The Icarus Girl

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The Icarus Girl
First edition
AuthorHelen Oyeyemi
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreFantasy
PublisherBloomsbury
Publication date
1 January 2005
Media typePrint (hardcover and paperback), audiobook, e-book
Pages353
ISBN978-1405610988

The Icarus Girl is the debut novel written by British author Helen Oyeyemi and published by Bloomsbury in 2005.[1] The story follows Jessamy "Jess" Harrison, an eight-year-old girl born to an English father and a Nigerian mother.[2]

Background[edit]

Oyeyemi wrote the horror novel when she was 18 while studying for her A levels at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School.[3][4][5] She wrote the book on her parents' computer on weekends, after school and in the middle of the night.[2]

Reception[edit]

The New York Times said that the novel is "Deserving of all its praise, this is a masterly first novel -- and a nightmarish story that will haunt Oyeyemi's readers for months to come."[3] Ali Smith writing for The Guardian observed: "The Icarus Girl's real tragic inevitability lies in the fracture of childhood into the shock of maturity itself; a bleakness in the light, bright state of childhood is the real subject of this curiously wild, curiously blithely-voiced novel...Its simple-seeming rewrite of the simplest of imaginative impulses goes further than an analysis of cultural and personal displacement to suggest that no childhood is ever normal, that the strains between parents and children will inevitably break you whichever you happen to be."[6] Publishers Weekly noted: "As sophisticated as she is, Jess's eight-year-old observations provide a limited lens, and at times, the novel's fantasy element veers into young adult suspense territory."[7] Kirkus Reviews stated: "Narrated from Jess's point-of-view, this ambitious psychodrama becomes repetitive in structure and can't always sustain the adult tone. A conclusion in Nigeria attempts to knit Jess's three worlds-the actual, the spiritual and the "Bush"-but doesn't wholly rescue or resolve a story rich in material yet technically imbalanced."[8]

The novel was nominated for an Otherwise Award in 2005.[9][10] In the UK, The Icarus Girl has sold 20,799 copies in paperback through Nielsen BookScan's UK Total Consumer Market, as of 2020.[11]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Liu, Max (26 October 2021). "Helen Oyeyemi: 'My characters changed my mind'". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  2. ^ a b Lee, Felicia R. (21 June 2005). "Conjuring an Imaginary Friend in the Search for an Authentic Self". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  3. ^ a b Downer, Lesley (17 July 2005). "'The Icarus Girl': The Play Date From Hell". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  4. ^ Urquhart, James (21 January 2005). "The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  5. ^ Quinn, Annalisa (7 March 2014). "The Professionally Haunted Life Of Helen Oyeyemi". NPR. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  6. ^ Smith, Ali (22 January 2005). "Double trouble". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  7. ^ "THE ICARUS GIRL". Publishers Weekly. 1 June 2005. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  8. ^ "THE ICARUS GIRL". Kirkus Reviews. 21 June 2005. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  9. ^ "2005 Otherwise Award". Otherwise Award. 30 May 2006. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  10. ^ Ettinger, Zoë (23 July 2020). "15 young, black female authors to add to your must-read list". Insider. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  11. ^ Cumerford, Ruth (1 October 2020). "Oyeyemi joins Faber for 'brilliant' novel". The Bookseller. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
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