Witch was written while the author was a graduate student in the MFA program at Vermont College. The story, set in an imaginary town in New York State's Hudson River Valley, is alternately narrated by sixty-something Irene Richards and her thirty-five year old daughter Shirleen McClure, as they cope with events and each other during one year that begins and ends on Halloween. The novel is peppered with elements of magic realism, inspired by Irene's sudden interest in witchcraft and how to introduce her newly-acquired skills into her daily routine.
In a comedy of errors, Irene completes a mail-order course in the Craft, and enlists the aid of a 700-year old sorceress, Moldred of Breste, to enact revenge on her unfaithful husband, Teddy, who is recuperating from a stroke and is confined to a nursing home. Shirleen convinces her mother to sell their house and move in with her; Deke, her rough-and-tumble husband; and their son Junior, who's very attached to his grandmom. Along comes Rolfe, a handsome French-Canadian house painter, and Shirleen is smitten.
Alas, the course of true love never runs smooth. Several months pass. Shirleen tours Montreal with her French club, and who should appear? Deke tries to phone her, but she can't be reached. The tour guide is scandalized.
Two days later, a contrite Shirleen returns home. Good thing, too: Irene has developed a bogus bath product that will make her famous. When customers discover the ruse, a repentant Irene seeks solace in a neopagan lifestyle, but soon becomes disenchanted with life in a coven. Ultimately, she forgives Teddy, who has recovered his health and become a caterer.
The story concludes with the Wiccan marriage ceremony of Irene's grandson, Junior, and his pregnant girlfriend, Antoinette, the daughter of Teddy's former mistress, Rosalie. To everyone's delight, Shyrena Rose is born with midwyffe Moldred in attendance (is there no limit to this witch's talents?) At the novel's conclusion, Irene, having rediscovered the pleasures of traditional family life, contemplates a future without neopaganism that might even include Teddy.
In this book, we follow two women. Irene and Shirleen, a mother and a daughter. Their relationship is tumultuous to say the least, especially after Irene took up witchcraft lessons to take revenge on her cheating husband, something that Shirleen strongly opposes. Things get tougher for the two women when Shirleen sells her mother's house and Irene is forced to move in with her daughter, son in law and grandson. And as if that wasn't enough, her husband, Teddy, requires constant help, since a stroke left him incapacitated in a hospital.
My thoughts.
Yeah, Hocus Pocus this ain't...
What initially drew me to this book, was the premise. I like stories with witches and I'd love to finally read a humorous one, since this book advertises as a comedy of errors. But since I like going into books knowing as less as possible, I didn't read the full premise. And if I had done that, I probably wouldn't read the whole thing. First of all, because the whole story is actually spoiled and secondly, because I am astonished at how a summary that is so spoilery, can also be so misleading. Because this is definitely not a comedy of errors. And if it is, it's not a funny one. I would say this is probably a middle grade/teen family drama with some fantasy elements.
Moving on from that, let me say how much I hated the two main leads. Especially Irene. She is arrogant, thinks ill of everyone, even to Junior whom she claims to love, she is an animal killer, at some point attempted to kill Shirleen, she is manipulative, a scammer and she even encouraged her grandson to develop feelings for someone that was possibly his aunt, because she wanted to get back at her mother, the woman her husband cheated on her with. The only person I would excuse her being bitter towards, would be her husband. Because his was not a small crime. He tore his family apart and drove them to economical disaster. And yes, at some point it is suggested that she may harm him, but of course that doesn't last. Because once he is healthy again, she's all friendly again and in the end they are together. So much for wanting revenge!
And Shirleen, well I had no problem with her at the beginning. She initially is a housewife who tries to fill up her day by taking up new hobbies. Her husband loves her, even her son loves her,despite being a rebellious teen. And yeah, I can tell how she getting pregnant at 17 affected her, because she didn't get to live as other people her age. But on the other hand, I don't understand why she acts like a martyr sometimes. Her life is okay. But you know what made me finally dislike her? When she went to Canada and cheated on her husband literally the first day she was there. And she saw nothing wrong with it. She even gets bitter when people from her travel group mention her husband. And of course, she has forgiven herself after returning back home. And I'm sitting here like, didn't she see how much of a wreck her mother was after her father's cheating? Why would she do that to her family too?
The writing itself wasn't horrible. Neither the story itself, at least up until the point the character of Antoinette was introduced. But the two main characters were insufferable and I didn't like how the plot went to a completely different direction in the second part. And the ending, wow, it was so sweet, it almost gave me diabetes. Plus, I wasn't a fan of the little, subtle, hints of sexism, slut shaming, fat shaming, victim blaming and excuse of cheating that were present throughout the story.
I have to admit, when I began reading this, I thought it would be the story of an old woman who only thinks she is a witch and her daughter tries to look after her without bursting her bubble. I would even be okay with a story about an actual witch, had that part been done in an interesting way. Because here, Irene being a witch doesn't have any importance. She would be a simple mean woman and nothing would have changed.
Anyway, that was all I had to say about this book. Maybe next time I will be luckier and read a good witch story.
If you made it this far, congratulations! 'Til next time, take care :) :) :)
I received a free e-book from BookSirens in exchange for an honest review.
Lots of giggles, and a few groans! Shirleen's mother Irene has been learning to be a witch via an on line course. Irene's cheating husband is in a coma - and the very rare word that comes out of his mouth is his lover's name, Shirleen has always been faithful to Deke - until to trip to Montreal, and then she has a one night stand. Shirleen & Deke's son is in love with Teddy's lover's daughter - but is she really his Aunt? Is she Teddy's daughter too? Loved the twists and turns.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I'm not sure what I was expecting when I started this. I've generally found that books in the fantasy genre are either very light or very dark. The author found a very happy medium and gave us one of the best books I've read this year.
We're introduced to Irene who is a witch. Everyone around her accepts this, which I thought was odd, but it works. The author doesn’t have to provide any long explanation which would probably hurt the quick pace of the book.
The author keeps reminding us that Irene means peace. However, Irene in all her witchy glory is very far removed from any sort of peace. Her husband Teddy, who’s in a coma in the beginning of the book after a stroke, was found responsible for a woman’s death. He was a doctor, and he believed his mission in life was to make overweight Miami housewives into thinner Miami housewives. One woman overdosed on the drugs he prescribed for her. If this wasn’t bad enough, during the trial it came out that he was sleeping with his nurse. Irene had suspected as much and had hired a private investigator to confirm it.
We get to meet her daughter Shirleen, son-in-law Deke, and grandson Junior early on in the book. The author did such a great job creating these characters. At first glance, they seem very shallow, but as the book progresses, they become real.
Shirleen isn’t the happy housewife she seems to be. She pretty much hates the fact that her mother is a witch. She’s not real crazy about her mother a whole. Irene doesn’t necessarily mistreat her, but Irene is pretty selfish so Shirleen’s well-being isn’t at the top of Irene’s list.
Deke is a common everyman with a twist. He enjoys his bowling and beer. However, he’s the anthesis of toxic masculinity. He is very in touch with his emotions and his wife’s needs. I’m not exactly sure if he quite understands why he needs to understand his wife as well as he does, but it really doesn’t matter.
We have Junior. He’s a 17-year-old football playing high school student. He’s the stereotypical ignorant jock who can’t pick up his underwear to save his life. Shirleen forces Irene to move in with them. Irene gets the pleasure of having to share a bathroom with Junior. Have I mentioned how passive-aggressive this family is? This is pure punishment for Irene, even though Shirleen would probably deny it.
I don’t think I could do an adequate job explaining the plot. It bounces from one thing to another and back and then take a twist that no one would ever see coming. I felt like an invisible visitor just watching these people and everyone else sucked into their lives.
You need to read it for yourself. I highly recommend it.
I received an advance review copy for free via Book Sirens, and I am leaving this honest review voluntarily.
It wasn't quite what I was expecting but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
The witchcraft element is jokingly inspired by "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" with a correspondence course resulting in spells of "bippity boppity boo" that produce hit and miss witchery. The characters, especially Irene herself, are very well drawn and I love the interplay between the "voices" of mother and daughter.
An undercurrent of wit runs through the entire book, at times caustic, at others more gentle but always amusing.
It's basically a story about family, love, deceit, betrayal, hurt, forgiveness and reconciliation. I could have taken a bit more actual witchcraft as following Irene bluffing her way through spells with the supreme confidence of the ignorant were my favourite parts. She's one of the most fun and relatable characters I've read and her antics had me cringeing and cheering her on in equal measure.
The writing is tight and very competent. I'd have given 4.5 stars if possible. It got 4 because it wasn't quite what I was expecting from the blurb. A bit more human-centric than I thought it would be.
I think this would be a 5 star book for loads of readers and would highly recommend it as an easy enjoyable read with a feel good factor and I'll be looking for more by this author.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
It took me some time to get the feel of this book. It's very different than other books I have read, but not necessarily in a good or a bad way. Just different. There were some timeline skips that weren't clear (like when/where/how did Junior and Antoinette start communicating with their parents again). Some of the Moldred stuff was a little silly. If she was to play the silly bit in the book, I would have liked to see more of her. I think she could have added some more comedy for sure.
Overall, I struggled because Irene and Shirleen were not terribly relatable characters to me. I don't require the characters in books I read to be relatable... but, I don't know. Something about these two made me struggle with liking either of them and generally, I want to like the main characters at least a little. Irene grew on me overtime a bit but Shirlene just became unredeemable to me when she hooked up with Rolfe. Irene was so off-putting at the beginning of the book, I'm afraid a lot of readers may just DNF and not get past the first chapter.
I think I may have just been the wrong reader for this book. I think it has some appeal, but that I'm not the right audience. I did feel like the author didn't catch witchcraft/Wicca in a great light either.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
*4.5* Ann Robinson has a way with words. There is overlying humor, laugh out loud moments, covering a layer of deep and gut wrenching sadness. She can truly bring the perspective of a bitter, somewhat grandiose older lady to the fore while wholeheartedly taking the reader to a place where maybe, just maybe, the wishes of the mind, heart and soul could produce this witchcraft that she believes in so powerfully. Her daughter, Shirleen, shows us all what it’s like to be that next generation, taking on the responsibility of our parents and living with the choices we made when we were too young to know what we really wanted. This story brings to the forefront so many issues found in typical American families everywhere. Mental health, loneliness, infidelity, teen pregnancy, young love, depression, Alcoholism, growing old and feeling useless. So many other things too numerous to name. It spoke to me on a hugely personal level. I could have kept reading this on and on and my one complaint was that I felt like it ended too soon with not enough closure. I just wanted more. So Ann gets 4.5 stars for a beautiful emotional roller coaster ride with some tremendous laughs and a few tears but mainly for actually giving me a book that let me feel something very deeply. Well done! I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
This is an unusual book. Within a few pages, I was (surprisingly) absorbed by it, despite discovering that it fits into a genre that I ordinarily avoid like the plague. I hate stories about plausible, real-life drama, even if there is a paranormal element. I read to escape drama! But, I'm so glad I read Witch.
It's written with exceptional wisdom, craft, and wit. I quickly realized that, despite being nominally about witchcraft, it's also a weird and funny still-coming-of-age tale. It's about the changing nature of love: young passion's fire and ebb; family relationships through the major stages of life; the crises that come with middle-aged marriage; and the hopes and frustrations of parents caring for children -- and children caring for parents.
Yet, essentially, it's still a book about magic. There's the paranormal potion-and-ritual kind, but also the beautiful, magical nature of serendipity. Witch reveals how the dark, festering pain of betrayal can be transformed into a blissful freedom to let new things happen. It's an adventure of self-discovery that leads to joy. I loved it.
I'm grateful to the publisher and this amazing, gifted author, Ann Robinson, for the opportunity to read a free ARC via BookSirens. I don't write my review out of any obligation, however.
Witch was indeed a cranky little tale, but it had a big impact on me and I can't recommend it enough!
I had trouble with this book because I felt that it was very wordy, especially the first half, and the constant harping between mother and daughter got on my nerves, as did the frequent use of coarse words. I saw both sides of the struggle – mother wants to be free, daughter is over-protective and thinks her mother has gone over the deep end – but thought it could be described in a shorter time and with fewer expletives. However, the basic story was very good, and the ending was very warming! Some places were very humorous indeed, and the second half came together better for me. - I received an advance copy and voluntarily leave this honest review.
I first rated this book at 3 🌟🌟🌟 but I have finished reading it since. I DNF it to BookSirens. I was not happy with the profanity but decided to read over it and really think about it. It was actually written quite well and very thought provoking. The characters were quite relatable. They could be part of your family. Each made choices in that would effect their lives. Misunderstandings, lies, infidelity and splashes of magic. In the end, each character grew from the mistakes ( choices) they made and their lives were different and better by the end of the book. You may want to give it a chance. Read it. I received an ARC free from BookSirens and this is my voluntary honest review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This is an unusual story that blends bizarre witch activities with multiple family dramas. Confusing in the beginning but everything comes together by the end. Quite funny most of the way through. Some surprises. I kept thinking “what possessed me to pick this book”. Pun intended. But after resisting an early temptation to abandon it, I found myself hooked on it.
I received an advance review copy for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily.
It's not your typical witchcraft book, this is a story about a witch but also a story about aging. And while a lot of it is true to life, the way it's written is hilarious. Those of us who have taken care of elderly family members can empathize, sympathize and laugh at the same time.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.