A Girl Made of Air

  ‘'Let's begin with hope, then. My words are a labyrinth into which we can wander. As I write these tales, I can follow each path, each fallen leaf, in the hope they might take me to the person I seek.''
And I thought I would absolutely love this book but I ended up bored to tears and frustrated...
Mouse, our narrator, takes us into the heart of circus life. Her mother, Marina, is a famous ‘'mermaid'' and ‘'tamer of alligators''. Serendipity Wilson is the one who actually takes care of Mouse and teaches her how to be a funambulist because Marina simply and utterly loathes her offspring for reasons undisclosed (to me, at least...) for 275 pages. The themes of serendipity, isolation and independence spiced up with the use of fairy tale elements should have produced a far more interesting result. However, I was unable to appreciate the story, the characters or the writing. 
Please, when you want to make use of Titania, Oberon and any other Shakespearean play, proceed with caution. Ignorance is horrifying.
The never-ending, repeated - every - other - page pseudo-feminist message became extremely tiring. All the constant whining and misery and self-loathing exhausted my poor mind and I fear that Mouse is not the most interesting of narrators. And why does every mother hate her child in this story?
The chronicle of Treblinka was almost dull, devoid of any trace of solemnity. Not to mention that it felt like a cheap gimmick to justify a mother's cruelty. I've had enough of writers turning the nightmare of the Holocaust into a literary fad to add a supposed depth to their below-average stories. When the writing is melodramatic and pseudo-grandiose resulting in a written form of a low-quality Meditteranean (no countries named, I'm being politically correct...) TV soap opera, exploiting History and themes done to death won't really help...
Two stars for Serendipity's Manx tales which deserved a book of their own. I'd be more than happy to read it. This novel, in my opinion, was a thundering disappointment...
Serendipity Wilson's Tales:
The Termagant Wife: A tale about a feisty, no-nonsense, all-around brilliant queen who refused to be silenced by her ignorant husband.
The Wife of Ballaleece: A young woman is carried away by the fairies and her husband has to put up with a shrew. And I don't care about Wilson's stupid ‘'message'', I felt sorry for the poor couple...
The Sad and Tragic Story of Nora Cain: An enchanted island, a newborn baby and a tragic love in a story rich in the spirit of the sea and the islanders' superstitions.
Fairy Cakes: A violent, haunting tale of a squad of mischievous fairies and a girl who became wise the hard way...
Many thanks to Quercus Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.