looking, she believes, for beauty—the opposite of the life she’s left behind in New York. She marries a local widower and becomes stepmother to his winsome daughter, Snow Whitman.
A wicked stepmother is a creature Boy never imagined she’d become, but elements of the familiar tale of aesthetic obsession begin to play themselves out when the birth of Boy’s daughter, Bird, who is dark-skinned, exposes the Whitmans as light-skinned African Americans passing for white. Among them, Boy, Snow, and Bird confront the tyranny of the mirror to ask how much power surfaces really hold.
Dazzlingly inventive and powerfully moving, Boy, Snow, Bird is an astonishing and enchanting novel. With breathtaking feats of imagination, Helen Oyeyemi confirms her place as one of the most original and dynamic literary voices of our time. (From the publisher.)
Awards
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist: 2014
New York Times Notable Book: 2014
International Dublin Literary Award Nominee: 2016
The discussion will be held:
Thursday, January 12, 2017
2-4 pm
Schaumburg Township District Library
RSVP to Emily Vinci: evinci@stdl.org
Please arrange to obtain your own copy of the book for the discussion
As always, discussion of the book includes a nuts-and-bolts session devoted to sharing practical solutions to the problems and concerns of book discussion leaders.
The Leadership Topic, led by Becky Spratford, will be about managing the group dynamic during book discussions. Becky will present some tips and tricks for making the experience of the discussion better. Please come ready to share your group dynamic issues, successes, and failures.