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The Icarus Girl
 

The Icarus Girl

by Helen Oyeyemi

Jessamy “Jess” Harrison, age eight, is the child of an English father and a Nigerian mother. Possessed of an extraordinary imagination, she has a hard time fitting in at school. It is only when she visits Nigeria for the first time that she makes a friend who understands her: a ragged little girl named TillyTilly. But soon TillyTilly’s visits become more disturbing, until Jess... (read more)

Top tags: africa,  fiction,  first novel,  horror,  ibiku (all tags)

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Other Reviews

Amazon Reviews (5)
 

Most Helpful Reviews

Liked It

superneelie
  • Rated 5 stars

“I couldn't put this book down once I started reading. Jessamy completely enthralled me, and at times, even scared me. I had to find out the truth about TillyTilly, and the suspence kept me going untill the book was (sadly) finished. A masterpiece.”

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Didn’t Like It

msberna
  • Rated 2 stars

“I thought that the writing was good and the cultural descriptions were interesting, but in the end, I had no idea what I just read. I know that author meant to leave the book open ended (not even Jess knew what exactly was going on, or what TillyTilly was), but with the story being so obscure, I would have liked some kind of solid conclusion. Maybe I'm just not appreciating the intricacies, but the ending was so abrupt, I was just left feeling a little disapointed.”

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Community:
  • Rated 3.352941 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 3.625 stars
  

Newest Comments

  • msberna

    msberna said:

    “Ending/Meaning

    I thought the book as good, but I'm still not sure that I understood any of what happened. Did Jess push Shiv down the stairs, or did she cut herself? Did Jess wake up ok at the end? What was TillyTilly? (I'm guessing that she was the ghost of another dead twin (like Fern) from long ago who attached herself to Jess, because she saw that Jess was missing her twin as well.) Do you think that TillyTilly was real, or that Jess had a mental illness, as the adults seemed to believe. I'm guessing that the author didn't want us to have a difinative answer, but I would like to have some idea what I just read. Anyone else have any specific thoughts?”

    posted Friday, May 4 2007
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