Book Review
Title: The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One (Women Are Some Kind of Magic #2)
Author: Amanda Lovelace
Genre: Poetry
Rating: *****
Review: Just like The Princess Saves Herself in This One, The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One is divided into four parts; the trial, the burning, the firestorm and the ashes. This book also contains several trigger warnings so do take care when reading this one. Unlike the first book, The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One doesn’t focus on loss or grief but it pours all of its energy into empowerment and fighting back against those that oppressed us, specifically men although it uses the analogy of match-boys that were used historically to set witches a light.
The trial focuses on the oppression women have faced over the course of time and how we are rising above it, and because we are rising above that oppression it is now time for men to be afraid of the power of women. This power hasn’t magically appeared though, it has always been there and the oppression suffered by women has only made their fires burn hotter and brighter than ever before. There is much I can say about the trial, it is more of a feeling you get from reading Amanda’s words but I think that this poem sums it up well: “women are considered to be possessions before we are ever considered to be human beings, & if our doors & our windows are ever smashed in by wicked men, then we are deemed worthless— foreclosed. never sold. so we move out of our neighborhoods & we make sister-homes out of each other. - we lock those doors & eat those keys”. It is these relationships between women that I love, even though we have our ups and our downs we always band together when it is needed most.
The burning really ramps up the empowerment and the feminism in Amanda’s words. I really loved how she talked about body image: “curves & fat & rolls are a colossal “fuck you” to the patriarchy— our accidental rebellion - my body rejects your desires” and I have to say these lines made me grin. It made me feel so good about myself being a plus sized girl and not giving one fuck what anyone else thinks about my shape or size as long as I am happy with it. She plainly talks of rape and abuse and how the rest of society seem to lay blame with the victims and that these acts were committed by strangers when very often that isn’t the case at all, even more commonly it is someone you know very well taking advantage of your innocence, naivety or trust and most of the time, all of the above. One poem actually spoke to me more than any other about rape in this section and I think I’ll let Amanda’s word tell you rather than my own: “they try to convince us that our rapists will only ever be strangers lurking in bushes in the dark, dark night, that we should keep floral pepper spray & pocketknives tucked neatly into our purses at all times (because apparently even the act of trying not to be raped should look lovely & feminine), so that when our rapists end up being our grandfathers/fathers/brothers/uncles/cousins/best friends/boyfriends/husbands, we have no words to describe it & no one willing to help light our torches” and I have felt this exact same helplessness and confusion and anger that is convey in these few short words and it inspires me to fight back more than ever. Although I have never been a victim of abuse I know many that have so this poem make me hurt for the friends and family who had suffered at the hands of the person claiming to love them: “sometimes your demons will be men who show dimples when they say “thank you” & open doors for every approaching stranger & send you good morning/good night texts & remember your mother’s maiden name & surprise you with good coffee on all your bad days & with the same voice he uses to tell you he loves you, he will tell you how he dreamed of killing you a dozen different ways last night & woke up aching”, the fear I felt from these words must be a drop in the ocean compared to the sheer terror women subjected to abuse suffer with every single second of every day until they free themselves from their bonds of servitude. The burning definitely delivers of strong message of respect, self-love and freedom.
The firestorm really pushes self-love, self-care and taking care of number one before any one else. I really liked that message as so often these days, political correctness says you have to care for your family, children, siblings, friends and so many others before yourself because that what it means to be a good person, a good woman and we forget to give ourselves the love and attention we need to thrive and flourish so we wither and die. Amanda tells us to screw everyone else and give yourself the love, attention, nourishment and space to flourish and bloom even in the harshest of conditions, this poem really emphasises that: “what i mean by that is i lost so many years of my life by being too exhausted/hunger-tired/depressed/winter-sick to get out of bed— having no choice but to stare endlessly at the walls where i ripped the rusty rosebud wallpaper off in thin strips with fragmented fingernails— to let you believe i only pushed myself through the obsessions/blood-crust/numbers/ink-bruises so i could paint a pretty little garden mural on the door for you & for you alone”. I also loved the fact that Amanda pays homage to some great novels with strong feminist themes like Wintergirls (which I loved) and The Handmaid’s Tale (which I haven’t read yet). The whole feminist message of this book can be summed up in the next two poems: “no, women are not vessels to fill with your desires. women: unique, original, creative, amazing, human. no copying or pasting can be done here” and “call me bitch. call me villain. call me she-wolf. call me bad omen. call me your worst nightmare wearing a red-lipped smile - even better, call me by my name”.
The ashes was the strangest section of the book for me and it carries all the themes from the other 3 sections and from the first book and binds them together. Honestly, if #MeToo had a novel version of it message then The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One is definitely it. Honestly these collections are so hard to put into words because they aren’t just words they are emotions, memories, messages to all women but the one that stood out to me the most in this collection was this poem: “we need your words. we need your experiences, we need your traumas, we need your anger, we need your guilt, we need your passions, we need the story you think no one cares to hear. we need that woman-rage-fire only you can provide, so write. write. write.”
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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