White Is for Witching in Disturbing Books on Livejournal

From the Bookshelf of Disturbing Books on Livejournal…

White Is for Witching

Helen Oyeyemi

Start date: March 1, 2014

Finish date: March 31, 2014

Discussion: DB book club - currently reading

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 5 topics — 6 comments total

DB book club - currently reading

* April 2014 - COWS by Matthew Stokoe
By Heather V · 1 post · 5 views

last updated Apr 13, 2014 03:32PM

July 2014 - CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE HUMAN RACE by Thomas Ligotti
By Heather V · 2 posts · 6 views

last updated Aug 05, 2014 10:02AM

What Members Thought

Jan 02, 2010 Therese rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009, favourites

First of all, I have to get this out of the way. I am in awe and more than just a little bit jealous of Helen Oyeyemi. She is phenomenally talented and has published four extraordinary and lyrical novels, of which White is for Witching is definitely my favorite. Rarely does a book get under my skin like this one did.

On the very first page you discover that Miranda Silver has vanished, leaving behind her mystified and scared family. Miranda was a strange and disturbed girl, prone to nightmares a First of all, I have to get this out of the way. I am in awe and more than just a little bit jealous of Helen Oyeyemi. She is phenomenally talented and has published four extraordinary and lyrical novels, of which White is for Witching is definitely my favorite. Rarely does a book get under my skin like this one did.

On the very first page you discover that Miranda Silver has vanished, leaving behind her mystified and scared family. Miranda was a strange and disturbed girl, prone to nightmares and hallucinations. She also suffered from a bizarre eating disorder called Pica, and existed almost entirely on a diet of non-edible items like chalk.

White is for Witching is told from three very different voices as they try to make sense of what has happened to Miranda (though one knows a lot more than the other two). The first narrative comes from Eliot, Miranda鈥檚 twin brother. The second is from Ore, Miranda鈥檚 only friend, who is obsessed with the soucouyant (or succubus) myth. The third narrative is the most unnerving as it comes from the house itself. The Silver House delves into the tragic history of the Silver women and the part it has played in their deaths or disappearances, as well as the secrets that it keeps from outsiders.

The house is also angered by Miranda鈥檚 father turning it into a bed and breakfast full of strangers, and it frequently takes its ire out on the foreign housemaid and unsuspecting guests in nasty and malicious ways. I鈥檓 a sucker for things that defy logic when it comes to space and/or time (House of Leaves, the TARDIS etc) and the Silver House is a formidable character here. Though Miranda initially dismisses a letter from two young girls who have suffered from one of the house鈥檚 terrifying pranks, their warning is alarmingly simple and apt: 鈥淭his house is bigger than you know! There are extra floors, with lots of people on them.鈥�

With White is for Witching, Oyeyemi manages to weave together a mixture of different horrors. Some are supernatural and esoteric, and some are mundane. Others are based more firmly in reality and explore things like Dover鈥檚 hostile attitude towards foreigners, and a mysterious serial-killer who preys on Kosovan refugees. At the heart of it all, I would consider it a story about a haunted house but with a completely unique and original twist. There is something very unconventional and disquieting about this book. I fell in love with it from the first chapter, and it is really quite a chilling tale. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review