Like a different person every day of the week

HELEN OYEYEMI'S WRITING GETS WEIRDER AND FUNNIER IN 'A NEW NEW ME,' WHICH FOLLOWS KINGA, A WOMAN WITH OTHER KINGAS TAKING TURNS INSIDE HER MIND

- ILANA MASAD

HELEN OYEYEMI'S eighth novel may reward repeat readings.

HELEN Oyeyemi's books are getting weirder — and I mean that in the best way.

"A New New Me," her eighth novel, follows Kinga, a 40-year-old Polish woman who, on the Monday we meet her, becomes a Czech passport holder after having recently attained citizenship. She spends her morning crunching instant coffee granules, repeating Snoop Dogg's daily affirmations, which she's translated into Czech, and trying on outfits.

After her appointment to pick up her passport-during which she has an odd encounter with a woman named Milica who insists on becoming her friend-Kinga goes to work. She's a matchmaker employed by a big bank that founded her department in response to Czechia's Fidelity Awards, given to couples who've been together for 50 years or more (in reality, these were floated by the Czech senate but never came to be). At work, Kinga and her work wife, Eva, compare their personalized news alerts: Eva receives updates about the winner of three gold medals at the European rabbit jumping championships while Kinga's phone tells her about the Luxury Enamel Posse, a group that invades people's homes and folds residents into a suitcase along with loose teeth and blank checks.

So much whimsy barely 20 pages into a book could be overwhelming, but Oyeyemi is such a confident writer, her details always specific and alive, that you know you're in good hands even if you're not entirely sure what material those hands are made of, where they're taking you, or how much they'll jiggle and jostle you along the way.