海角大神

鈥淥nce upon a time鈥� has become so overused in pop culture, it鈥檚 almost lost its power to enchant.

From the $1 billion-grossing, Oscar-winning 鈥淔rozen鈥� to, um, somewhat less successful efforts 鈥� 鈥淗ansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters鈥� spawned a sequel? Really? 鈥� fairy tales have been retold, referenced, recycled, fractured, and reproduced until they're barely recognizable.

And right now, Snow White is, if not the fairest, at least the most ubiquitous of them all 鈥� temporarily elbowing aside a certain shoe-losing blonde. Snow currently battles evil on a weekly basis on ABC with a host of other Disney characters, in 鈥淥nce Upon a Time.鈥� In addition to Ginnifer Goodwin鈥檚 valiant archer, she鈥檚 been played by everyone from Kristen Stewart to Betty Boop. She鈥檚 been transported to Renaissance Italy by 鈥淲icked鈥� author Gregory Maguire and inspired the fabulously titled 2013 German mystery, 鈥淪now White Must Die.鈥� And her stepmother boasts a cast list that could sate even her Vain Imperiousness: Oscar winners Charlize Theron, Sigourney Weaver, and Julia Roberts all have gazed, dissatisfied, into that magic mirror.

Then along comes a fairy-tale retelling like Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi and upends the whole thing. Apple, dwarves, glass coffin 鈥� she tosses them all out and replaces them with an unsettling book that casts a spell without ever using those four magic words.

The Nigerian-born Oyeyemi鈥檚 first novel, 鈥淚carus Girl,鈥� was published in 2005 while she was still in college at Cambridge. Oyeyemi has delved into folk and fairy tales with each of her novels since, including 2011鈥檚 鈥淢r. Fox.鈥�

As with her fairy tale counterpart, Boy Novak is fond of her own reflection.鈥淣obody ever warned me about mirrors, so for many years I was fond of them, and believed them to be trustworthy,鈥� says Boy, who would gaze into them, kissing her reflection or setting two mirrors opposite one another to create an endless series of reflections.

Her daughter and stepdaughter have the opposite problem: Sometimes their reflection doesn鈥檛 show up at all.

All three women learn the ways that mirrors can lie during the course of the story, most of which is set in the 1950s in a fictional Massachusetts town called Flax Hill. The novel hinges on several plot revelations, which I am not going to spoil. This is one book where I would recommend you not read anything in advance, even the back cover: Just go buy it.

Boy comes to Flax Hill as a young woman, fleeing her abusive parent, Frank, a rat catcher in New York. After several fits and starts, she gets a job at the local bookstore, which is presided over by Alecto Fletcher, who serves as the novel's resident crone. Their most steadfast clients are three African-American teens who keep skipping school to read all day.

One day, walking down the road, Boy sees a house that looks like it has stepped out of a fairy tale. 鈥淥ne of the bigger houses had brambles growing up the front of it in snakelike vines. The smell of baking chocolate-chip cookies aside, it looked like a house you could start fanciful rumors about: 鈥榃ell, a princess has been asleep there for hundreds of years ...鈥� and so on. The front door was open, and the porch light was on, and a little girl came around the side of the house, singing loudly. I couldn鈥檛 see her face properly 鈥� it was obscured by clouds of dark hair with big red flowers plaited into them 鈥� but she had a large cookie in each hand and more in the pockets of her dress, and I wanted to go in at the door behind her, sit down at the old piano I could see in the living room while she stood on tiptoes to retrieve the glass of milk set on top of it,鈥� Boy recounts.

The 鈥渟wan maiden鈥� is Snow Whitman, who has the dark hair, red lips and white skin of her namesake. Her dead mother, an opera singer, chose her name after making lists of hundreds of them.鈥淭he multitude of names didn鈥檛 seem like indecision 鈥� Julia Whitman was trying to summon up a troop of fairy godmothers. Somewhere in among the names of all those mermaids, warriors, saints, goddesses, queens, scientists, and poets I could see a woman trying to cover all the bases, searching for things her daughter would need in order to make friends with life,鈥� Boy writes.

Boy ends up getting her wish about moving into the house with brambles. She marries Arturo Whitman, Snow鈥檚 dad, and his daughter loves the idea of having a young, beautiful stepmother. And, until an event that makes Boy distrust Snow鈥檚 startling beauty, Boy wanted to be Snow鈥檚 mother perhaps more than Arturo鈥檚 wife.

Instead of an engagement ring, Arturo makes Boy a bracelet in the form of a coiled, white-gold snake. When he gives her the present, Boy doesn鈥檛 even want to pick it up.

鈥淚 mean, could that scream 鈥榳icked stepmother鈥� any louder?鈥� her friend Mia asks.

鈥泪听know.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 okay, it鈥檚 fine. It only looks like that. That鈥檚 not how it really is,鈥� Mia reassures her.

Despite Boy鈥檚 good intentions, after her own daughter, Bird, is born she exiles Snow 鈥� sending her away to live with her aunt. This reminded me most of the Biblical Sarah, sending away Hagar and Ishmael to clear the way for her own child, Isaac, but banished children have been a staple over everything from 鈥淗ansel & Gretel鈥� to 鈥淭he Wild Swans.鈥�

Oyeyemi plays with many fairy tales during the course of the novel, from mentions of Rapunzel to Christina Rossetti's poem 鈥淕oblin Market鈥� to African-American fables about Brer Anansi and La Belle Capuchine. Perhaps the most priceless exchange comes when Bird asks Arturo if Cinderella is a true story.

鈥淣ot the fairy godmother stuff and her dress turning back to rags at聽midnight 鈥� I know that鈥檚 true. But Cinderella just sweeping up all those ashes every day and never putting them into her stepmother鈥檚 food or anything 鈥� is that true?鈥�

As in tradition for fairy tales, the fathers are hapless and the mothers are missing: Boy鈥檚 father refused to tell her anything about her mother and Snow鈥檚 mother died. The secrets surrounding those women, of course, hold the key to bringing home the princess.One plot weakness that is never adequately explained is why Arturo would ever agree to send away his beloved oldest girl. But then, Hansel鈥檚 and Gretel鈥檚 dad didn鈥檛 do a bang-up job of protecting them, either.

Oyeyemi has created a riveting story about race and women鈥檚 identities in the 20th century. By the end, readers will be longing for "Boy, Snow, and Bird" to live happily ever after.

Yvonne Zipp is the Monitor's fiction critic.聽