Reviews - Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

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10.2k reviews for:

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

Grady Hendrix

4.05 AVERAGE

aberthold's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

You never know what you are getting into when you open a Grady Hendrix book. This was no different. I would call it two parts teenage pregnancy one part witchy. All the way entertaining.

alyx30's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

susan_s's review against another edition

4.0

dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

amandesite's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book paints a beautiful portrait of feminine power, shame, and rage and I deeply enjoyed it. Set at a home for unwed teen mothers in 1970, it piqued my interest when I was looking for an atmospheric summer read that was more supernatural than beachy. It had Florida summer, teen girl hi-jinx, and I enjoyed the feminine rage and revenge much more in this than other historical reads with a sexism focus (The Women or Lessons in Chemistry) but that is a personal preference.

I’m pleasantly shocked that a male author handled the topic of teen pregnancy in 1970 with such empathy and grace, and am especially pleasantly surprised by the sisterhood he illustrates throughout the book. I think this is a good example of the magic an author can work with the right research and by not just hearing but truly listening to stories from others.

My only real complaint about this book is that it’s a little slow. I think it could’ve been shorter and still packed the same punch, but I still deeply enjoyed reading the entire thing.

One note to potential readers: this *is* a horror novel, and a book that gives multiple detailed accounts of childbirth, so I’d recommend being fully aware of what you’re getting into before reading. There are definitely elements of gore, medical scenes, and body horror.