I didn’t find myself drawn to the characters or the plot. I had high hopes for the book, but the magical realism didn’t work for me. 

Considering the description had ties to Hansel and Gretel, I was expecting more of the original fairytale woven in. Instead, there was a lot of flipping around between characters and timelines, which wasn’t confusing, but did keep bringing me out of the storyline. 

Two stars because the writing itself was quirky and the weaving in of sensory descriptors made the read bearable. 

This is an honest review. Thank you to Riverhead Books for giving me a copy of Gingerbread.

Favorite quotes from Gingerbread:

“Half of the hatred that springs up between people is rooted in their mistaken belief there is any human relationship more sacred than friendship..”