Take a photo of a barcode or cover
mahardy37 's review for:
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
by Grady Hendrix
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
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:
Complicated
Horrible to read how unwed pregnant girls were viewed and treated in the 1960s. First of all, the shame is all on them - what about the boys and men who impregnated them? And many of them were either forced or were naive when fooling around with boyfriends. The first half of this story got me so angry especially as many of the attitudes have not changed. Then the story shifted and a mysterious librarian came into the picture and ultimately turned out to be a witch. She lured some of the girls at this home for wayward girls into believing they could have power - but at what cost? Now it got pretty gruesome throughout the second half. Not just the witch stuff but also the very explicit detail describing childbirth (both the cruel approach towards unwed mothers in the hospital and a difficult at home birth).
Long story short - clearly the witch aspect was a metaphor for women taking charge of their lives.
I listened to the audiobook and had to skip through the lengthy bits of screaming and moaning - both during witch spells and the childbirth scenes. it got pretty tedious.
Finally, the main character realized all these people who treated her badly were not really cruel - they were scared of her power. Which is actually the driving force behind much of the awful treatment of women over the millennia.
Long story short - clearly the witch aspect was a metaphor for women taking charge of their lives.
I listened to the audiobook and had to skip through the lengthy bits of screaming and moaning - both during witch spells and the childbirth scenes. it got pretty tedious.
Finally, the main character realized all these people who treated her badly were not really cruel - they were scared of her power. Which is actually the driving force behind much of the awful treatment of women over the millennia.