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A review by annotatewithsara
The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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? Yes
5.0
This new novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia was full of suspense and delicious contradictions. It's very spooky, but also scaredy cat approved. I enjoyed the slow-paced, atmospheric unfolding of the story. I also appreciated how the pacing starts to ramp up around the 60% mark. The Bewitching has a gorgeous setup too: it toggles between two timelines, one in 1908 in rural Mexico and one in 1998 at a college in New England.
Since every plot line happens before 2000, reading this felt like a digital detox. Technology is analog, and there's a thread of oral storytelling in the narrative, I delighted in the physical media the characters interact with inside this book. Stuff like paper archives, handwritten ephemera, journals, and the library borrowing cards that were once pasted into the endpapers of books. This book is also strategically sprinkled with art, music, movie, and literary references and a fair amount of 90's nostalgia. My millennial heart was very happy.
Minerva, the main character, is a coffee drinker and big time book worm. As a result, this book made me crave late night coffees and library visits.
Other things I really enjoyed: the theme of collective consciousness that was explored, the presence of warlocks (not just witches!), the hint of vampirism, the poetic writing, and how much Mexican and American folklore was infused in the pages.
Since every plot line happens before 2000, reading this felt like a digital detox. Technology is analog, and there's a thread of oral storytelling in the narrative, I delighted in the physical media the characters interact with inside this book. Stuff like paper archives, handwritten ephemera, journals, and the library borrowing cards that were once pasted into the endpapers of books. This book is also strategically sprinkled with art, music, movie, and literary references and a fair amount of 90's nostalgia. My millennial heart was very happy.
Minerva, the main character, is a coffee drinker and big time book worm. As a result, this book made me crave late night coffees and library visits.
Other things I really enjoyed: the theme of collective consciousness that was explored, the presence of warlocks (not just witches!), the hint of vampirism, the poetic writing, and how much Mexican and American folklore was infused in the pages.