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Mr. Fox

A Novel

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding, and the fairy tales don't get complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It is not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently. Mary challenges Mr. Fox to join her in stories of their own devising; and so, through different times and places, the two of them seek each other, find each other, thwart each other, and try to stay together, even when the roles they inhabit seem to forbid it. Their adventures twist the fairy tale into nine variations, exploding and teasing conventions of genre and romance, and each iteration explores the fears that come with accepting a lifelong bond.

Meanwhile, Daphne becomes convinced that her husband is having an affair and finds her way into Mary and Mr. Fox's game. And so Mr. Fox is offered a choice: Will it be a life with the girl of his dreams or a life with an all-too-real woman who delights him more than he cares to admit?

The extraordinarily gifted Helen Oyeyemi has written a love story like no other. Mr. Fox is a magical book, endlessly inventive, as witty and charming as it is profound in its truths about how we learn to be with one another.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      MR. FOX is a novel made up of a series of nine fairy tales. A literary novel by a prize-winning author, it's also an exploration of stories themselves. This makes audio the perfect vehicle for its presentation. Narrator Carole Boyd is superb as she breathes life, personality, and plenty of emotion into each character: Mr. Fox, a writer; Daphne Fox, his wife; and Mary Foxe, his muse, who comes to life. Boyd's swift changes of tone catch listeners by surprise. Her portrait of the endearing Polish lodger who admires Mary is a love story in its many guises. The series of vignettes that comprise this novel are sometimes confusing, but Boyd's solid narration will see listeners through. S.G.B. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 25, 2011
      In this highly conceptual novel from Oyeyemi (White Is for Witching), the writer St. John Fox receives a visit from his muse Mary while his wife Daphne, whom he taught early on not to complain, sits upstairs,. Thus begins a playful but frustrating examination of storytelling, inspiration, and mythology, with a specific focus on how some male writers have traditionally treated their female characters. Oyeyemi recounts this multi-layered tale from each of her characters' viewpoints (often in letter form, and at times from alternate versions of a character, such as "Dream-Mary"), yet the larger effect feels muddled rather than illuminating. Stories-within-stories (Mr. Fox's fiction) wrestle their way in as well, and include the intriguing tale of an orphan boy in Egypt and a Nigerian girl with a heavy heart; and an impossible little girl's paid companion. Mr. Fox certainly does seem intent on having his female characters endure gruesome circumstances, a tendency that his muse appears to challenge, though this critical aspect also remains obscure. The pleasure of Oyeyemi's gorgeous language and brilliant sensibility is almost entirely overtaken by the author's preoccupation with understanding the architecture of her own book.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 27, 2012
      Set primarily in 1930s New York, Oyeyemi’s latest novel follows the adventures of a famous novelist, Mr. Fox, with a penchant for murdering his heroines. His life and work are transformed by the discovery of his muse, Mary. But when Mr. Fox’s wife, Daphne, becomes convinced her husband is having an affair, the novelist finds himself forced to make a very difficult decision. Carole Boyd’s narration is playful, well paced, and utterly enjoyable. She captures the spirit of the fantastical prose and creates restrained but effective voices—employing several pitch-perfect accents and dialects—for Oyeyemi’s characters. One of the many highlights is Boyd’s rendition of the rich American teenager to whom she lends a wonderfully flat, bored tone. A Riverhead hardcover.

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