Elissa Washuta

White Magic is a bouquet of essays and memoir, vibrant with the author's Native American heritage and psychic energy in witchcraft yet describing painful moments of distress as she conquers her addictions and suffers through bad men. I loved reading about her stint as an artist in residence on a Seattle drawbridge and was amused by her Twin Peaks adulation. The diverse structures used in the book had the reader moving at a sprightly pace, although I think sometimes the cleverness and sarcasm lost my attention. She is a good writer and I'll look forward to her next book.… (altro)

I think I’m supposed to say that this wasn’t for me instead of how much I disliked it, but that’s not true. The book copy is the epitome of stuff for me: witchiness, pop culture, and essays about place and Indigenous history; unfortunately, this book is not what the copy says. The author has been sexually assaulted (content warning) in the past and seems to stay with this guy Carl because he never physically hurt her, but JFC he sounds like a narcissistic douche.

I apparently can’t anymore with women who feel the need to be with a man no matter how awful they appear, and I just don’t get it. I’m judging her friends for not shaking some sense into her, and I really don’t think she gets to where she believes she does by the end of the book. (Side note that I heard her on the Witch Wave podcast say she has a new partner, and now I’ve noped out completely)

I’m not sure if it’s because I know time is needed to get over this stuff, and she didn’t give herself enough or what. But I can tell that she doesn’t like being alone which seems to be the best thing for her. And I’m angry at her for making me be an armchair psychologist because hers doesn’t seem to be doing well. Also I will be happy if I never hear the name Carl again; I started getting triggered by it almost immediately and hated it over eleven hours later.… (altro)

I don't remember how this book got on my radar in the first place, but it had been hanging out on my want-to-read shelf for a long time before I finally decided to request it at the library.

Washuta is a young woman in search of identity. She's a member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, but looks white and grew up far from other Cowlitz than her family. She's a high academic achiever, but has a tendency to stay up late and walk to neighborhoods she thinks of as dangerous, drinks to excess. She struggles to find the right combination of meds to manage her bipolar cycling, and to take charge of her sexuality after she's been raped.

There are individual essays? chapters? that I thought were strong. Overall, I thought the book started out compelling and then... started to... I don't know. About halfway through the book started to feel like a slog. Washuta was saying things that seemed repetitive, there were sections that I didn't know why they were included at all. Things seemed to lose focus. I wanted more connection, more self-analysis.

Interesting, but something was missing for me.… (altro)