Unabridged Ructions: Witchcraft and... Violence Against Women

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Witchcraft for Wayward GirlsWitchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
My rating: 4 of 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ok. I needed to take a deep breath after reading this because it is indeed a horror novel, but not in the way I expected. Yes, there is witchcraft, but that is not where the real fear lies. In fact, you could strip the entire concept of it from this novel, and it would still be horrifying.

This book is full of violence: against women, against birth, against race, against age. It's terrifying in its accuracy and in its persistence, because we have not progressed very far from the era it depicts. The real horror here is not supernatural. It's systemic, historical, ongoing, and very, very real.

This book made me viscerally angry. That anger that you feel deep in your chest, that is hot and roiling and chokes you. The anger that makes your eyes sting and water, and makes your throat ache. I will never forgive people who think that any of this is ever okay. Never.

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