Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

19 reviews

singalana's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

It’s not a bad book - it just wasn’t for me.

White is for Witching is a book by Helen Oyeyemi. It tells the story of Miranda Silver, who, together with her twin brother and her father, lives in a house that four generations of Silver women have inhabited. The twins’ mother has died, and it causes Miranda to have a breakdown and start spiralling.

The book has four narrators - three first-person and one third-person. This makes the story a little bit hard to follow at times. Miranda’s brother Eliot, her friend Ore and the house itself are the first-person narrators. Miranda’s point of view is narrated through the third person. Not only does this make the story slightly hard to follow, but it also raises questions about which of the narrators - if any - are reliable?

The writing style of the novel is complex: on the sentence level, it’s very beautiful and evocative, but the stylistic choices can be jarring at times. As the house appears to consume Miranda, the reader starts to question which of the events are real.

The book is certainly creepy and weird, but I’ve started to question whether weird books are for me. If you’re a fan of Murakami’s Dance, Dance, Dance or Han Kang’s The Vegetarian, you might enjoy this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Chronic illness, Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Grief, Mental illness, Death of parent, Cannibalism, and Confinement

Minor: Racism, Alcohol, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Xenophobia, Confinement, Murder, Cursing, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

trashkingmax's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a tough read for me. To be quite honest, I've been mulling it over since I finished it, and I still don't really get it. All of the main characters sort of just have the story happen to them. 

It's well-written, but it's just  a little... bizarre. Like a vegan sandwich, there's a lot to chew on, but there's no real meat to it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Eating disorder

Moderate: War, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Death

chelsealchampion's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

An eerie neo-Gothic read, ultimately enjoyable but gets off to a very slow start. It took me awhile to differentiate between the constantly changing narrators. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder

Moderate: Xenophobia and Gore

wildflowercrypt's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

odd, dark, and beautifully written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Eating disorder, Xenophobia, Mental illness, and Body horror

Moderate: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

Minor: Incest

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Gore, Eating disorder, Racism, and Body horror

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Violence, and Cannibalism

Minor: Homophobia, War, Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Drug use, Incest, Sexual content, and Animal cruelty

maregred's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Eating disorder, Death of parent, and Racism

Moderate: Grief, Addiction, Abandonment, and Confinement

Minor: Stalking and War

aisabel's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Beautiful prose, confusing plot. Very unsatisfying ending, but I might still reread it to better appreciate it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Racism, Suicide attempt, and Incest

antimony's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

three point five. the writing was really good but gah i was so so confused. i don't think i ever fully knew what was going on. it took me so long to get into the swing of the changing povs and then as soon as i had we got ore's and i was confused again. the end was good as well, though the lack of a plot up until ore got introduced left me feeling very stagnant for most of the book. i don't think that the jacket summary adequately conveys much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Eating disorder, and Suicide

kattyenn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Blood and Cannibalism

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I love this strange little idiosyncratic neo-gothic horror novel about generational trauma and racism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Racism, and Xenophobia