A review by morganpearcy
Witches by Brenda Lozano

emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is gorgeous. The prose is lyrical and sweeps you along like a rhythmic tide. I read the English translation - which is phenomenally well done. It’s such a beautiful book in English, I’m planning to reread it in Spanish soon to compare. Whatever you do, if you’re reading this book in English, it is essential to read the Translator’s Notes at the beginning. If you skip it, you will miss a lot of meaning and context that will diminish your experience with the book. 

This book reads like an autobiography but is interesting and moves like a novella. It touches on so many important topics: indigeneity; intuition (and how Patriarchy will separate us from it); ancestral medicine (including means of healing the inner child through herbs and mushrooms); Trans and non-binary identities; violence against women and women-aligning folx; Colonization and the shortsightedness/consumerism of modern colonization; Transphobia and the vast spectrum of the human experience.

This book is meant to be savored, not inhaled. 

My favorite quotes (grammar and punctuation copied directly from the book because it’s an intentional part of the prose):

…what is missing for you, why are you afraid, why are people afraid of what the future brings them, why do you carry the past, I say, what is missing for you today, you have feet and hands, you have air to breathe and water to drink, you have earth to walk on, food to eat, and fire to warm it up, you have your life, you have everything. I have my life and I have everything. I tell you, when I die I’ll come right back here to my hut in San Felipe and my ceremonies and the food my sister Francisca makes and I’ll ask her to make me stole because what we have here is good, and so I say to people, what is missing for you, if you have everything, I’d you have everything today nothing will be missing tomorrow. From page 213-214

And…

It was exactly six at night because the light cast shadows on the milpa and I saw her and I knew that man had killed her with a dagger in her back from his rage at Paloma for being Muxe (Trans), he killed her for being Muxe, he killed her because she was born a man and lived as a woman, he killed her because she wore dresses and shine that women wear, as if killing Paloma could relieve him like the rains relieve the clouds fat with summer’s heat, the wretch killed Paloma for his rage that she was Muxe, that she gave him a disease still unborn, and so they killed Paloma for being Muxe, they killed her for being a woman, they killed her for being a curandera, because people often mistake loveless ness for love, and so they killed her and at six at night the Language left me; and I stayed that way because what need to I have for the Words without Paloma. From page 215-216

Be prepared with tissues. Be prepared to reread sections because of the unique punctuation and grammar. Be prepared for a beautiful ride.
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