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A review by mollyringle
The Wood Wife by Terri Windling
4.0
Such a weird and wonderful mix of magical things! Never expected to see a book that mentioned both Henry Miller and Brian Froud, nor one that interpreted Tucson desert spirits as more or less the same thing as English faeries, but I am very much there for that kind of thing.
I'd just visited Tucson for the first time before reading this book, and it is fabulous at bringing the mountainous, saguaro-studded desert to life. The writing is gorgeous and evocative. Maybe because it was written in the '90s, it also had a Northern Exposure feel to me, in the way that magical realism was mixed into ordinary life and social/political issues. Except very Tucson instead of very Alaska. :)
I'm still a tad confused about what exactly happened and why, in the tangle of enchantments, but I may just have to think about it longer. I did like the parts I made sense of, and was especially fond of trickster Crow. I love tricksters. It was a delight to exist in this world while I read it, and to let the mysterious magic and the desert air and the poetry wash over me.
I'd just visited Tucson for the first time before reading this book, and it is fabulous at bringing the mountainous, saguaro-studded desert to life. The writing is gorgeous and evocative. Maybe because it was written in the '90s, it also had a Northern Exposure feel to me, in the way that magical realism was mixed into ordinary life and social/political issues. Except very Tucson instead of very Alaska. :)
I'm still a tad confused about what exactly happened and why, in the tangle of enchantments, but I may just have to think about it longer. I did like the parts I made sense of, and was especially fond of trickster Crow. I love tricksters. It was a delight to exist in this world while I read it, and to let the mysterious magic and the desert air and the poetry wash over me.