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A review by basilkumquat
The Healer by Donna Freitas
2.0
I know that this book is fantasy, but it was hard to believe. Marlena is a healer, and her mother is controlling, full of business cunning, and regulates her towards living a life more or less like a nun.
One day, Marlena is tired of it all and goes from wearing long white nightgowns and never being hugged to wearing bikinis (somehow also learning how to swim immediately), going to parties, and getting a boyfriend.
Somehow we are expected to believe that her mother loves her and isn't using her, while also essentially keeping her locked up. We're also supposed to believe that when Marlena decides to take a break from healing that her mom gives her everything she wants. Clearly the author does not know what controlling people are like.
Then, "God" gets mad that she has taken a few weeks off from healing and her gift is gone. What a great coincidence to serve the plot and her self-doubt!
From one extreme to another is the theme of this book. And for what? To accept that contradictory things can exist together? To be yourself?
This book would have been much better if the world was more magical, or if the healing thing had been removed entirely. Other than the mention of a few other test subjects, there is no magic. Marlena came off as a closeted, naive girl who has been celebrated but also isolated. More than once I was reminded of Rapunzel, if her evil "mother" had somehow been raking in money and fame while keeping her away. Removing the magical element entirely would at least make for a more believable conflict between family expectations and coming of age.
One day, Marlena is tired of it all and goes from wearing long white nightgowns and never being hugged to wearing bikinis (somehow also learning how to swim immediately), going to parties, and getting a boyfriend.
Somehow we are expected to believe that her mother loves her and isn't using her, while also essentially keeping her locked up. We're also supposed to believe that when Marlena decides to take a break from healing that her mom gives her everything she wants. Clearly the author does not know what controlling people are like.
Then, "God" gets mad that she has taken a few weeks off from healing and her gift is gone. What a great coincidence to serve the plot and her self-doubt!
From one extreme to another is the theme of this book. And for what? To accept that contradictory things can exist together? To be yourself?
This book would have been much better if the world was more magical, or if the healing thing had been removed entirely. Other than the mention of a few other test subjects, there is no magic. Marlena came off as a closeted, naive girl who has been celebrated but also isolated. More than once I was reminded of Rapunzel, if her evil "mother" had somehow been raking in money and fame while keeping her away. Removing the magical element entirely would at least make for a more believable conflict between family expectations and coming of age.