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A review by mariahistryingtoread
Whichwood by Tahereh Mafi
2.0
I purchased Furthermore because the cover dazzled me. Unfortunately for me the cover was the best part and I ended up miserable reading it. Despite my disappointment in Furthermore I decided to read this for the Bibliothon Readathon from August 17th to the 23rd (obviously I'm way behind) and this time I would at least know what to expect. The challenge was a book on your TBR because of its cover.
And yeah, all the same issues are present.
A ton of telling and not showing. The narrator attempting to be all mysterious and cheeky when really it's annoying to constantly have this unnecessary intrusion break the immersion. Imagine you're watching a movie with someone who has already seen it. And every two minutes they explain what's happening in a scene to you. That's what this book feels like.
Laylee is a traumatized kid terrified of being hurt again. As an adult I can recognize why without all the particulars because I have the life experience as well as empathy to put it together. Most of the time kids are not capable of this hence the need for explanation. But, there was an unreasonable amount of hand holding even for a book meant for kids. Furthermore drove me mad doing this too. Telling me not just that Alice or Laylee or whoever was hurt, but going out of her way to describe to the smallest detail why. Not only is it annoying because it's repetitive, I felt it was even more detrimental in a book where the premise hinges on helping a person learn to trust again. Like let me learn alongside Laylee instead of lecturing me in a separate room.
On top of it being condescending, knowing all that goes on in Laylee's head removes all suspense. You already know she's starting to thaw out a little, you know exactly why she suddenly backtracks, you know what her big secrets are. This extends to every single character. So when Alice is worried about ruining things with Laylee I couldn't be worried because the narrator often will jump right in to immediately alleviate what, in a better book, is supposed to be normal tension within a story.
Important conversations are glossed over. It's obvious this isn't going to be a dialogue heavy book from the first page. But, jeez I expect that when two characters are having a discussion about how one character expects to die that the significance of the conversation to the plot will win out over stylistic choice.
That's all just the writing style itself which I've already made clear I was not a fan of in the first place with Furthermore. Onto things more specific to Whichwood.
I loved the whole mordeshoor aspect. I thought that it was so cool and spooky. The ritual of washing the dead was fascinating. This book gets dark in a way that I loved. Some reviewers thought it was too much for a kids book, however, I think it's at that perfect level of gruesome that kids will love to be a little uneasy about. To me it was kind of unsettling, but I'm squeamish so your mileage may vary. I moreso respected how willing Mafi was to totally blow everything to smithereens.
The despair present in Laylee's life is an unfortunate reality for many kids. It does them and other kids who could use a bit of perspective no good sugarcoating things. Unfair, horrible things happen. I found it unbelievably infuriating the way that the town of Whichwood mistreats Layleee. At its core it revealed a sad truth; there are adults that will treat you poorly simply because it's easier to do so. If there was one thing I loved about this book (I'm being serious here there is only this one thing I loved) the circumstances under which Laylee was forced to live are it.
Now onto the negatives.
I hated that Laylee was the Surrender for Alice. In Furthermore the Surrender was an actual task. Find Alice's father. In this one, the Town Elders really put a child in charge of essentially restoring the will to live in another person. That is so selfish, and irresponsible to place that kind of pressure on a kid. It'd be one thing if she was told to aid in the mordeshor business with the bonus being that Laylee gets better in the process.
Instead, Alice is implicitly blamed for the death of five people because she couldn't make Laylee better fast enough. You help people when you can especially when you see them struggling, but it is dangerous to encourage this idea that you are a failure if you are unsuccessful. That person, in the end, has to be the one to /want/ to change. And sometimes extenuating circumstances make it outside of your control regardless. Basically, a right person wrong time kind of thing.
Also how is it that the Whichwood Town Elders are considered wrong for ignoring Laylee yet the Ferenwood Council who had to have known about Laylee's predicament because they made it Alice's surrender are totally in the clear? The Ferenwood Council are just as culpable here. A group of adults saw what was going on for an indeterminate amount of time but chose to do nothing because they'd rather have their silly little tradition instead. Like how is that not discussed at all? Especially in a book that really 'goes there' at the end.
If you read my Furthemore review I talked about how Alice and Oliver were barely friends. That's doubly for this book because there are more characters. Oliver spends the entire time obsessed with Laylee despite knowing nothing about her. The author even goes so far as to call it love when it's little more than a teenagers' infatuation. Don't get me wrong a teenager can experience romantic love. I don't want to invalidate those feelings, however, it is literally impossible for it to be love under these parameters. It made me super annoyed with Oliver. He put her on a pedestal and didn't seem to value her as an actual person at all. It was all about her looks which again is a writing problem since Mafi doesn't write many character interactions to develop the relationships.
Alice is bland. She is somehow more underwritten than the first book. This is supposed to be Laylee's story with a side of Alice but neither girl is given much to do. Mafi tells us several times how tragic it is that the two girls can't see how similar they are. Too bad it's all talk since this isn't supported by the text ever. Alice exists only to use her powers.
Benyamin is a plot device.
So this book has a great premise executed poorly, no momentum until the last quarter, boring characters, no character progression, and a message that falls apart under any real scrutiny. I'd have rated it 1 star if the mordeshoor stuff wasn't so cool. At least I can say I'm not a fan of Mafi's writing with the receipts to back it up, so yay? I guess.
That being said I've come too far to quit now so I'm sure I'll read the next one when it inevitably makes it debut.
And yeah, all the same issues are present.
A ton of telling and not showing. The narrator attempting to be all mysterious and cheeky when really it's annoying to constantly have this unnecessary intrusion break the immersion. Imagine you're watching a movie with someone who has already seen it. And every two minutes they explain what's happening in a scene to you. That's what this book feels like.
Laylee is a traumatized kid terrified of being hurt again. As an adult I can recognize why without all the particulars because I have the life experience as well as empathy to put it together. Most of the time kids are not capable of this hence the need for explanation. But, there was an unreasonable amount of hand holding even for a book meant for kids. Furthermore drove me mad doing this too. Telling me not just that Alice or Laylee or whoever was hurt, but going out of her way to describe to the smallest detail why. Not only is it annoying because it's repetitive, I felt it was even more detrimental in a book where the premise hinges on helping a person learn to trust again. Like let me learn alongside Laylee instead of lecturing me in a separate room.
On top of it being condescending, knowing all that goes on in Laylee's head removes all suspense. You already know she's starting to thaw out a little, you know exactly why she suddenly backtracks, you know what her big secrets are. This extends to every single character. So when Alice is worried about ruining things with Laylee I couldn't be worried because the narrator often will jump right in to immediately alleviate what, in a better book, is supposed to be normal tension within a story.
Important conversations are glossed over. It's obvious this isn't going to be a dialogue heavy book from the first page. But, jeez I expect that when two characters are having a discussion about how one character expects to die that the significance of the conversation to the plot will win out over stylistic choice.
That's all just the writing style itself which I've already made clear I was not a fan of in the first place with Furthermore. Onto things more specific to Whichwood.
I loved the whole mordeshoor aspect. I thought that it was so cool and spooky. The ritual of washing the dead was fascinating. This book gets dark in a way that I loved. Some reviewers thought it was too much for a kids book, however, I think it's at that perfect level of gruesome that kids will love to be a little uneasy about. To me it was kind of unsettling, but I'm squeamish so your mileage may vary. I moreso respected how willing Mafi was to totally blow everything to smithereens.
The despair present in Laylee's life is an unfortunate reality for many kids. It does them and other kids who could use a bit of perspective no good sugarcoating things. Unfair, horrible things happen. I found it unbelievably infuriating the way that the town of Whichwood mistreats Layleee. At its core it revealed a sad truth; there are adults that will treat you poorly simply because it's easier to do so. If there was one thing I loved about this book (I'm being serious here there is only this one thing I loved) the circumstances under which Laylee was forced to live are it.
Now onto the negatives.
I hated that Laylee was the Surrender for Alice. In Furthermore the Surrender was an actual task. Find Alice's father. In this one, the Town Elders really put a child in charge of essentially restoring the will to live in another person. That is so selfish, and irresponsible to place that kind of pressure on a kid. It'd be one thing if she was told to aid in the mordeshor business with the bonus being that Laylee gets better in the process.
Instead, Alice is implicitly blamed for the death of five people because she couldn't make Laylee better fast enough. You help people when you can especially when you see them struggling, but it is dangerous to encourage this idea that you are a failure if you are unsuccessful. That person, in the end, has to be the one to /want/ to change. And sometimes extenuating circumstances make it outside of your control regardless. Basically, a right person wrong time kind of thing.
Also how is it that the Whichwood Town Elders are considered wrong for ignoring Laylee yet the Ferenwood Council who had to have known about Laylee's predicament because they made it Alice's surrender are totally in the clear? The Ferenwood Council are just as culpable here. A group of adults saw what was going on for an indeterminate amount of time but chose to do nothing because they'd rather have their silly little tradition instead. Like how is that not discussed at all? Especially in a book that really 'goes there' at the end.
If you read my Furthemore review I talked about how Alice and Oliver were barely friends. That's doubly for this book because there are more characters. Oliver spends the entire time obsessed with Laylee despite knowing nothing about her. The author even goes so far as to call it love when it's little more than a teenagers' infatuation. Don't get me wrong a teenager can experience romantic love. I don't want to invalidate those feelings, however, it is literally impossible for it to be love under these parameters. It made me super annoyed with Oliver. He put her on a pedestal and didn't seem to value her as an actual person at all. It was all about her looks which again is a writing problem since Mafi doesn't write many character interactions to develop the relationships.
Alice is bland. She is somehow more underwritten than the first book. This is supposed to be Laylee's story with a side of Alice but neither girl is given much to do. Mafi tells us several times how tragic it is that the two girls can't see how similar they are. Too bad it's all talk since this isn't supported by the text ever. Alice exists only to use her powers.
Benyamin is a plot device.
So this book has a great premise executed poorly, no momentum until the last quarter, boring characters, no character progression, and a message that falls apart under any real scrutiny. I'd have rated it 1 star if the mordeshoor stuff wasn't so cool. At least I can say I'm not a fan of Mafi's writing with the receipts to back it up, so yay? I guess.
That being said I've come too far to quit now so I'm sure I'll read the next one when it inevitably makes it debut.