The Witches of New York
I loved the feminist angle of this novel and the time period of 1880s New York. I did struggle with the pacing of the book in the middle, but really enjoyed the beginning and end of it.
The Witches of New York
by Ami McKay
Pages: 545
Genre: Historical Fiction, Magical Realism
Published: July 11, 2017
3/5 stars
I have conflicted feelings about this book. The plot of the book is definitely in my wheelhouse–witches living in 1880 New York. I loved the feminist focus in this book, especially pointing out how religion would demonize women that wanted to be independent and have their own thoughts or how some men would decide those same women suffered from hysteria when they wouldn’t “behave.” I loved the three main characters in the book, who were well written and well rounded. I would really like to hang out with these women.
The problem I had with the book was it was sluggish in the middle of it. It lost focused and meandered around for a while. I was wondering where the book was even headed and if there would actually be any major plot to move the story along. I enjoyed reading the book whenever I would pick it up, but there were days at a time that I would’t feel the need to pick it up since there wasn’t anything driving me to find out what happened next.
The last third of the book picked up and actually had some sort of plot. I read that part the quickest in just over a day, which was different from the first two-thirds that took me over a month to read. When it was finished, I did enjoy the book, but it did have some drawbacks.