The Icarus Girl (original 2005; edition 2006)

And when he'd gone, the ibeji statue
(dull unbelieved-in wood)
guarded the corner for the little twin who needed its help
needed the forgiveness it brought
needed to win
more than ever.

This is the story of 8-year-old Jessamy Harrison, the troubled daughter of a Nigerian mother and an English father, and what happens when they go to Nigeria on holiday for the first time, to stay with her mother's family. I loved this wonderfully poetic book, and can't believe that the author wrote it while she was still at school. ( )

Very good. Reminded me a bit of The Yellow Wallpaper, Anansi Boys, and something else I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe The Salt Roads? Something else though, I think.
After stupidly going to bed at four o'clock in the morning last night, I stayed awake till 7 reading this. Then I wouldn't get up in the morning until I nearly had it finished. ( )

I really enjoyed this a lot. I took it with me the other day to my doctor's appointment and ended up reading two-thirds of it on the bus and while waiting. It was definitely a good choice for being stuck out for a long time with no other options. It sucked me in right away and I found it hard to put down.

Apparently the author wrote this while still at school, and it does show, but it's still overall really well-written. The biggest annoyance to me was POV slippage here and there and stuff like how the entire book is from Jess's POV except for one random paragraph from her friend's POV, and then the last two chapters are her parents' POV (that choice at least has a good reason; the paragraph in the friend's POV was unnecessary and tell-y).

I have another of her books on my wishlist and I'm looking forward to reading it. ( )

http://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2010/08/201060-icarus-girl-helen-oyeyemi.html ( )

Jessamy Harrison, the child of a British father and a Nigerian mother, is a sensitive, intelligent, and altogether difficult child. Prone to reading Shakespeare and writing haiku at the tender age of 8, she is also antisocial and regularly throws screaming tantrums that literally make her feverish and ill. Her mother, concerned that her mixed-race child has no connection to Nigeria, takes Jess to visit her extended family there. Making few connections other than to her beloved grandfather, Jess feels almost as isolated in Nigeria as in England. When she meets a Nigerian girl about her own age, therefore, Jess is desperate to make friends. Nicknaming her new friend TillyTilly because she has trouble pronouncing her Yoruba name, Jess throws herself wholeheartedly into making TillyTilly like her. After Jess and her family return to England, however, the strange and fey TillyTilly shows up there as well, claiming her family has moved into the area. Jess is too thrilled by having her friend back to really question that story, or even to question why no one but she herself ever seems to see TillyTilly. Soon, their friendship turns cruel and obsessive as TillyTilly demonstrates a strange knowledge of dark magic and darker secrets and Jess begins to realize that her friend is no friend at all, but might just be a spirit out of Yoruba myth—or might be a repressed part of Jess’s own psyche.

Dark, disturbing, and creepily ambiguous, “The Icarus Girl” adroitly captures the confusion and fear of an intelligent, but young, child thrust into situations beyond her ability to grasp. The mingling of Yoruba myth and Western psychology is apt and compelling. ( )