** spoiler alert ** As in many books by Ms. Oyeyemi there is a tangled plot, hero and villain confusion, and a changing set of narrators. In this case, that last is part of the trick. Because you often don't know who is telling the story until well into each narrative. Narrators change within the chapters, and there are at least three here, Miranda's brother, Eliot. Her African-immigrant lover from Cambridge, Ore, and the house she grew up in, 29 Barton Road. Since I'm hiding these spoilers I guess I can tell you that the house is the villain, though she tries to explain herself. She has captured and held (thus virtually killing) several generations of women in Miri's family, and now she's after her next victim. The men are no use at all, cowardly, distracted, sad, and worthless; and witches (who are an interesting red-herring/scare-tactic - maybe) are not the real threat either - maybe.
Helen Oyeyemi is one of my favorite authors. Her writing is beautiful, her stories are original and unpredictable, and her commentary is amazing. So read this book, probably with the lights on all night. Because, you never know when the next scare is about to take hold of you.
BTW - HINT: When you finish the book go back and read the introductory chapters over again.
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Top reviews from other countries
Johanna
A queer, multi-layered, poetic, vampiric gothic novel with a twist!
Reviewed in Germany on February 2, 2022
Johanna
Reviewed in Germany on February 2, 2022
where is miranda?
With this sentence we are thrown into the happenings around the Silver House in Dover. And believe me when I say, I went right back to this sentence once I had finished the book – because it is perfectly cyclical. We are introduced to Ore and Eliot, as well as the rather odd concept of “29 barton road”. It took a while for me to understand, that it really is the house talking there. Perspective changes in the text aren’t marked, so it can be confusing at first, who might be talking in a given passage. But I made a game of it and tried to guess it by the first sentence. Usually, it becomes clear sooner or later, though the “I”-perspective of everyone but Miranda doesn’t make it any easier.
Summary
Miri and Eliot are twins, whose mother died recently in Haiti while working. Now they live with their father in the Silver House, which was turned into a B&B. After news of their mother’s death came, something happened that put Miri in a mental health clinic. She has been suffering from pica – an eating disorder, in which people consume things not meant for consumption, in Miri’s case mostly chalk. The house gets stranger everyday, something the new housekeeper Sade, a Nigerian woman, notices as well. Young men with migration background are stabbed in Dover, which Tijana, whose cousin was stabbed, but survived, thinks is Miri’s fault. Miri and Eliot apply to Cambridge, but only Miri gets in. There, we meet Ore, who first befriends Tijana, who got into Cambridge as well. Later Miri and Ore grow closer and get together. However, this relationship seems to harm them – Miri’s vampiric essence peeks through. In the holidays, Miri invites Ore over to the Silver House – which is when the truly horrific happenings start. Visions, hallucinations, voices and an ever stronger presence of the goodlady, a malignant, ghostly force. A racist and xenophobic house, that wants Ore away from Miri. And that would rather see Miri dead than be with a Black woman.
Analysis
I read this novel in a Seminar titled “Critical Whiteness in Literary Studies”, in which we discussed and analysed it mainly focused on the way Blackness and whiteness are portrayed. We read some secondary literature as well. So, these thoughts are based off of these circumstances, the literature and discussions with others, but still my personal interpretations, not fact. These are also the reasons I thoroughly recommend this book!
There are many different things happening in this novel, all equally tied together and intriguing, but I will limit myself to some of the most interesting aspects to me.
Whiteness
If you look at the way objects and places described, one cannot miss the heavy focus on whiteness. The chalk, Miri consumes, the White Cliffs of Dover, the white milk Eliot drinks, the bleach that kills Agim, the white part of the apples. Miri and Eliot consume whiteness, the nationalism, that the House wants to instil in them. It itself was created through hatred for “Others”, mainly racialised and national “Others”. But whereas Eliot (and Luc) don’t reflect on that consumption, that sort of naïve ignorance of issues of race and nationality, Miri does. It shows in the way she thinks about talking about the killed people in Dover (“…stabbing these people?” She didn’t want to say “refugees”. She didn’t want to say Kosovans. She didn’t know why. Or maybe it seemed feeble somehow, like making a list of things that were a shame, grouped in order of quantity” [p.30]). Dover itself is a place associated with migration, the White Cliffs of Dover a national symbol, a border of whiteness. This also shows, when Luc and Eliot talk about Moby Dick, and how they seemingly don’t “get it”. Miri struggles against the House, against her Blood, the Blood of Anna Good, her maternal ancestors. Lilly managed in some ways to get away – she died in Haiti, without succumbing to the House. Miri still fights it, fights the goodlady, the soucouyant, the amalgamation of her maternal ancestors within herself. She doesn’t want to harm Ore and she knows, the only way to end the horror of the House, its racism, is by ending its Blood.
Sade
Seemingly the only people who notice something is wrong with the House are the non-white and/or non-british people (with the exception of the French Luc, whose white male perspective seems to hinder his understanding of the House’s danger). The first housekeepers leave after the incident with the lift. Sade stays, but only because the voices tell her to. She consumes the apple yet keeps her independence from the House somehow. And once she has saved Ore with the white net, it is her time to leave. She is the polar opposite to Luc and Eliot’s (wilful) ignorance. She also brings a tie again to the immigration aspect of Dover, by bringing food to the Immigration Removal Centre. She also subverts gender roles by having marks on her chin, scars that usually only the men of her people wear. Sade is a very interesting character. Like Ore she stands for being both Black and British, though her relationship to this identity is quite different, as she only came to Britain later in life. She still kept her cooking, believes and rituals. Now in comparison:
Ore
Was born in Britain and adopted by a British family. Her biological mother was a legalised immigrant from Nigeria – however Ore seemingly doesn’t want anything to do with this part of her heritage. She rejects it at Cambridge, as well as from Sade, when she talks about “us” and offers her Supermalt, a Nigerian drink. She is interested in the soucouyant and fairy-tale-like stories. But she doesn’t want to sacrifice her Britishness for it. With her character, Oyeyemi shows again, that Blackness and Britishness are not mutually exclusive. Contrary to the trope of the deviant, dangerous, racially “other” woman, Ore here is not the monster. Not she is the vampire, but the white Miri. Furthermore, Ore acts rationally in the House when she notices strange things going on. She doesn’t eat the apple, she prepares salt and pepper, she leaves to safe her live. She doesn’t fall victim to the racist House. She is a strong person and character.
Miri as Vampire
I have to admit, I didn’t pick up on Miri being a vampire until I read the secondary texts. But it really does make sense – she is hungry not for food, even chalk can’t satiate her forever. Yet she refuses to drink Ore’s blood, she rather fights herself and the Blood, the goodlady, within her. She is the white, British, tragically gothic looking woman – yet she is “the monster” as far as a vampire is inherently a monster. But she doesn’t let herself truly become one. She fights it, fights the House and … dies? We don’t know. And that is wonderful.
Who is the goodlady?
The question that probably stuck most with me. Is she the House? Is she Anna Good? Is she both, all the Silver women combined? The Racism and Xenophobia of Anna Good, what is left of her in this realm? It is pretty clear, that it was her who killed the people in Dover, the one’s she and/or the House didn’t want there. Is she therefor simply an extension of the House? Agim said, that the one who stabbed him called herself Anna – Anna Good? Apart from the name similarity, this seems to be evidence for the goodlady being Anna Good in some way, yes? Maybe, I am not sure. But it certainly is an interesting question, not answered by the text – like so many other things that are left open. So in the end, you are still left asking, amongst other things:
where is miranda?
Style and overall opinion
The style this novel is written in is absolutely amazing. Half poetry, half prose and a whole wave to carry you through. Sometimes there are breaks in the prose, a single word left in the centre of the line, only to connect one passage with the next, changing perspective in a smooth yet obvious way. Truly masterful. The start had me confused, but in a good way, and reading it a second time it made perfect sense. It heightened my curiosity, made me all the happier when I met Ore for the second time in the main text itself. And the book is queer! Which really surprised me and made me love reading it even more. The meanings and symbolisms are sometimes rather hidden, but that only means, I can read it many more times and still find new things. I am not familiar with the typical gothic novels, but I really feel like this is something different, while still encapsulating that sensation of horror.
I can’t recommend this book enough it truly is a masterful piece of writing and storytelling! The analysis and discussions I had about it made me enjoy it so much more, which is why I wanted to summarize some of my thoughts here.
Images in this review
andy
Good
Reviewed in India on January 30, 2018
andy
Reviewed in India on January 30, 2018
Images in this review
