I'm enjoying some seasonal reads this fall. Back in September (okay, okay, August), I made my "fall" stack. I even ordered a couple of recommended books (while my bookcase and stacks of TBR books stared at me accusingly).
Last week's book review started my spooky reviews for October, and today we're continuing that.
One of the first ones I read as the calendar slipped into October was The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. It was recommended in one of my (far too many) reading-themed Facebook groups for an October-seasonal-but-not-super-scary read. (I'm saving my scary read for my annual Stephen King book, and I am just too much of a wuss to read a whole lot of horror back-to-back).
Of the many that were recommended, I chose this one for a couple of reasons: First, I am a fan of great titles, and this one really stood out. It's a great title. And second, what a gorgeous cover! It's really beautiful, and for all that talk about not judging a book by its cover... a beautiful cover is a beautiful cover is a beautiful cover.
This book moves back and forth between two time periods: The present, following Harvard graduate student Connie as she sorts through her grandmother's abandoned house near Salem while simultaneously researching her doctoral dissertation on American history, and the past, during the Salem witch trials itself and the years afterward, following Deliverance Dane and her familial line.
Of course, Connie is drawn to Deliverance Dane's mysterious story, and she sets out to find out more about this woman, who begins as a name on a small scrap of parchment attached to a key. Connie is determined to find out more about her, and to track down a particular book, namely, a physick book, full of lost knowledge, history, secrets, traditions, and, possibly, spells.
“But remember. Just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean it isn't real.”
Okay, so the reading and experience and enjoyment of this book is going to be entirely dependent on you as reader, even moreso than most books.
Let's start with the good.
I have always been very interested in the history of witches. Not the magical elements so much of course, but the social context and the history itself. The stories attached to these (usually) women, the fear that sprang up around them. Particularly the story of Salem is famous; I even teach The Crucible every year to my grade eleven class.
Women's stories in history so rarely get told, especially in those Puritan histories. Mother, wife. That was it. So a woman with a talent, a profession even, was something rare. That rarity gave way to speculation and fear and mob mentality of course, but this review isn't a history lesson, so let's leave it at that.
These women had stories, and they have been lost to hangman's rope and flames.
I have also been interested, always, in the draw of spirituality and religion. I love the connection to nature explored through historical witchcraft; perhaps it is because I possess whatever the opposite of a green thumb is.
Seriously; I killed a fake plant once.
So any story about this topic is interesting to me.
And this story is that.
Further, the contemporary protagonist, Connie, is in an interesting role. An intellectual, a scholar, surrounding herself with stacks of books. I actually love the world of academia; I loved discussing obscure (in my case) literary topics with other students in university classes, arguing about a particular reference to a particular symbol from a particular author. I've always thought about getting my Masters degree; not for any particular purpose, but just so I can really study, really immerse myself in something I'm passionate about.
I can only imagine what that world would be like at Harvard graduate school.
Some of the writing is really lovely.
“She was always puzzled that people say that darkness falls. To her it seemed instead to rise, massing under trees and shrubs, pouring out from under furniture, only reaching the sky when the spaces near the ground were full.”
A lot of the description, particularly of the past, was so descriptive that it became completely immersive, which is definitely the best feeling in a book.
Also, we find out that though this is a debut novel, the author, Katherine Howe, can trace her family back to Salem during the infamous trials. Plus, she is a historian, so there is all sorts of realism and detail which is evident throughout the book.
And now, that leads us to the not-so-good. I won't say "bad", exactly, because it entirely depends on if these elements bother you.
Some of them bother me, to varying degrees.
Okay, first of all, the mystery... it isn't hard to figure it out. So if you're reading this because you want to discover the mystery, and that is very important to you, then be forewarned for that right now. I don't read a lot of mysteries and this one seemed super obvious to me.
Second, there were a fair number of cliches. The romance between Connie and Sam, for example, was rather superficial and just too convenient to be realistic. And I'm saying that even though I actually enjoy Sam's character.
The villain was another super sterotypical character. Like, almost cartoon villain level of stereotype. I don't want to get super into that because it is nitpicking and full of spoilers, but generally, it's pretty obvious, which by nature is why the mystery isn't very mysterious.
But my biggest problem was with Connie herself. There were some consistency issues (like when she says she doesn't remember her grandmother but all of a sudden has vivid memories of her with nothing to prompt these vivid memories). But as an advanced graduate student, there was a lot that she just didn't know that was fairly common sense or general knowledge.
For example, how does someone who is a Massachusetts native find the local accents so very odd? Would she even notice these accents? No, definitely not.
But moreso was the lack of information that Connie had, yes about her own life, experiences, identity, family, and especially her mother, but also about her chosen field of study, for which she is supposedly a learned scholar. Not seeing the similarity between the names Mercy and Marcy, for example, even though she apparently has studied this time frame for years. Or the issues with her name (which I won't go into for the purposes of super obvious spoilers).
So what's the takeaway?
Essentially the flashback scenes with Deliverance and her family, the actual focus on the Salem history, was quite good. Quite excellent actually, and what made me fairly devour this book.
The modern-day characters were much more one-dimensional, as was that storyline, and that is where the faults with the story lie. Unfortunately, that is also the majority of the book itself.
All in all, I liked this book, but it wasn't as completely amazing as I was hoping. The premise and the elements of the story that took place in the past were enough to make me overlook the rest, and it was lovely and seasonal.
I'll give it a 3.5 stars out of 5.
Do you like reading seasonal reads? Any great fall or Halloween ones to recommend?
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