Just Literature discussion

Just finished reading Hexe and here is my review:

Written in the voice of a young girl, Frigg, growing up in a German village during WWII, HEXE is an intimate, heartfelt account of her life. In this story, fiction becomes so true, so rich with historical facts, and so imbued with fairytale traditions, that it ushers us into the time and place it describes, making them a reality.

Originating from German, the title packs a lot of meaning into its short utterance: HEXE is the act of doing witchcraft, of working miracles. Fittingly, this is exactly what this story encapsulates: the passing of mystical traditions from the grandmother, Lina, to her young granddaughter, Frigg. “Once, when I asked her why she got up so early, she said, ‘The veil is the thinnest during the Witching Hour, the time of magic, when souls find souls. The herbs you cut during the witching hours are the most powerful. They carry the magical mist.’”

This unique relationship is set against the background of turmoil, witnessed as the girl watches a mob dragging her mother in the street. It is heart-wrenching to read, “A wild crowd was jeering at something being dragged along on a rope. It took me a moment to understand what was going on… The world started to spin. A mist descended in front of my eyes and my heart seemed to stop.” It is awe-inspiring to realize the courage of the grandmother to stand up against the brutes, and save the victim from their hands.

Later, looking at her grandmother, the girl says to herself, with an endearing touch of honesty, ‘She is getting really old now. I wish she would stop telling me these tales.’ Which is when she learns a lesson from her grandmother: ‘Superstitious minds are troubled minds. Superstitions are born out of fear of the unknown, the unexplained threatening the routine of life.’

Aside from the writing, I want to mention the beautiful presentation of the print edition. In the tradition of old manuscripts, the first letter of each chapter is presented in a font that seems to come out of an old witchcraft book. I simply love this attention to detail, offering us the beauty of an old glyph as a gateway to the a world of magic.

Five stars.

Thanks for that, Uvi! This is obviously one to read. A thoughtful and informative review too.

David wrote: "Thanks for that, Uvi! This is obviously one to read. A thoughtful and informative review too."

My pleasure David!