Puzzling Novel

 

I am baffled by Helen Oyeyemi’s novel Mr. Fox (published 2011). I understand three things:

1. It’s a retelling of the classic folktale of Bluebeard, originally published in Charles Perrault's 1697 fairy tale collection. Echoes of folktales about foxes also occur throughout. Bluebeard, you may recall, married many women and killed them by beheading them. Finally his last wife discovers his crimes when she opens a secret room that he has told her never to open.
2. The frame story of Mr. Fox is about a novelist named St. John Fox and his wife and about the stories he writes, especially stories about a woman named Mary Foxe and her murderous husbands. The stories reflect the many traditional interpretations of the Bluebeard legend. Was the moral of Perrault’s tale that wives shouldn’t be curious about their husbands’ past (and catch them at their crimes)? Or that they should be more assertive (and avoid being murdered)? The fictitious writer,  his wife, and embedded stories in the novel seem to explore the various interpretations of the original Bluebeard.
3. The invented stories also become a reality in the fictitious author’s personal life as the novel proceeds — or maybe they don’t, maybe the intermeshing is delusional and exists only in the minds of Mr. and Mrs. Fox. As one of them says: “I know what this is called—a folie à deux, a delusion shared by two or more people who live together.” (p. 235)

This novel is exhausting to read. That’s all I can say. I had exactly the same reaction to another book by this author — I wrote: “A very puzzling book, Gingerbread. I'm totally confused by it, but don't feel like rereading it to see if it makes more sense the second time through. I'm not sure I can write a coherent review.” (review of Gingerbread that I wrote)

Review © 2025 mae sander