Review: White Magic by Elissa Washuta
Oct. 6th, 2022 07:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smalltimereadsWhite Magic by Elissa Washuta is published by Tin House Books.
About halfway through White Magic, Elissa Washuta asks the reader in a footnote if she's making them uncomfortable. The answer, in my case, was: yes. White Magic feels incredibly raw, with so much pain, and it's like having a stranger pour out their life story to you. There were times I wanted to look Washuta in the eyes and ask "Why?" about the decisions she made, but she was already doing that to herself. A lot of the book was asking "Why?" and there is never a real answer, which was also uncomfortable. This isn't a collection of essays with a "hurt and healing" narrative, although it does, sort of, end on a less-hurt note.
Washuta's prose is, again, raw, and dense, and her essays do stuff with time and structure that I appreciate more now that I'm thinking back on them. I don't think I have the expertise or the words to describe the technical aspects of White Magic beyond being able to tell it was good, and interesting, and I also think it's even harder for me to think about the technical aspects of the book because reading it felt like being hit with a firehose of someone else's pain and bad choices.
Even writing about the emotional aspect of White Magic feels weird, because it reads as judgy to me, which I'm not trying to be. I will say I went in expecting a different book, one that was more...straightforward, I guess? About magic and Washuta's Native heritage, rather than weaving those aspects into her story so they all fed into each other. I was uncomfortable a lot. She's an excellent writer.
About halfway through White Magic, Elissa Washuta asks the reader in a footnote if she's making them uncomfortable. The answer, in my case, was: yes. White Magic feels incredibly raw, with so much pain, and it's like having a stranger pour out their life story to you. There were times I wanted to look Washuta in the eyes and ask "Why?" about the decisions she made, but she was already doing that to herself. A lot of the book was asking "Why?" and there is never a real answer, which was also uncomfortable. This isn't a collection of essays with a "hurt and healing" narrative, although it does, sort of, end on a less-hurt note.
Washuta's prose is, again, raw, and dense, and her essays do stuff with time and structure that I appreciate more now that I'm thinking back on them. I don't think I have the expertise or the words to describe the technical aspects of White Magic beyond being able to tell it was good, and interesting, and I also think it's even harder for me to think about the technical aspects of the book because reading it felt like being hit with a firehose of someone else's pain and bad choices.
Even writing about the emotional aspect of White Magic feels weird, because it reads as judgy to me, which I'm not trying to be. I will say I went in expecting a different book, one that was more...straightforward, I guess? About magic and Washuta's Native heritage, rather than weaving those aspects into her story so they all fed into each other. I was uncomfortable a lot. She's an excellent writer.
