Reviews with content warning for Grief - White is for Witching

This book is like nothing I have ever read I am not sure how to talk about it. The writing style takes awhile to get used to and in a way I dont think I ever did get used to it. It is told from multiple perspectives all leading up to the disappearance of the main character Miranda but sometimes you do not even know it has switched perspectives till something about how the person is talking clicks. The writing is also very lyrical, haunting and at times dreamlike which can make I interpretation challenging at times.

I loved the intergenerational links between the women in the family and the perspective from the house itself was an interesting twist. There were actually parts in the story that creeped me out as well and for someone who struggles to get that scared feeling from books this story provided. I love me a female female romance and that was also delivered by the book. Theres also some interesting points on racism both overt and subtle woven throughout the story which gave another layer to the story.

However despite the premise I found there was not really much of a plot but that didnt actually both me that much. In fact it seemed there were lots of things in here that would usually put me off no happy or conclusive ending, hard to read writing style, not much happening etc but somehow I found myself enjoying it for what it was and not being too bothered by it which made this so very hard to rate. Definetly keen to give her other works a go.

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headachesince03's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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readerette's review against another edition

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I loved Gingerbread in all its quirky glory, but White is for Witching held no charm for me. None of the characters have any warmth, and though they are interesting, I have no investment in the story or their lives because they just seem detached from anything meaningful or good. I have a feeling the second half of the book would remedy some of that but not enough faith or energy to find out. I'm also not impressed that one of the only Black characters to get close to the main character is disturbingly close to the Magic Negro stereotype.

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baknata's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.75

This book left me completely shaken when I finished it. It took a while to get into. It wasn't until I was close to halfway done with the book that it started flowing for me. It wasn't that the writing was bad, the book is just very heady and you have to pay a lot of attention to everything you read, which is hard for me. The plot of the book is also pretty heavy, so it isn't easy to just fly through it. When I did get past the halfway point, the book really did pick up for me. The plot at that point shifts as well, and I found the storyline a lot more engaging. The end of the book hit me like a brick. The book starts off with a hint as to how it ends, but I didn't expect to be affected so much by it.

Spoiler

Obviously, from the beginning of the book we know something happens to Miranda. I think I knew that in the back of my mind, but the way it happened hurt so much. The way she left, or whatever, and the impact it must have had on the people around her, it just hurt. We spent the entire book seeing how much these people cared about her and how she clearly wanted to be the kind of person that they should care about, but she couldn't be well. It makes me so sad that she was never even given a chance, her story was written from the beginning and she couldn't stop her fate.

I thought the way the book was written was fascinating. The use of unusual formatting and varying POVs made the book interesting to read. I did have trouble with the way the POV shifts were written at first since there isn't any indication as to whose point of view we were reading. As I went along, it became easier to tell, especially considering the author used both first-person and third-person points of view for different people. I also thought it was super unique and interesting to have the house have a narration as well. You don't see many books where the buildings tell the story, and for this one, it definitely added an interesting view of the events.
Overall, I think my rating would be higher for a reread of this book. It's the type of book that you need to reread a few times to really pick up on all the themes and intricacies of the plot. It was very well written, and I would recommend it for fans of thrillers.

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gwynsvan's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

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goblingirlreads's review

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challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

There was a lot about this book that I found very interesting - the house, the twins, the writing style was beautiful. Perhaps it was the state of mind that I read it but the story itself was really wobbly and unfocused and I struggled to keep my attention and focus throughout. I had a difficult time parsing the timeline of events and focusing on what was happening. There's a lot of "what's real and what's not" going on on top of time weirdness which I'm sure is completely intentional but didn't help my focus problem and made me lose the through line and forward movement of the story. I also found the ending a bit anticlimactic and underwhelming but, like I said there was a lot to love as well that drew me in.

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