""Miranda is at home"-"homesick, home sick ..."
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As a child, Miranda Silver developed pica, a rare eating disorder that causes itsvictims to... read full description
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As a child, Miranda Silver developed pica, a rare eating disorder that causes itsvictims to... read full description
reviews
Jan 29, 2012
Blair
rated it: 
White is for Witching is a strange but rather beautiful book. It's a story about lots of things - the fragility of family relationships, the bond between twins, sexuality, racial prejudice - but at the same time it isn't really about any of these. The unfinished themes are held together by Oyeyemi's prose, which is fluid, lyrical and reads almost like poetry at some points. The narrative is unconventional and initially hard to follow, as it switches between different viewpoints without explainin
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(3 people liked it)
Jan 29, 2010
Sarah
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Sometimes when I'm reading a book, it's so out there that it makes me feel stupid. I think, "I bet a city woman on a subway would understand this thing." Or at least fake it. I can see this book being the subject of coffee table chatter at cocktail hour or at a ivy league campus book club, but not anywhere close to Paris, Illinois. Why? Because it's darn confusing. There are three narrators--Minerva, a yougn lady who suffers from pica (eating stuff like clay and chalk), Ore, a girlfrie
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7 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Jan 30, 2012
Theri
rated it: 
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 More...
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 More...
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(2 people liked it)
Mar 11, 2010
Amanda
rated it:
The daughters of the Silver family are cursed with a hunger for things that do not nourish. The Silver girls absently smear their mouths with handfuls of dirt, lick chalk from secret pocket stashes, nibble on plastic spoons beneath the sheets. The family home in Dover holds them through their suffering, unfolds for them and keeps them together. Part One of White is for Witching, "curiouser," begins with the return to Dover of eighteen-year-old Miranda Silver, an ethereal chalk-eater in
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4 comments
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(6 people liked it)
Oct 13, 2011
Maria
rated it:
This is the first book I'd read by Helen Oyeyemi, and I instantly had to purchase everything else. Girl has a way with words, a way with weird, and a way with witching. It kills me, full on kills me that she is writing like this and she's only, dear god, 26 years old. (And moan, I think she wrote this one when she was 23.) I'd possibly die of jealousy, except that she's completely amazing, and you know what? It's in the world's interest to have writers this good working in it. I think Oyeyemi is
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2 comments
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(4 people liked it)
Nov 30, 2010
Zen
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Nov 02, 2010
Juushika
rated it:
Miranda has pica, a disorder which makes her consume non-edibles; her mother's death and strangely sinister family home encourage her ongoing mental deterioration—but however accurate, such a summary does little to introduce this story of a narrating home, unhealthy family, and fragile mental health. White is for Witching is a short, strange, wonderful little book—and that combination is not without fault. The narrative is stylized and apparently fragmented, which makes for an intriguing but dif
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(1 person liked it)
Dec 30, 2009
Felicity
rated it: 
Oyeyemi, a Nigerian-born English author, is only twenty-five years old. Yet, this is her third book, her first published when she was nineteen. Clearly, Oyeyemi is a major talent. I gave the book three stars because fantasy/supernatural is not always a genre I understand or with which I'm comfortable--I prefer other genres more. Nonetheless, I can appreciate the intricacy of the plot that Oyeyemi weaves, and the precision of her language.
Set (surely ironically) in the English tow More...
Set (surely ironically) in the English tow More...
Sep 28, 2009
Matt
rated it:
I'm not necessarily a genre reader, esp if we're talking the haunted house neo-gothic like this, so I'll accept that maybe I wasn't the ideal audience for this; I think my interest was in the elements that are outside of genre: something to do with the post-colonial questions of haunting (the review that made me want to read the book, for example, referenced _Beloved_, which doesn't seem totally appropriate), which are, I think, not the primary concerns of this book, aside from some vague and no
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Sep 18, 2009
Ele
rated it:
It's a book about a curse: there is no happy ending. Watching the hapless family swirl down the vortex of historic misdeeds supervised by a sinister domicile, I was reminded of John Wray's book Canaan's Tounge. Oyeyemi lacks his uncanny grasp of history, but she writes well how evil survives. Consumption is the vehicle of expression for the characters in the story: a matrilineal affliction called pica ( eating non-foods, such as chalk, dirt, plastic, etc.) haunts the protagonist. Some of the sce
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Mar 18, 2011
Shannon
rated it:
So I borrowed this one off a friend who said it was worth a read albeit a bit weird and I'm now walking away from it unsure whether I enjoyed it or not.
The story was narrated from multiple points of view but no clear indication was given as to who that particular chapter was from leaving the reader sifting through the use of pronouns to work out through whose eyes we were looking. The use of the house as a narrator was clever but could have been more explicitly mentioned in the intr More...
The story was narrated from multiple points of view but no clear indication was given as to who that particular chapter was from leaving the reader sifting through the use of pronouns to work out through whose eyes we were looking. The use of the house as a narrator was clever but could have been more explicitly mentioned in the intr More...
Mar 06, 2011
Courtney
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Dec 24, 2010
Ari
rated it:
This is a weird book. The writing style is both spectacular and frustrating. The author picks seemingly random words to both end the first sentence and start the first sentence but they aren't connected. Like so: "she heard the clatter of cutlery, she heard the whir of
the lift
broke down in the night." (pg. 35) It's a very cool writing style and new-to-me. Not sure if other authors do it. The writing can be frustrating though because it can be confusing. It's not always cl More...
the lift
broke down in the night." (pg. 35) It's a very cool writing style and new-to-me. Not sure if other authors do it. The writing can be frustrating though because it can be confusing. It's not always cl More...
Jun 30, 2009
Ab
rated it:
I've had this book sitting next to my computer for days now. Every time I go to write a review of it, I put it off because I'm afraid I won't be able to do it justice. This. Book. Was. Amazing. Oyeyemi is a MASTERFUL writer! Every time I read her, her prose gets more intriguing and absolutely beautiful! I LOVED "Icarus Girl," while "The Opposite House" wasn't as good, but this book . . . I want to read it again IMMEDIATELY!
Before explaining the story, I tabbed the More...
Before explaining the story, I tabbed the More...
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Mar 29, 2010
Zach
rated it:
I love that the first review of this book is some nonsense about how you'd have to be a "a city woman on a subway" to "understand this thing." The dopey folksiness of this assertion aside, there actually isn't much here to get-this feels more like a framework that had been fleshed out at some points than an actual novel.
Anyway this is the story of two twins, Eliot and Miranda Silver, who live in a xenophobic haunted house. Like Britain, see? It (the house, which i More...
Anyway this is the story of two twins, Eliot and Miranda Silver, who live in a xenophobic haunted house. Like Britain, see? It (the house, which i More...
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Jan 26, 2012
Darlene
rated it:
I chose this book for the January Task of the 2012 Versatile Reading Challenge, which was to read a book by a Nigerian author. It won the 2010 Somerset Maugham Award.
This is quite possibly the oddest book that I have ever read!
The central character to the story is Miranda, an 18 year-old girl whose mother has recently passed away. She is a strange girl who is afflicted with pica, which her mother and grandmother suffered from as well.
The book has multiple narrators: More...
This is quite possibly the oddest book that I have ever read!
The central character to the story is Miranda, an 18 year-old girl whose mother has recently passed away. She is a strange girl who is afflicted with pica, which her mother and grandmother suffered from as well.
The book has multiple narrators: More...
Aug 11, 2009
Betsy
rated it:
While I think the subject matter of this book is engaging, for me, the narrative style was not. I felt that this short book (227 pages) was like wading through mud because I would start reading a passage and think it was being told by one narrator only to discover, by context, that it was a different one of the narrators. I think it would have been helpful if there had been an editorial choice to make it clearer when the narrator changed, via different fonts, or the narrator's name/address at th
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(1 person liked it)
Jan 20, 2012
Sam
rated it:
We all look for books but sometimes books look for us; this one found me.
White is for Witching isn't your everyday mystery/horror novel; this is a unique and powerful body of work, tinged with melancholy, obsession and fear. I've never read anything like it.
At once a challenge to read because of its unusual narrative but at the same time, an engrossing read because of its strangeness, this book engages you on levels that you weren't expecting to be there, much like leve More...
White is for Witching isn't your everyday mystery/horror novel; this is a unique and powerful body of work, tinged with melancholy, obsession and fear. I've never read anything like it.
At once a challenge to read because of its unusual narrative but at the same time, an engrossing read because of its strangeness, this book engages you on levels that you weren't expecting to be there, much like leve More...
Sep 01, 2009
karen
rated it:
i read this. im not sure how to review it. like the other things i have read by her, she shows a great flair for foreboding and atmosphere but the end is a void. im not sure what this book is. its not a traditional story, its kind of fairy-tale-like, but even that... there are characters who are involved heavily, and then they are absent from the narrative, never to return. i guess in that way, it is like the never knowing when the last time you will see someone will be. but in a novel, i have c
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11 comments
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(21 people liked it)
Aug 02, 2009
Liza
rated it:
This book is absolutely hauntingly strange.
I'm not sure I liked it (it's more the kind of book you tell everyone about and vividly remember reading instead of actually liking), and I'm not sure that I'll clamor to read anything else by this author, but I'm very impressed. I had planned on going to bed early this evening, and instead stayed up and read the last three quarters of the book because I just couldn't stop.
It took me a good 20 pages to get into the author's styl More...
I'm not sure I liked it (it's more the kind of book you tell everyone about and vividly remember reading instead of actually liking), and I'm not sure that I'll clamor to read anything else by this author, but I'm very impressed. I had planned on going to bed early this evening, and instead stayed up and read the last three quarters of the book because I just couldn't stop.
It took me a good 20 pages to get into the author's styl More...
Feb 01, 2012
Ivy-noelle
rated it:
I think I'm in love with Helen Oyeyemi. Having read "Mr. Fox" and "The Opposite House" in a matter of days, I was surprised to find how difficult it was for me to get through "White is For Witching"- not because the book was bad, but because it was so oppresively creepy that I had to put it down and make sure not to read it too close to going to sleep at night. In a haunting, gothic narrative, Oyeyemi explores the life of two twins - Eliot and Miranda- who, for all
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Jan 17, 2011
Rachel
rated it:
White is for Witching begins with the disappearance of Miranda Silver, a mentally-ill young woman, then goes backwards in time to tell her story from early childhood, when she first comes to live in her great-grandmother's house.
The book has a wonderful, very creepy beginning, in which 3 characters (Elliot, Miranda's twin brother, Ore, who we don't find out about until later, and 29 Barton Road, the house) give their answers to 3 questions: What happened to Miranda? Is she alive? Wha More...
The book has a wonderful, very creepy beginning, in which 3 characters (Elliot, Miranda's twin brother, Ore, who we don't find out about until later, and 29 Barton Road, the house) give their answers to 3 questions: What happened to Miranda? Is she alive? Wha More...
Jul 06, 2009
GillyP
rated it:
Probably the hardest book I’ve ever tried to review. White is for witching is an enticing, complex and often perplexing read. The writing is exquisite but a little too intoxicated with itself for my taste, the twisty, high-metaphorical style making the story far more confusing than it really needs to be. I felt throughout that the writer was reaching to be elusive and mysterious when she really didn’t need to be – the wonderful writing and the story were enough.
I also thought the mul More...
I also thought the mul More...
Jan 01, 2012
Laura (Roses and Vellum)
rated it:
Review from my blog, http://rosesandvellum.blogspot.com/
White is For Witching is a story told from many viewpoints by many characters, but mostly it is the story of Miranda Silver. Her disappearance is an open secret throughout the story, that begins with her disappearance and then goes back in time, recalling through her point of view and that of others that knew and loved her, the circumstances that led to it.
This is a story that interweaves dark magical legends with hu More...
White is For Witching is a story told from many viewpoints by many characters, but mostly it is the story of Miranda Silver. Her disappearance is an open secret throughout the story, that begins with her disappearance and then goes back in time, recalling through her point of view and that of others that knew and loved her, the circumstances that led to it.
This is a story that interweaves dark magical legends with hu More...
Jul 26, 2009
Jennifer
rated it:
I happened by this book in the library and was so immediately intrigued by the title and cover that I thought what the heck? It was fun to take a chance on an author I had never heard of and a story completely off the radar of popular fiction.
It's a tough story to summarize, reading the synopsis is advised. From the start, I wasn't quite sure where the story was taking me. Is the character Miranda simply going mad and what I'm reading are the hallucinations of a troubled mind or is More...
It's a tough story to summarize, reading the synopsis is advised. From the start, I wasn't quite sure where the story was taking me. Is the character Miranda simply going mad and what I'm reading are the hallucinations of a troubled mind or is More...
Feb 02, 2012
Amber
rated it:
This is the sort of book I could never explain. It is mildly complicated, and you really have to pay attention or you'll feel very lost, which I discovered when I rushed through the last 30 pages (class time constraints) and had to backtrack.
However, it is well worth the effort. This book has so many layers and concepts to it, so much symbolism and intricate language. There are some sentences and passages that you have to read twice -- they just make you go "wow".
We are More...
However, it is well worth the effort. This book has so many layers and concepts to it, so much symbolism and intricate language. There are some sentences and passages that you have to read twice -- they just make you go "wow".
We are More...
Oct 19, 2011
Christina
rated it: 
This book is so confusing. You read and read hoping that in some point there will be an explanation - even a small one. But no,for the most part of reading I was really trying to understand the meaning beneath the words. Oyeyemi writes so beautifully, beautiful words, magical comparisons, the way she writes was the only thing that kept me reading - it really inspired me even if the story was complicated.
What wa that with Jennifer and the closet? What was going on with these apples? Wha More...
What wa that with Jennifer and the closet? What was going on with these apples? Wha More...
Apr 14, 2011
Linda
rated it:
Like Shirley Jackson, Helen Oyeyemi's writing focuses on small moments of terror and wrongness, the creeping horror of something gone bad beneath the surface. White is for Witching is a neo-gothic brooding ghost(ish) story about a British girl with pica, the need to eat chalk and other inedible substances, and the familial house that may or may not have something to do with her disorder.
Written in at least four voices (the main character, her twin brother, her lover, and the house), More...
Written in at least four voices (the main character, her twin brother, her lover, and the house), More...
Nov 30, 2009
Jordan
rated it:
This book is hard to rate for me. It was a heady 4/5 in some ways but a dismal 2/3 in others. I loved the feeling of place, of a Britain that's multicultural and not so squeaky clean. I loved Miri's bizarre illness. I liked the subtlety of the characters.
But I suppose I like a more traditional character arc where something happens at the end that feels like an ending, or an arrival, or something other than a meandering off.
So for character and plot, a yay. For story arc a More...
But I suppose I like a more traditional character arc where something happens at the end that feels like an ending, or an arrival, or something other than a meandering off.
So for character and plot, a yay. For story arc a More...
Jul 07, 2009
Liviu
rated it:
This is a magical book about a strange house, its matrilineal occupants that somehow become part of it and the latest girl scion Miranda.
Told through first person narratives from her twin brother Eliot, her college girlfriend Ore and the house itself 29 Barton Rd (!) as well in a direct 3rd person Miranda POV and mixing voices as well as using other literary tricks like a word that simultaneously ends a paragraph and begins a new one, not to speak of twisting upon itself so the begin More...
Told through first person narratives from her twin brother Eliot, her college girlfriend Ore and the house itself 29 Barton Rd (!) as well in a direct 3rd person Miranda POV and mixing voices as well as using other literary tricks like a word that simultaneously ends a paragraph and begins a new one, not to speak of twisting upon itself so the begin More...
