The Bewitching

De: Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Narrado por: Gisela Chipe

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic.

“In Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s sure hands, every uncovered secret is fraught with intrigue and creeping horror.”—Tananarive Due, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of The Reformatory

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, Elle, Kirkus Reviews, Book Riot, Library Journal, Crime Reads, She Reads

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales.

In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, she begins to sense that the malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch.

Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened the lives of her great-grandmother and Beatrice Tremblay is now threatening her own in 1990s Massachusetts. An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved.

Bewitched

Ok, I am obsessed with this book, the tension, the friction, the adventure. Silvia is such a creative writer mixing folklore with modern urban legends and all fits. I loved Alba & Minerva, it was funny that I didn’t realized both were grandmother & granddaughter until almost the end and I loved my aha moment. The narrator, Gisela Chipe, is wonderful! She made the character live through her words. Wonderful, wonderful book!

Excellent writing, slow story

While I enjoy the overall story it was far too slowly paced. The last 1/3 of the book was entertaining, but predictable.

Exceptionally bland

I do not use the word “exceptionally” lightly. All the elements are here for something interesting, or at least unusual. And yet, when they all come together, the book has all the emotional heft of a manila envelope. To be bland in this setting requires an exceptional feat of talentlessness.

It gets 3 stars for keeping me listening on the hope something interesting might happen. But nope. There was not a single chilling or even lightly spooky moment. The antagonists are all given big reveals, which is silly considering they’ve been telegraphed since page 1 and no other candidates appear at even a tertiary distance.

The story-within-story-within-story structure is pointless, and each story even more dull than the last. Would you like a New England horror story with no horror? How about if Allende’s House of the Spirits was a straightforward and boring ghost story with a soupçon of incest? Or a straightforward reporting with absolutely no emotionality behind it? Well, then you’ve come to the right place.

A dizzying work of mediocrity.

Kept me listening!

Really great, atmospheric and layered story. Yes, I did guess the baddies, but it still kept me listening - the tension builds and you have to get to the end. Great narration.

Lyrical / poetic narration + perfectly spooky

I loved this book! I loved the setting, characters, and plot twists. The narration is poetic and lyrical that fits perfectly with the story.