Reviews

White Magic by Elissa Washuta

virginia_vex's review

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

2.0


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lsparrow's review against another edition

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4.0

a collection of essays about indigeneity, trauma, love and magic. I enjoyed the first few the most - a lot ot think about in terms of the colonization of 'magic'.

parksystems's review

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 my entire reading group collectively decided not to continue with the book / pivot to reading other things on the topics this claimed to cover. the author wrote this very early in a pretty monumental recovery process. it’s very navel gazing, subjective, and just dragging & annoying to read. i hope the writer continues on their journey and gains perspective, wisdom and writes a book with something to offer but this ain’t it. 

yaara's review against another edition

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men r trash

laila4343's review against another edition

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3.0

Did I like this, or did I really like it? Three or four stars? Is there anyone I can recommend this to? (Not really.) What exactly was this? Once I made it through the first section, which was rough, I couldn't stop reading. It was hypnotic and strange and sad, but there was hope at the end that repeated destructive patterns were broken. This was a weird book. But I'm glad I read it.

cubaitlubin's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective
Spiraling mixed bag with engaging moments of prose and rage, and other parts that lagged and were hard to focus on. 

kirstynelaine's review

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4.0

Equal parts brilliant, searing, magical, and selfish.

jelomath's review against another edition

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started listening 31 January 2023, did not finish
 
I got about 1/3 of the way through this and had to stop. This is a catalogue of trauma, rape, violence, indigenous experience marked only by violence, more violence and more violence and more violence. It is easy for me to just bow out. This person had to, has to live all of this. This person is weighted down by not only her own lifelong traumas, including as she says, “i have been raped so many times I cannot count them,” but she is also weighed down by the generations of trauma perpetrated against her people by white people. She is weighed down by the murder, theft, and systematic rape of the generations that came before her. And that is all this book is. It starts out with and I think carries through Ms. Washuta’s connection to the occult and tarot and the mixing of ancient indigenous rituals and present day commercial attempts at “witchery.” That is the brightness that runs throughout, that is the “white magic.” And yet there is so much unending darkness and assault and trauma that I just cannot. I am sorry, Ms. Washuta. I cannot. I am so glad you have been published, you are lauded by your peers, you have a space to speak your voice. But I cannot. In the light of the recent release of the video of the violent and ultimately fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, which has been embraced in the fullness of white america being entertained by the violence done to Black bodies, the trauma porn that spins our culture and news coverage, I just can’t sit and wallow in this. I recognize that Ms. Washuta chose to put her story out in the world and Mr. Nichols was NEVER given that opportunity. He had his life taken from him and then his dignity was shredded across twitter and instagram and tiktok and facebook. I see the difference there. And yet, I just can’t. I know what was done and is done to indigenous women. I am aware. I feel entirely helpless. But sitting through this trauma narrative does not feel to me like it helps. That makes me a karen. We all know I am a karen. By the very fact that I am a white woman, I am a karen. I don’t have any further explanation or excuse. This is where I am. My apologies to Ms. Washuta.

xsleepyshadows's review

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I wasn't ready for what this book was and I think it would have been good if I was prepared...so maybe i'll try it some other time.

I thought this was going to be more informational about white appropriation of cultures in the witch and new age areas. And it does have mentions of this...but it is mostly in series of essays and I thought it was a bit confusing.

dreamgalaxies's review

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4.0

Living inside narratives means becoming an insight machine, and I am tired of realizing—that word is a lie.

3.5 stars.
Washuta talks a lot about magic in terms of synchronicity, and I found a lot of it here for myself, as well. I am a fairly casual witch, finding meaning in the cycles of the moon and my own inner landscape. My love for Twin Peaks is so strong that I have a tattoo inspired by it, and in college I scoffed audibly at anyone who mixed up Christopher Nolan's The Prestige with Neil Burger's The Illusionist (basically everyone, to be fair). Imagine my surprise to find epigraphs from both introducing the same essay. In general, Washuta and I have a lot in common. Seems like we both spend a lot of time thinking about stories, symbols, and what they can tell us about ourselves. I, too, am a person who lives with trauma.

In both heritage (she's Cowlitz) and history, it's clear the Pacific Northwest is important to the author--which was compelling as a ten year resident of Portland, unceded Chinook Land. I've spent a lot of time thinking about the 'pioneering spirit' West Coasters love to glorify, and what that really says about us.

There's quite a lot going on in this book. I loved the layered pop culture references, the indigenous history and references to ancestors of blood and place, and the prose. I highlighted so many poignant lines while reading this book. There are a lot of deep, hard-won revelations here about trauma and addiction. I also enjoyed a lot of the meta commentary offered regarding life vs. the arc of a story, and our struggles to find meaning in our lives.

However, something about the way this book was organized didn't quite gel for me. I re-read a few parts to try to figure out what it was. It wasn't the repetition, which I questioned at first because I know it is a hallmark of indigenous storytelling that outsiders often struggle with--and which Washuta draws our attention to clearly:

By telling stories over and over, we give them life. By enacting narratives over and over, we give them shape...Do you think a person’s relationship with repetition is culturally shaped?

It just never quite cohered as a narrative and ultimately felt disjointed. I think it made it harder to get into the first half of the book, and it took me longer than I wanted to read than I expected. The self analysis also felt a bit...unfinished, as well as repetitive. Like she had to finish the book before she'd finished the journey. That's life, I suppose, but it's too bad.

Still, Washuta pulls things off I never thought would work--like the surprisingly deep meditation on the parallel path of salving loneliness and finding meaning through games, from Oregon Trail to Red Dead Redemption 2 to Pokemon Go (all of which I've played...perhaps we really are doppelgängers). The Oregon Trail essay was a standout.

I also think this book was marketed somewhat incorrectly as a book about white appropriation in spiritual communities and/or the impact of capitalism on indigenous beliefs. Somewhat understandably, indigenous spiritual practices are not covered almost at all in this book--but I wished magic was discussed with more depth. I do think the misapprehensions as to what the book is about accounts for some of the less positive reviews here. I also think many people might just struggle with the pain of watching the repetitively messy and vulnerable behavior of a traumatized person--but that's sort of the point ;) However, the author also engages in a little bit of playful mismarketing herself as she asserts--and then questions--that this book is about her "becoming a powerful witch."

In any case, I'm glad I read it. It's unique and I hope more books like this get published.

Content Warnings: severe alcoholism, rape, partner abuse, historical violence, mental health, PTSD, white supremacy and indigenous genocide.