Customer Reviews

The Witch

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What I have always liked about Mary Ann Mitchell is the pace she writes. A reader doesn't have to worry about getting wrapped up in what I have come to call "filler" pages. It's all about the plot!

That being said, this was not my favorite by her. My biggest problem was Stephen. He had the potential to be a great character...but he's five years old and, on occasion, I think Mitchell forgot about that. Stephen would sometimes speak like an adult. Though he was supposed to be wise beyond his years there were still many instances in which Mitchell completely lost the fact that he's FIVE.

The "uglies" are another problem for me. Most of these critters were poorly developed and probably shouldn't have even had whole chapters devoted to them. Their dialogue was boring. In fact, very rarely did they offer anything to the plot. Maybe this is teetering on the brink of those pesky "filler" pages...hmmm...

The story was a good idea but it wasn't executed properly, in my opinion. Perhaps it's just not my cuppa I suppose.

This was not my first book I have read by by Ms.Mitchell...and quite frankly, it's a good thing it wasn't. Her previous books i:e", Sips of Blood (1999). Quenched (2000), Sirens Call 2004), and an excellent novel..'Street of Death (2007) all encouraged me that 'Witch' (2007) would be another satisfying read. What was she thinking!!?? This was not her first rodeo! Stephen, the main character, is five years old going on thirty. Absurd!! The entire premise of the story was akin to a Brothers Grimm fairy tale...(albiet adult, but fairy tale nonetheless,) Unless you are into little 'boogie man creatures' and nasty little witches and stupid snakes with a wry sense of humor...forget this book. I admit I did keep reading it hoping something would happen...I mean, something has Got to happen!! Well, forget it. As far as I'm concerned, this book is a waste of time. Read one of her others... Skip this one...............

SPOILERS ALERT! Please don't continue reading if you don't like spoilers.
Meet Cathy, a mother, wife and witch. Her husband Jacob cheated on her with their 17year old babysitter. Her mother, Mabel, was hard on her growing up, made her have an abortion, and didn't approve of her practicing witchcraft. Meet Stephen, Cathy's son who she's schooled in witchcraft. After Cathy kills herself by hanging Stephen misses her mother too much and brings her back. But she's mad and wants to hurt everyone. Stephen must take care of the uglies Cathy brought over to have her revenge on the world. Stephen doesn't realize at first that his mother wants to hurt everyone he's just happy to have his mother back. After the uglies set fire to Jacob he begins to question his mother's motives. Then his Grandmother is attacked and dies. Nobody but Jacob believes Stephen when he's saying it's his mother. The family moves out of the house and a new family moves in. But his mother isn't done. She has her sister hurt and again tries to convince Stephen to hand his soul over to her. Ultimately Stephen banishes his mother back to the underworld where she belongs.

I read this book in one sitting. The first few pages are confusing until you realize Jacob is telling his son a story. The chapters are very short making this a page turner. I was expecting more from this book, I wouldn't say it was a great book, but an ok read. The main character, Stephen is 5 years old. However, there are times, more towards the end of the book, he didn't talk like a 5year old, his speech was much older. Also the uglies were rather annoying, all they did was bicker for 90% of the book. The ending was a bit of a let down. It was too easy for Stephen to get rid of his mother's shade, after all the grief she caused during the book I expected her to be much harder to take down. I expected a battle.

In life Cathy was a very unhappy woman who didn't get along with her mother and was hurt when she discovered her husband was cheating on her with their teenage babysitter. During an episode of deep depression she hung herself in the basement; her son Stephen discovered his mother's body. Cathy in life was a practicing dark witch and she taught her son how to gain power so he could one day become a powerful warlock.

Stephen calls his mother back from beyond; upon her return she wants to live again if only to enact revenge on the people who hurt her. In the basement where she practiced her craft, there is a box on the table decorated with real demons on the top of the box. When Stephen's blood is spilt and the demons drink it, they can be freed to enact her vengeance. Stephen does this but people closest to him are badly injured and die as the demons carry out Cathy's revenge. Stephen realizes that this can't continue but he doesn't know if he will be able to sever his last link to his mother and send her back to the hell she belongs in.

Readers who like to be scared out of their wits will thoroughly enjoy THE WITCH, a chilling horror thriller in which one shocker follows another. Mary Ann Mitchell is talented horror author who uses interaction between her characters to tell a great haunting story. Readers will wonder how far Cathy will go because after she achieves her quest. She also has a hidden agenda (with her offspring) to take over, by his "invitation", Stephen's heart & soul.

Harriet Klausner

The premise of Mary Ann Mitchell's The Witch appealed to me, and the context in which the plot takes place, specifically with regard to the character relationships, is intriguing. What ultimately prevented me from enjoying the story was dialogue that seemed contrived and characters and character interactions that just didn't seem realistic.

Jacob has had an affair with the babysitter that (apparently) resulted in his wife's suicide. Jacob thus tries to distance himself from the babysitter, but his behavior in this regard often left me shaking my head and asking, "What?!" He speaks patronizingly and even rudely to Molly, the babysitter. But many of his statements are issued glibly as he is all too aware that he is a character in a story who is deliberately being manipulated by the writer. In one scene Jacob tells Molly to leave and tells her, "You've got a lot of maturing to do." When Molly asks if she should come the next day, he replies, "Why not? Stephen still needs you." "Why not?" The response just doesn't make much sense. After a number of scenes in which Jacob has spoken to Molly in similar manner, displaying an undercurrent of anger and even disrespect, he actually blows her a kiss.

It was the kiss blowing passage that fully jarred ne from any immersion in the story, and I became all too aware that this is a work of fiction too conscious of itself as a work of fiction. The characters go through the motions of doing what the writer thinks these characters ought to be doing, but they do not speak like real people, they do not act like real people and they certainly do not feel like real people. When Jacob comes home from work to greet his son, I have the feeling that it's all being acted out on stage before a studio audience that can clearly see the set is not a real home and the people in it merely players. Works such as these depend entirely on suspension of disbelief. The reader must be able to feel that these could be real people in a real situation, but too many of the contrived interactions and behaviors of the characters remind its audience that this is, after all, only fiction and it doesn't want to pretend to be anything else.