A review by vinreads
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think this is the first horror/fantasy book I've read that was written by a man about women's issues that I didn't by and large hate. I have a love hate relationship with horror and/or fantasy books because most of them, in a roundabout way, end up being about women or women's issues, and most end up being misogynistic, or portray women as crazy and insane, or even portray trans women badly for being trans. I stay far away from most horror books, especially those written by men, as a result. But this book felt like it was written about women by a man who understands women. It was very period accurate and I think accentuated perfectly the hush hush of teenage pregnancies at the time and the thought of "wayward girls" and what was done with them. The birthing scenes were absolutely graphic and horrific but did not shy away and were not versed with inaccurate terminology whatsoever. It was stunning to see something like that, and for a man to acknowledge and insert the practice of the husband stitch into the book as well felt big. The husband stitch was big in that time period and overall was a sickening surgical method implemented by doctors for the male pleasure, and not a lot of men like to acknowledge that that existed. Hats off to this guy for this entire book, really. The magic bit felt a little impractical to fit in with the realness of the rest of the book, but I understand also that it was meant to be an allegory for the girls taking back power from those who stole it from them. It was nice to see the happy ending for the main four girls, too, though. Would definitely read more of this author in the future. 
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