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A review by buckchandra86
Alchemy of a Blackbird by Claire McMillan
5.0
*I received the Advanced Reader's Edition From Goodreads in exchange for my honest review.*
"Alchemy of a Blackbird" by Claire McMillan is an historical fiction novel set during WW2. This story follows a ficitionalized account of real life artist Remedios Varo from her Spanish upbringing, to a falling Paris, and eventually on to Mexico where she would become a national treasure. This story brings together philosophical, political and spiritual ideas through the lense of war and creation, which truly are two sides of the same coin. The story centers on Remedios as a female artist seeking her own authenticity in relation to a patriarchal society and the voice of her father echoing within about the importance of usefulness. The convergence of history, art and the occult all come together with the backdrop of tarot and interspersed tarot lessons for the reader. The author does presume a bit of interest or rudimentary knowledge of tarot on behalf of the reader. The story line shifts focus when presented with the image of a tarot card. Each tarot card page is meant to draw correlation between the character and the archetype. The pages that follow are from the pov of the character on the tarot card. This really helps the student of tarot to garner further perspective and nuance into the card meaning and translations. This is a niche read that suited my studies well. History of WW2, philosphy, politics, spirituality, tarot, magic, feminism. A great read and I can't wait to read more by Claire McMillan.
"Alchemy of a Blackbird" by Claire McMillan is an historical fiction novel set during WW2. This story follows a ficitionalized account of real life artist Remedios Varo from her Spanish upbringing, to a falling Paris, and eventually on to Mexico where she would become a national treasure. This story brings together philosophical, political and spiritual ideas through the lense of war and creation, which truly are two sides of the same coin. The story centers on Remedios as a female artist seeking her own authenticity in relation to a patriarchal society and the voice of her father echoing within about the importance of usefulness. The convergence of history, art and the occult all come together with the backdrop of tarot and interspersed tarot lessons for the reader. The author does presume a bit of interest or rudimentary knowledge of tarot on behalf of the reader. The story line shifts focus when presented with the image of a tarot card. Each tarot card page is meant to draw correlation between the character and the archetype. The pages that follow are from the pov of the character on the tarot card. This really helps the student of tarot to garner further perspective and nuance into the card meaning and translations. This is a niche read that suited my studies well. History of WW2, philosphy, politics, spirituality, tarot, magic, feminism. A great read and I can't wait to read more by Claire McMillan.