White Is for Witching
Helen Oyeyemi, 2009
Penguin Random House
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781594633072
Summary
Miranda is at home—homesick, home sick ...
As a child, Miranda Silver developed pica, a rare eating disorder that causes its victims to consume nonedible substances. The death of her mother when Miranda is sixteen exacerbates her condition; nothing, however, satisfies a strange hunger passed down through the women in her family.
And then there’s the family house in Dover, England, converted to a bed-and-breakfast by Miranda’s father. Dover has long been known for its hostility toward outsiders. But the Silver House manifests a more conscious malice toward strangers, dispatching those visitors it despises. Enraged by the constant stream of foreign staff and guests, the house finally unleashes its most destructive power.
With distinct originality and grace, and an extraordinary gift for making the fantastic believable, Helen Oyeyemi spins the politics of family and nation into a riveting and unforgettable mystery. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—December 10, 1984
• Where—Nigeria
• Raised—London, England, UK
• Education—Cambridge University
• Awards—Somerset Maughm Award
• Currently—lives in London, England
Helen (oh YAY a mee) Oyeyemi is a British author with five novels to her name. She was born in Nigeria and raised in London, England.
Oyeyemi studied Social and Political Sciences at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating in 2006. While at Cambridge, two of her plays, Juniper's Whitening and Victimese, were performed by fellow students to critical acclaim and subsequently published by Methuen.
Novels
She wrote her first novel, The Icarus Girl, while still at school studying for her A levels at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School.
In 2007 Bloomsbury published her second novel, The Opposite House which is inspired by Cuban mythology.
Her third novel, White is for Witching, described as having "roots in Henry James and Edgar Allan Poe" was published in 2009. It was a 2009 Shirley Jackson Award finalist and won a 2010 Somerset Maugham Award.
Mr Fox, Oyeyemi's fourth novel was published in 2011. Aimee Bender said in a New York Times review: "Charm is a quality that overflows in this novel." Kirkus Reviews, however thought that while readers might consider Mr. Fox "an intellectual tour de force," they might also find it "emotionally chilly."
Oyeyemi's fith novel, Boy, Snow, Bird, published in 2014, is a retelling of Snow White, set in Massachusetts in the 1950s.
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, released in 2016, is a collection of intertwined stories, all involving locks and keys.
Extras
• Oyeyemi is a lifelong Catholic who has done voluntary work for CAFOD in Kenya.
• In 2009 Oyeyemi was recognised as one of the women on Venus Zine’s “25 under 25” list.
(Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/18/2014.)
Book Reviews
[Oyeyemi] knows that ghost stories aren't just for kids. And White Is for Witching turns out to be a delightfully unconventional coming-of-age story.... As in Toni Morrison's Beloved or Chris Abani's Song for Night, the supernatural elements of White Is for Witching serve to remind the characters - and Oyeyemi's readers - of horrifying historical circumstances.... Oyeyemi clearly appreciates that some crimes (like slavery or genocide or, in this case, institutional racism) are so heinous that the conventions of realist fiction seem woefully inadequate to describe them. She makes us glad to suspend disbelief.
New York Times Book Review
Profoundly chilling…a slow-building neo-Gothic that will leave persevering readers breathless.
Boston Globe
Spooky and thought provoking.... The Poe-like elements of White Is for Witching are so spookily vivid, from foreboding descriptions of landscape ('The sun was setting into storm clouds; there was smoky brightness outside, as if the world was being inspected by candlelight') to the eeriness of an enchanted apple (half 'coma white' and a red that 'glowed like false fire'), that they tend steal the show. But Oyeyemi also has a convincing touch when dealing with ordinary reality. She's particularly sharp at portraying the inner life of a troubled adolescent and the alienation of immigrants…. As adept as she is at the Gothic, Oyeyemi also subverts its conventions. Here white is the colour of bewitchment and evil spells, not black. Yet the palpable aura of claustrophobic dread and menace urges the reader to conclude that the author casts the most powerful spell.
Toronto Star
[A] remarkable, shape-shifting tale.... The narrative oscillates between the mundane and the supernatural, and it is this skilful blend of the fantastic and the everyday that makes it resonate so chillingly. While ghosts may skulk inside the house, the horrors lurking outside are equally alarming.... Yet, for all this trickery, Oyeyemi's writing is vividly emotional.... In the end, this isn't a fantasy about ghosts and witches. It is really about memory and belonging, love and loss.
New Statesman (UK)
Superbly atmospheric…. [a] mesmeric exploration of alienation and loss…. This eloquent narrative delivers grandly on the promise of Oyeyemi's startling debut…. Oyeyemi's languid cadences are more burnished, her sinuous ideas more firmly embedded in the fabric of this disturbing and intricate novel. The dark tones of Poe in her haunting have also the elasticity of Haruki Murakami's surreal mental landscapes. White is for Witching has the subtle occlusions of her previous two works with a tenacious undertow, drawing the reader into its deeper currents.
Independent (UK)
Oyeyemi delivers her third passionate and unusual book, a neo-gothic tale revolving around Miranda and Eliot Silver, fraternal twins of Haitian descent raised in a British house haunted by generations of afflicted, displaced family members, including their mother. Miranda suffers from pica, an affliction that causes her to eat nonedible items, which is passed down to her via the specters from her childhood that now punctuate her nightmares. As the novel progresses, the increasingly violent nature of this bizarre, insatiable hunger reveals itself to be the ironclad grip of the dead over the living or of mother over daughter. The book is structured around multiple voices—including that of the house itself—that bleed into one another. Appealing from page one, the story, like the house, becomes extremely foreboding, as the house is "storing its collapse" and "can only be as good as" those who inhabit it. The house's protective, selfish voice carries a child's vision of loss: in the absence of a mother, feelings of anger, betrayal and bodily desire replace the sensation of connection. Unconventional, intoxicating and deeply disquieting.
Publishers Weekly
After Lily Silver is killed on assignment in Haiti, her family is left in her childhood home in Dover, England. While her widower, Luc, throws himself into the running of his bed-and-breakfast, their son, Eliot, stays away from home as much as he can, and their daughter, Miranda, begins to lose herself in her eating disorder. After Miranda returns from a psychiatric clinic, the Silver House begins to haunt her with visions of her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, keeping her close while driving away foreign guests. The house also drives away Miranda's African friend from Cambridge, and Miranda herself disappears into the secret passages of the house. Verdict: Oyeyemi's third novel (after The Opposite House) is eerie and compelling, employing a nonlinear style that features wisps of family history and various unreliable narrators breaking into the text that suit a gothic, ghostly story. Readers who like paranormal tales and family secrets, told in an experimental style, will enjoy this novel. —Amy Ford, St. Mary's Cty. Lib., Lexington Park, MD
Library Journal
Oyeyemi's third mystical novel weaves a tale of four generations of women and the house in Dover, England, they've inhabited—a vengeful, Gothic edifice that has always rejected strangers.... Oyeyemi's style is as enigmatic as her plot.... In all, a challenging read laced with thought-provoking story lines that end, like Miranda's fate, mysteriously. —Deborah Donovan
Booklist
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for White Is for Witching:
1. Why does Miranda feel responsible for her mother's death?
2. Describe the house as a character in Oyeyemi's book. Talk about its history. What is the house's metaphorical significance—the xenophobia and the urge to suffocate and entrap women? What is meant by its comment: "I can only be as good as they are. We are on the inside, and we have to stay together, and we absolutely cannot have anyone else"?
3. What does this book suggest about personal identity, or the self? Eliot and Miranda reflect each other, they see themselves in the other. Is the self real...or is self-identity merely a figment of another person's perception of you?
4. What is the symbolic significance of Miranda's food disorder? Consider the line "but all they did was make Miranda hungrier for what was not there."
5. What does the ideal of perfection mean to Miranda? Why is she so drawn to the "perfect person" and to the drawing of herself, "unmarred by human flaw" she finds in Lily's studio?
6. What does the house and its ghosts want of Miranda?
7. Does Goodlady exist or is she in Miranda's imagination?
8. Why isn't Sade frightened off, as other housekeepers have been? What changes occur as a result of her staying?
9. How would you describe the atmosphere of the book—what words, imagery, and ideas does Oyeyemi use to establish mood?
10. Oyeyemi tells her story through different voices and points of view. Why might she have used this technique? Do the shifting perspectives enhance the book for you or serve to confuse or distract you?
11. What is Miranda's fate? Is she imprisoned? Has she disappeared or died?
12. What is Ore's role in the novel? Do you find her story, with its various subplots, too digressive or do they fit into the overall direction of the novel?
13. Oyeyemi is drawn to myth and folklore. What role do those types of narrative play in her novel? How does she work to blend mythical and magical elements, including Nigerian folk tales, into realistic fiction?
14. Did you find the book difficult to get into? If so, why? Was there a point in the story where you found yourself engaged, quickly turning pages to find out what happens?
15. What is the meaning of the book's title?
16. It's been suggested by one reader that re-reading the first few pages—after you've finished the book—can be rewarding. Have you done so? And if so, did it alter your understanding of the work?
17. Are there political undertones in this book? Do you read it as a statement about Britain's rejection of its foreign population? Does that add to or detract from your reading experience?
18. Overall, what was your experience reading this book?
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