Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

6 reviews

moonytoast's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, and Death of parent

lateromantic's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

This book is fantastic!! It's poetry, it's dark academia, it's halloweeny, it's across multiple cultures, it's impossible to pin down. Loved it. Do not read if you can't take food / eating / eating disorder content though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use, Hate crime, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, and Alcohol

perfectcupoftea's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder and Hate crime

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty and Incest

singalana's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

It’s not a bad book - it just wasn’t for me.

White is for Witching is a book by Helen Oyeyemi. It tells the story of Miranda Silver, who, together with her twin brother and her father, lives in a house that four generations of Silver women have inhabited. The twins’ mother has died, and it causes Miranda to have a breakdown and start spiralling.

The book has four narrators - three first-person and one third-person. This makes the story a little bit hard to follow at times. Miranda’s brother Eliot, her friend Ore and the house itself are the first-person narrators. Miranda’s point of view is narrated through the third person. Not only does this make the story slightly hard to follow, but it also raises questions about which of the narrators - if any - are reliable?

The writing style of the novel is complex: on the sentence level, it’s very beautiful and evocative, but the stylistic choices can be jarring at times. As the house appears to consume Miranda, the reader starts to question which of the events are real.

The book is certainly creepy and weird, but I’ve started to question whether weird books are for me. If you’re a fan of Murakami’s Dance, Dance, Dance or Han Kang’s The Vegetarian, you might enjoy this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Murder, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

maceydowns's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

upon finishing I immediately had to go back and read the beginning again. Such a unique read that I’m sure you’d get more from on every reread 🖤

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, and Stalking

archaicrobin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

White is for Witching is a gothic fever dream that was a little hard to get into at first, but once you adjust to the authors writing style it’s impossible to put down. Seriously hung between different perspectives and timelines, the story slowly unravels revealing the malevolent sentience of the house. I went into this one with very little knowledge be I’m glad, because there isn’t much you can say without ruining the vibes of the story. If you’re into gothic literature and literary novels that are eerie and twisty, you’ll enjoy White is for Witching. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Death of parent