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

I went through a number of assumptions and revisions on my opinions as I read this book. From expecting to see an utterly witchy (it is) narrative, to being surprised that most of the blood and guts of this horror isn't where I expected it to be (childbirth), to the ultimate FOCUS of this novel. I mean, I actually expected a great deal of revenge for the things that religious-funded compounds creating an adoption-racket would put actual GIRLS (14-15 yrs old) through.

In actuality, I came away from this with a little peace, on a lower, individual level, despite the amount of outrage this book made me feel on the whole.

On the other hand, this book is so much more chilling than I originally believed, in retrospect.

Why set it in 1970 America? Because in January 22, 1973, Roe v. Wade came into being. Before then, there were coat hangers, bleach douches, kicking of bellies, and starvation.

The horror in this book is reality. Sure, there's a bit of witchy action going on, but the true horror is THAT reality, and the chilling realization that we're going BACK to that time.

So, 1970's America, I once thought that you were a dark age with a few shining lights. I thought we had learned something from this. After all, Boomers WERE the little girls in this tale. You'd think you'd want to prevent this from ever happening to anyone else again.

But no. Welcome to the next mini-dark age. That is the true horror.

As for my peace? Again, it's an individual thing. As in, what we can't change, we just try to accept, to move on. But this is paltry comfort. Ineffectual at best.

As I read this, my synesthesia screamed stale bread and uncooked pieces of meat in my tasteless soup. But that was mostly due to the setting and the horror. Of being trapped and refused any choice.




Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews might be interested in reading my own SF, I'm going to be open to DM requests. I think it's about time I get some eyes on them.

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