MixedThe Washington PostLike Oyeyemi’s previous books, this story probes the status of outsiders and shadow selves. But it is very much a departure, a postmodern puzzler that, despite its screwball moments, is inspired by the pre-modern: the bloody and bizarre English folk tale ‘Mister Fox,’ Charles Perrault’s ‘Bluebeard’ and the Grimm Brothers’ ‘Fitcher’s Bird’ and ‘The Robber Bridegroom’ … What follows includes a clutch of short stories in which the writer tries to kick his killing habit, as well as a few folk tales and various scenarios featuring versions of Fox and Foxe … In Mr. Fox, however, what she does not do — and doesn’t seem to have any intention of doing — is make it all cohere.
