The first time I encountered this book was back in 2017. I was graduating university and chose to translate short stories for my dissertation. It was a brilliant idea and the aspect of actually translating something instead of just waxing poetic abut the art of translation appealed to me greatly. Then, I needed a short story collection to actually work on. Internet prove to be my friend and I found this. At the time, due to a time crunch, I skimmed the stories and chose two - the longest one "books and roses" and the shortest to balance it out "if a book is locked there is probably a good reason for that don't you think". 

    Now, with much more time on my hands, and now looming deadlines to light a fire under my feet, I could sit down and read this from cover to cover, immersing myself in the world contained within. The stories are all strange and surreal, enhanced by Oyeyemi's signature creepy magical realism. They are inherently weird, yet Oyeymi's transcendent style makes them all moving. These are bittersweet fairytale-like pieces - and I mean the original fairytales, not the revised and softened Disney versions we're accustomed to nowadays. Reading these pages is truly a trip and an experience that will not leave you unaffected, even if you don't quite grasp what the story is about.

    Across nine loosely interlocked tales a wide cast of characters, mostly queer and of color, navigate an alternate reality full of fantasy, violence and desire. Certain characters show up in stories other than their own, being woven into the others' lives. It was a nice feeling to encounter a character and think "I know you" because a facet of them has been revealed earlier. All the characters have something in common - they are looking for something, for the key that will unlock their past or future, the heart of a person they live, an alternative life... Yet, they are not all perfect and in a lot of instances are unlikable, selfish, unruly, irrational...

    Keys are scattered everywhere through this collection but sometimes - as the title suggests - they should remain hidden, the doors they lock should remain closed. All the pieces are saturated with secrets and center on the motif lock/key question/answer; they contain stories within stories, end usually ambiguously, without resolving the main conflict, so that sometimes the ending feels abrupt, as if you've been yanked back from the story.

    The stories are as follows:

    books and roses: The opening - and the best - story. A sweeping tale of loss and love and destiny, intensely romantic and magical, the most complete of the stories. An orphan is left in the care of the monks with instructions to be name Monserrat. As she grows up she wonders what the key she's been left with opens up. A friendship with a painter and a newspaper ad change her life.

    "sorry" doesn't sweeten her tea: An important piece on fame, abuse, victim-blaming, especially poignant in the wake of the #metoo movement, which made women brave enough to share their own experiences. A disillusioned fan seeks to avenge herself on an abusive musician. Magic is involved in the retribution because actual people are unwilling to help, the comments sampled sounding all to familiar.

    is your blood as red as this?: A sinister and nightmarish story set in a puppeteering school where teenagers deal with feelings and expressing themselves. It's a take on Pinocchio with a dangerous, devious twist.

    drownings: An apocalyptical story of a country ruled by a tyrant who plays with his subjects as a way of testing the limits of his power. He drowns people he feels are disloyal, eventually making the whole country into a graveyard.

   presence: An eerie, atmospheric piece that meditates on loss and how barren one feels after someone they loved is gone from their lives. A couple is dealing with the loss of a potential child that's never even been conceived, as well as with heir own childhoods spent in foster care.

   a brief history of the homely wench society: Another one that veers slightly into the #metoo territory, this time with members of fraternities making lists in which their female colleagues are ranked by numbers that rate their appearance. The homely wenches take revenge on the misogynists by proving their capabilities.

   dornička and the st martin's day goose: A new take on Red Riding Hood, where the girl the wolf accosts is no girl at all, but an older woman who promises to get him his food. The goose that was supposed to be the center of the feast is sacrificed instead.

   freddy barrandow checks... in?: A man is forced to go into family business. His parents work for a weird hotel and want him to join them, though he's working as a nursery-school teacher. Directionless and aimless, he accepts a job to separate a couple.

    if a book is locked there's probably a good reason for that, don't you think: The shortest story and the closing piece. It deals with secrets and how some things are better left buried, some key should never find their locks.