Reviews

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

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karolinaw's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

rat_leooo's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

shimmery's review against another edition

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4.0

Oyeyemi's poetic prose here tells a modern day ghost story. Modern not only because it's set at the turn of the 21st century, but because the story acknowledges 'ghosts' not merely as noises in the night (though the book is full of those, too) but as creators and burdens to a complex notion of identity.

Living in the house that belonged to her great grandmother, the main character, Miranda Silver, hears the voices of her female ancestors. She picks up their strange disorders and dress sense and, after her mother dies, looks to them for guidance. The house itself has a voice in the novel, one threatening and possessive. It opens up secret rooms and locks women away, feeling unfriendly but not alive to Miranda's father and twin brother.

When she escapes the house by moving away to university, Miranda meets Ore. A black girl adopted and raised by a white family, Ore too has worked hard to find her own identity. Constantly trying to do more than anyone else, she feels she is desperately trying to earn her keep.

Laced with stories of abused immigrants and BNP flyers, the novel explores the clash between an 'old' and a 'new' Britain, looking at how the past both shapes and threatens the future. It reads almost like the fairytales it references, with the villains far more sinister because there are moments when we are unable to altogether dislike them.

I enjoyed both Oyeyemi's writing style and her strong female leads. I'm always interested to read modern fiction that incorporates magic and this is a stunning example.

crimsonpetal's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

lauraborkpower's review against another edition

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4.0

It took me about twenty pages to get into this book (it didn't help that I took a two-week pause right around those twenty pages in...). But once I understood what Oyeyemi was doing with the narrative, I was hooked.

It's a Gothic sort of coming-of-age story that reminded me a big of Shirley Jackson (I'm sure I'm the 1,000th person to make this comparison) and it has a dark playfulness that seems to laugh at everyone, including the reader. But I didn't mind it because it was just so creepy and tragically romantic.

Oyeyemi has been on my list for a long time and I'm so glad I finally got into her stuff. I will absolutely keep going.