White is For Witching (2)
My book club decided on Helen Oyeyemi's White is for Witching this month, and I was excited to have an excuse to revisit it. This is a difficult book that I was confounded by when I first read it. I figured going in knowing more or less what happened would make it easier to digest. It did and it didn't.
I think I understood a lot more of this book by virtue of knowing what was coming. But I still feel like I missed a whole lot. Part of this is probably because Oyeyemi packs so much into a really short book. At less than 230 pages, there isn't room for a lot to happen. And really, not much does. Miranda's pica is exacerbated by her mother's untimely death. She spends some time recovering in a psychiatric hospital, finishes high school, and spends a semester at college before her health forces her to drop out again. It's barely a plot at all, more like a slice of life.
Around the edges, Oyeyemi explores a number of themes, many of which at least overlap. There are strong family ties and family history seems to, on some level, define your path in life. Miranda's family, going back on the matrilineal line to her great grandmother, has the same eating disorder as her. Her great grandmother's prejudices infected the house and the bloodline, pulling them all into a horror story of racism and sexism. Miranda is both victim and monster in this story, much like the soucouyant her girlfriend, Ore, is obsessed with.
There's also some minor exploration of names and how they define you. Miranda and Ore were both almost given different names, and they both wonder how this other girl might have turned out, what sort of life she might have led. This is a really minor part of the book, but one that jumped out at me.
And then there's the horror. It builds through the book, playing at the edges in the early going and completely consuming you by the end. I finished this right before bedtime and had my fair share of nightmares and disturbing dreams.
I think I understood and appreciated this book more the second time through. A lot of it still eludes me, though. I'm excited to see what everyone else in my book club has to say this weekend. Maybe someone there will finally be able to tell me whether there are 3 or 4 narrators.
I think I understood a lot more of this book by virtue of knowing what was coming. But I still feel like I missed a whole lot. Part of this is probably because Oyeyemi packs so much into a really short book. At less than 230 pages, there isn't room for a lot to happen. And really, not much does. Miranda's pica is exacerbated by her mother's untimely death. She spends some time recovering in a psychiatric hospital, finishes high school, and spends a semester at college before her health forces her to drop out again. It's barely a plot at all, more like a slice of life.
Around the edges, Oyeyemi explores a number of themes, many of which at least overlap. There are strong family ties and family history seems to, on some level, define your path in life. Miranda's family, going back on the matrilineal line to her great grandmother, has the same eating disorder as her. Her great grandmother's prejudices infected the house and the bloodline, pulling them all into a horror story of racism and sexism. Miranda is both victim and monster in this story, much like the soucouyant her girlfriend, Ore, is obsessed with.
There's also some minor exploration of names and how they define you. Miranda and Ore were both almost given different names, and they both wonder how this other girl might have turned out, what sort of life she might have led. This is a really minor part of the book, but one that jumped out at me.
And then there's the horror. It builds through the book, playing at the edges in the early going and completely consuming you by the end. I finished this right before bedtime and had my fair share of nightmares and disturbing dreams.
I think I understood and appreciated this book more the second time through. A lot of it still eludes me, though. I'm excited to see what everyone else in my book club has to say this weekend. Maybe someone there will finally be able to tell me whether there are 3 or 4 narrators.
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