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A review by bkwrm1317
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Really solid read, and the best one I've read by Hendrix in a minute. Fully developed characters, believable dialogue, good intrigue into the mysterious portions of the novel.
When a young 15 year old woman gets pregnant, she ends up being taken by her begrudging father to a "home" for unwed mothers, spending her summer in said sweltering home surrounded by other young pregnant women until it's time for her to give birth. Along the way, she, and her fellow young women are dismissed, ignored, and mistreated by the adults surrounding them. They're called names, judged, and assumptions are made about them. Two years before the passage of Roe, which codified uterus bearers right to make their own choices about their bodies in the United States, this young woman and some of her fellows decide to take certain matters into their own hands, and what ensues is a horror in ways different from others of Grady's novels.
Note: I really appreciated Grady's note about being inspired by women in his own family and their stories of being taken to homes in their own adolescences. We love to see a man writing in support of women and femmes during an era where they didn't have much of a voice, particularly about their own bodies. The amount of empathy readers will gain not only for our young women, but even for some of the adult women surrounding them is a feat not many authors can pull off, regardless of their gender identity, another reason to love Hendrix.
When a young 15 year old woman gets pregnant, she ends up being taken by her begrudging father to a "home" for unwed mothers, spending her summer in said sweltering home surrounded by other young pregnant women until it's time for her to give birth. Along the way, she, and her fellow young women are dismissed, ignored, and mistreated by the adults surrounding them. They're called names, judged, and assumptions are made about them. Two years before the passage of Roe, which codified uterus bearers right to make their own choices about their bodies in the United States, this young woman and some of her fellows decide to take certain matters into their own hands, and what ensues is a horror in ways different from others of Grady's novels.
Note: I really appreciated Grady's note about being inspired by women in his own family and their stories of being taken to homes in their own adolescences. We love to see a man writing in support of women and femmes during an era where they didn't have much of a voice, particularly about their own bodies. The amount of empathy readers will gain not only for our young women, but even for some of the adult women surrounding them is a feat not many authors can pull off, regardless of their gender identity, another reason to love Hendrix.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism and Pregnancy
Moderate: Sexual violence
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Rape, Self harm, and Abandonment
Some of these CWs I included as "minor" because they are referred to by the characters, and occur off the page, but they may still be quite impactful for certain readers, so do proceed with caution.