Customer Reviews

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

5 star:		(96)
4 star:		(92)
3 star:		(70)
2 star:		(30)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

Connie Goodwin is a Harvard Graduate student working on her doctoral dissertation. Her advisor, Manning Chilton, suggests that she find a unique and undiscovered primary source to focus her research on. Unfortunately for Connie and her academic progress, not a lot of work is getting done on the dissertation, not since Connie's earthly and eccentric mother Grace called to ask her to go up to Marblehead, Massachusetts and help get her grandmother's house ready for selling. While going through her Grandmother's house, Connie chances along an old bible and a key that contains a scroll with the name Deliverance Dane.

Her curiosity is peaked. Uncovering the past through scattered documents and records, Connie soon enough learns that Deliverance Dane was accused and killed as a witch during the famous Salem Witch Trials, leaving behind a book of receipts, or what we would refer to as recipes. Connie passionately searches this book out, tracing the lives of mother to daughter until she comes to see her own family connection in this all. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane weaves reality, history, and magic together as logical and realistic Connie faces the possibility that there may be something more to this world than can be explained by reason alone, especially when her own safety begins to be threatened by something faceless and nameless.

This is a page turner. I just couldn't put this book down and loved the flashbacks to Deliverance's time the most. The late 1600s were hard for women, especially Puritan women who had to be steely and reserved at all times. I came to respect Deliverance for her steadfast nature and her want to help those very people who condemned her. It is certainly hard to be strong when faced with conflict, especially that of the life threatening brand. The mother-daughter dynamic is important in the book, and each mother and daughter carries on their family legacy of spells and healing while adapting to the times. Just as mothers and daughters tend to be, each daughter is both like and unlike her mother.

Sometimes it seems as though Howe, a historian herself, uses the plot and Connie as an excuse to let us know just how much she personally knows about history. While this isn't a bad thing, quite the opposite in the opinion of this historian, it does make the dialogue sound forced at times.

There was one thing I did take issue with, but not enough to put me off of the book. I was sort of disappointed that this book turned from historical fiction / thriller to thriller / fantasy. I would have liked it better had the author not chosen to make the `magic' aspect of what Deliverance and her kin did actual reality. When the characters began to do real magic, I gave a sigh. Part of the appeal of the book was that it spoke to me as an historian and a realist. What I wanted to see and get from the book was the story of a woman, a natural woman capable of using the earth as anyone could, being marked as evil for her skill with healing. That hope was cut short when the characters began actually speaking spells and shooting light from the tips of their fingers.

To be honest, I could see the ending coming a mile away. It was quite obvious from the get-go who the bad guy is. I was surprised that it took super-intelligent Connie so long to figure it out for herself. Then again, maybe I just have a distrustful nature. My suspicion as to the end of the book didn't ruin the plot for me, though, and I absolutely devoured the book.

Take several loaves of moldy bread coupled with cookware made of toxic base metals, stir in a cup of religion, a tablespoon each of imagination, jealousy and superstition and you have the basic ingredients of the Salem Witch Trials as well as the intriguing infrastructure of THE PHYSICK BOOK OF DELIVERANCE DANE.

Enter modern day PhD candidate, Connie Goodwin, asked by her mother to spend the summer cleaning up her grandmother's ancient home in Marblehead, Mass. Connie discovers that Granna's garden contains an overgrown mass of "healing herbs" and her house is filled with bottles and jars of unusual elixirs as well as a plethora of items worthy of a spot on the Antiques Roadshow. (What it does not have is electricity).

Connie meets a local steeplejack named Sam who just happens to be a college grad (complete with nose ring) and together they begin a search for the lost "recipe" book of one Deliverance Dane, victim of the Salem Trials. Enroute to the solution and conclusion of the book, Connie makes some amazing discoveries, not the least of which are her own healing abilities as well as her families long history with Salem. It appears that even Connie's dog, Arlo, could be a pet with a past.

The book moves smoothly between the two eras and the stories of Connie and Deliverance are captivating. The attention to historical detail is admirable. If I have one complaint about this book it is this. In the name of authenticity Katherine Howe has imbued her Marblehead, Mass. characters with a New England accent that I found irritating and difficult to read. I repeatedly had to go back and re-read certain sentences in order to determine what a character was saying, and this did nothing but interrupt the flow of the story. Other than that minor complaint, this book is a must read for anyone intrigued by magic, witchcraft or historically accurate fiction. 3 1/2 stars

Katherine Howe's The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane takes the Salem Witch trials of 1692 and asks the question: What if at least one of the accused really was a witch? With that intriguing question, she brings us into the academic world of Connie Goodwin, a grad student at Harvard in 1991, whose doctoral thesis takes a back seat when her mother persuades her to clean out and sell her grandmother's house in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Once she arrives at the abandoned house, Connie discovers an old key containing the name "Deliverance Dane" inside a family Bible, and with her curiosity piqued, she begins tracing an old "physick" book used by the accused witch. Along the way she encounters romance, an anxious and grumpy mentor, and a mystery that seems to grow the more she investigates.

Set mostly in 1991, Howe intersperses her story with chapters set in the past, giving illumination to what was going on before, during, and after the witch trials. Though the mystery is fairly easy to figure out, all of the characters are likeable and Connie's journey into the past is fascinating. I had an easy time imagining the settings, and the paranormal aspect comes out naturally through the course of Connie's work. There was a bit of a slow start, but once the story picked up, the pages flew by as I got caught up in the plot. Biggest complaint? Howe's need to have some of her characters speak phonetically to reinforce their New England accents, a totally unnecessary element that pulled me out of the story every single time it occurred. Still, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is a well-researched, well-written glimpse into a What If? scenario that I doubt many of us in modern times had thought to ponder. Excellent reading!

What a great story--especially for people interested in early Colonial America. For anyone who's researched their own early roots, especially in New England, this PhD student's efforts to find a `recipe' book belonging to a Salem woman accused of witchcraft during the infamous trials truly resonates. Even if you haven't done your own time in musty archival libraries and antiquated cemeteries, the story, partly contemporary, partly set in period Salem is fascinating. The student, Connie, doesn't even realize she's finding more than she bargained for as her quest progresses, nor what it all means to her personally until near the end.

While I truly enjoyed the story, I did struggle a bit with some of the writing. The author seemed to do a good job with period furnishings and clothing and also did a good job explaining how people of the earlier time lived and reacted to cries of witchcraft. However, I found her attempts to spell out the Boston accent difficult to read and a bit frustrating. A little of that goes a long way. Also, I found the literary-type descriptions more jarring than evocative. Instead of being further pulled into the story world, many phrases seemed odd and threw me out of the story instead. Some people have a gift for turning a phrase, so to speak, but when it's forced, it does the story no favors. I also felt some details weren't tied up satisfactorily.

That said, the story is told clearly with decent pacing and believable characters--I actually know some academics who are bookishly brilliant but don't have much common sense, just like Connie, and her spacey mother is great. The `steeplejack' boyfriend is a nice touch that adds depth to the historical flavor as well as lightening the intensity of all the research. The protagonist is not an emotional person and this is not an emotionally gripping story--I wish it had been more so--still it was interesting and shed some new insights on early life in the Colonies.

As several other reviewers have pointed out, the heroine doesn't seem to possess enough brain matter to complete a simple crossword puzzle, never mind work on her PhD while simultaneously solving a Big Mystery. Plus, there is the house that doesn't decay through time and neglect, although I guess we could believe it has a handy magic spell protecting it from wood-rot, mice, and holes in the roof. And seriously, if you are on the hunt for a missing book, maybe you could explore the actual house where you found the big clue.

The average reader picks up the clues entire chapters before our Hapless Connie figures them out, and often has to stop reading long enough for her to catch up. And when Connie had the big revelation that her real name was Constance???? Did she really forget her own name? Considering that the main characters are called Deliverance, Mercy, Prudence and Grace, is it too much to ask that Connie picks up on the fact that her own biblically inspired moniker might be relevant?

Plus, the author clearly has an issue with shop clerks and library staff; almost every single one is rude and unhelpful and makes Poor Connie do all the nasty grunt work herself.

I think this book was set in 1991 so that Connie would not have access to the Internet. A few hours on Google or Wikipedia might have solved the mystery in an afternoon.

And if you want to write a story set in another era, feel free to sprinkle the dialogue with "thou" and "thee", but please refrain from using phonetic spellings of the local dialect.

Thas booke maihde my heade hurte.

From the Witches of Macbeth, to our fond memories of Elizabeth Montgomery in 'Bewitched,' who among us has not been fascinated by these vivid characters---along with their spooky incantations; their eye of newt and toe of frog. And, haven't most of us wished, that with the twitch of a nose, or right spell, that we could manipulate our world and the characters within. Uh, hopefully for the better.

Then we have the reality of the darker side; 'witches,' or those that were believed to be, died at the hand of man. Who better than Katherine Howe, an American and New England scholar, to bring us a fictional novel with strong historical detail regarding the Salem Witch trials, particularly as a, real-life ancestor, of two women accused. She then takes it a step further, and poses the question---could witches truly exist? And, could there be, 'lost knowledge,' archived somewhere containing secrets of alchemy? If so, toward what purpose---for good, or evil?

In spite of my eager anticipation for this book's arrival, it took two weeks to complete. It was not a page-turner, for me. While the subject matter, from a historical standpoint, was quite interesting, the prose was somewhat stilted and written with ,too, much of a dry, academic tone, to satisfy my need for a supernatural thriller. Perhaps because of this, I never had a significant connect with the characters. It became easy to put this book down at night.

I wanted to feel an attachment toward Connie Godwin; the chief protagonist, researching Deliverance Dane---to be drawn into her quest for missing artifacts, holding the keys of knowledge, regarding magical possibilities. But, it just never happened. I kept thinking how exciting it would be to wander through an abandoned 16th century Marblehead home, filled with remnants of the past, as the pieces of a mysterious puzzle fell together. Connie never really showed such energy, or excitement. Her search was dryly, methodical.

Her romantic involvement with Steeplejack, Sam, and her dialogue with hippie-mom, Grace, are not original, but they did offer some humor, at times. Unfortunately, the villain was too predictable; right out of a B movie. I found that I didn't really care much what happened to any of these characters. I never had any, 'oh no,' or, 'ahhh,' moments.

I would give this novel a solid, letter grade 'B+,' for the detailed historical framework, but a 'C' on the 'thriller' meter. In spite of these reservations, I still recommend this read to anyone interested in the Salem Witch trials, spells, and, the healing arts---for its creativity, alone, and, a better than average reading experience.

To be fair, I'm only on page 169. But the fact that I'm *making* myself read this book for the sake of having to finish a book after it's been opened is saying something. If you're a writer such as myself, or expect literature to surprise you and give you something new and refreshing, this book will disappoint you.

The character development is horrible, the writing is simple, and the plot line is predictable. Am I honestly to expect Connie, a Harvard student getting her PhD, can't figure out the simplest clues going on in this book? I understand the author is trying to set this up as a 'mystery' and leaving 'clues along the way,' but she needs to give her readers - and characters- more credit than that. Every turn in the story, every new scene and character, is so clearly placed there for a reason, meaning nothing will surprise you, and you'll likely figure out what's going to happen next before our *bright* main character does.

As far as character development goes, Connie is the worst. We're introduced to an ambitious young woman, serious and dedicated to her studies. Once she goes to her grandmother's house, instead of a well-paced change in Connie (her world is changing after all), she quickly becomes a procrastinator who gives up years of her hard studying to go on a hunt for a name she found in a book (seriously- halfway through the book and I don't think she's cleaned one thing in that house). This, on top of her randomly wanting to do cartwheels in a library, swimming in her underwear without a thought ... where did these characteristics come from? It's hard to read a book when the main character's personality is fuzzy and slightly annoying.

I will say I find some of the history interesting, though if I wanted that, I would have picked up a history book, not a fiction one.

I highly doubt the plot will take such a drastic turn that I will like this book. The best plot couldn't make up for the poor, dumbed down writing. Page 169, and bored out of my mind.

The premise of this novel intrigued me: young woman spends her summer sorting through her deceased grandmother's possessions and discovers a heretofore unknown primary source document that may or may not help her formulate her own doctoral thesis.

Old manuscripts? Check. Crumbling house filled with ancient treasures? Check. Smart, likable heroine who won't take no for an answer? Check, er, wait, uncheck that one.

The primary problem with this novel is the author's complete lack of writing ability. I'm afraid getting a Ph.D. in American Studies does not a novelist make. Indeed, page after page of unlikable, transparently evil or good characters coupled with leaden, mind-numbing prose and dialogue made finishing "The Physick Book" a chore somewhat akin to doing the laundry or paying bills. I wanted to finish it because I'd started it, but god help me, I loathed the thought of picking it up again.

Nothing makes sense in this novel. Why have Connie's grandmother die 20 years before? From a purely practical standpoint, houses that have sat empty for 20 years are going to have holes in their roofs and no workable plumbing or running water. Connie would have been sleeping in a tent in the garden or staying at the local inn. There's no way she could have set up house after one day. My guess is the author didn't want to have to contend with complicated backstory and relationships, so she opted for the easy way out: granny died when the protagonist was a wee thing so the protagonist will have no knowledge or memory of granny, except when she does, but then she doesn't.

Why bother having Connie go through the grandmother's house at all if you're not going to at least show us a little of that work? The house becomes a set piece that has little to do with the story by the time the author gets done with it. It could have been used in so many other interesting ways.

Why not have the mother stay at the house with Connie so the two of them can work out their complicated but interesting relationship one-on-one? Of course, that would require the author to actually write believable characters who move beyond the most superficial of changes and interaction, but it also would have made the novel that much more interesting.

Why set the present-day action in 1991? 1991? That's practically ancient history by now. I suppose it made it easier for the author to heighten Connie's isolation and her ability to sleuth out the answers the old-fashioned way, but honestly, if you can't write a period and place believably, then don't bother. There were a lot of small errors that kept pulling me out of 1991 and leaving me utterly irritated.

Why have one's protagonist behave like such a blathering, unaware, ridiculous idiot? For this question, I have no answer except that perhaps the author hoped the reader would feel smarter if he or she could figure out the next clue before the protagonist or perhaps the author really is that terrible of a writer. Either way, it was annoying. Simple clues were sources of amazement for Connie the clueless heroine. Connie supposedly is a budding expert on Colonial era customs, writing and mores. Yet, she routinely misses obvious information. This did not heighten the story's tension for me, although it did heighten my wish to toss it across the room and crack the book's spine in two. Which gets me to my final point...building tension in novels is harder than most people realize.

As it turns out, having one's protagonist constantly surprised by everything that happens around her does not actually build tension. If Connie calls smoking hot Sam, the steeplejack, and asks him to stop by, then why did she forget she did this in the ensuing 40 minutes since the call and why is the reader told she's surprised when he shows up at her house? Really? Did she really forget she called him? Or is the author merely trying to build "tension" for the reader. My money's on tension, and this did not endear me to the author's cause.

Moreover, breaking up the present-day narrative with narrative from the 1690s would be interesting if the author wasn't essentially giving away all the secrets that the present-day protagonist is seeking to understand. That stripped the book of its forward momentum and of its natural tension more effectively than even a stupid main character and leaden prose could ever hope to do. I imagine Howe was trying to mimic something like Geraldine Brooks' masterful "People of the Book," but she could not have been less successful.

In conclusion, "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" is not worth the money or the time you will invest in it.

I have been a total bookworm for as long as I can remember. Out of the thousands of books I have read over my lifetime, I have NEVER not finished a book - and with only about 50 pages left, I am *thisclose* to not finishing this book. It's just that bad. I really want to finish, just because I have invested so much time in it (seriously, it's taken me about 3 months to read 324 pages... and this from a person who usually finishes a 400+ page book in about 2-3 days), but I literally dread picking it up. Once I finally force myself to start reading, I can only make it about 5 or 6 pages before I absolutely cannot take any more.

The characters are stupid and unlikeable. It's especially irritating that the main character is supposed to be this brilliant, Harvard-educated know-it-all, but she misses the most obvious clues. I don't know why the author chose to write this character in such a way (so the reader would feel smart?), but all it succeeded in doing was making me angry and hate the characters for their stupidity.

The story plods along at a snail's pace. I kept waiting for it to get exciting, but then once it got "exciting", it made me laugh out loud because it was so stupid. The author is overly-descriptive, and while I enjoy good writing just as much as any other bookworm, this was just ridiculous. I constantly found my mind wandering and it was very difficult to pay attention.

I was really disappointed, because the synopsis made it sound like this book could be very interesting, but it was definitely anything but. Don't waste your time.

I consider myself an avid reader. I average around 6 books a month. Also, I feel lucky that I do not stick to a specific genre. All books, of course the well written ones, get me excited. I was looking forward to reading this book. In fact, I paid extra for expedited delivery. When it was delivered to my door, I fixed myself a fabulous mug of coffee and began reading. Sadly, I could not have been more disappointed. I found myself working hard just to pay attention and follow along as the author dragged me through boring and endless descriptions of basically anything and everything. The author focuses too much on description to the point that I sometimes forget what was happening in the story. A reviewer here said that it seems like the author is trying to impress a creative writing class. Indeed, that is how it seems. Another reviewer praised the author's writing. I am not saying the writing is bad. But an author should focus on selling a book and impressing readers with original plots and characters. It really isn't about the language or endless descriptions and metaphors. It is about writing something that captivates the readers and sells. Honestly, 100 pages into the book and nothing was happening. Her focus on description was overkill and boring.