How to Hang a Witch (How to Hang a Witch #1)

The book description says the book is the Salem Witch Trials meets Mean Girls. Its one thing when friends or reviews describe a book as a mash-up, but when its in the book description itself, I get a little skeptical. But Mean Girls is a viciously funny movie (Raise your hand if you have ever been personally victimized by Regina George?), and Ive been intrigued by the Salem Witch trials for most of my life. It comes with the territory when growing up less than an hour away from Salem. Ive visited Salem several times, and Ive both been in and directed the play The Crucible. But it was the added info that author Adriana Mather is a direct descendant of someone involved in the witch trials that made the prospect of reading the book even more intriguing. Would she make the book be all the thingsfunny, biting, satirical, and spookyimplied in that mash-up?

Absolutely!

The story starts with Samantha Mathera direct descendant (like the author) of Cotton Mather, a minister who supported the witch trialsmoving from New York to Salem with her stepmother while her father is hospitalized in a coma. She moves into the old house where her father grew up, a place where strange, ghostly things start happening. In school the next day, her last name alone attracts negative attention among other students, particularly a collection of four girls and a boy known as the Descendants. Their family trees include ancestors who were accused, tried, and hanged as witches back in 1692. No wonder they dont like Samantha.

She gets bullied, and as a teacher, I was slightly put off by how the school population (students and teachers) is somewhat complicit in the bullying. The school administration and her stepmother chalk it up to Sams somewhat troubled past. But this is fiction, and as the plot got more mysterious, spooky, gripping, and scathing, it bothered me less because theres a really powerful and important message buried inside the intricate, twisty plot. But before I get to that message, I want to talk about the characters and plot.

Sam is a great narrator. Shes smart, snarky, and stubborn. She lacks some self-confidence because of all thats happened to her, but shes also got a strong sense of whats right and wrong. As her situation at school gets worse, and she is ultimately accused of being responsible for some freaky and dangerous things happening at the town, all she wants to do is help everyone by solving the problema curse on the descendants (including herself) of those involved in the witch trials.

The supporting cast is also well-developed. I like that the Descendants have distinct voices and personalities, and Susannahthe first to reach out to Samwas my favorite of that bunch. As in many YA books, theres a kind of love triangle with Sam and two boys: sweet, noble neighbor Jaxon and proper, mysterious Elijah. I only loosely consider it a triangle, and it was never a distraction, but it was quite the contrary, as both relationships were different, unique, strong and necessary to the story.

There are at least two big mysteries, and it was fun watching them converge and diverge throughout the plot. The stakes are clearly raised through the book, and though I sniffed out the ultimate villain, that villains true motivations surprised me. I didnt want to put the book down when I had to, particularly through the climactic confrontation.

What elevates this book toward best of 2016 status is the message. Sam is trying to stop a curse that has been repeating itself in Salem since the witch trials, but the unsubstantiated finger-pointing that occurred then has repeated far too many times in history. Whether it was the Red Scare of McCarthyism in the 1950s (the inspiration for Arthur Millers The Crucible) or the profiling of different ethnicities in many eras of history including the present, the hysteria is unnecessary. And it happens in high school also if one popular group of students socially banish others for no reason other than theyre different. Even without witchcraft, this happens, and hopefully well-written books like this can help point out why thats dangerous while doing so with an enjoyable story too.

This book exceeded my expectations, especially after reading a few books that didnt. Maybe my reading dry spell was a curse, finally broken by How to Hang a Witch and its FIVE STAR rating.

Just finished Heather B Moore’s

Condemn Me Not: Accused of Witchcraft

so I thought I’d give this book a try. Both were priced right for an introductory read of a new author. At least they were new to me. And both were written by descendants from people at the actual Salem witch trials. I guess that was another thing that drew me to this book. I have to disagree with the reviewer who complained of the plot. I thought that was one of the book’s strong points. The story was very well told, logically moving from one episode to the next. At least it kept my interest, but maybe I’m too easy.

Another complained about repetition which probably was a just complaint. It was the same kind of event–a confrontation or rejection or supernatural experience–from chapter to chapter, and Sam the protagonist’s reaction was pretty much the same from chapter to chapter. Kind of reminded me of Book I of the Quijote where the Don moves from chapter to chapter getting beat up but still moving on unaffected, whereas in this book Sam gets scared or rejected and is still pretty much the same person she was at the beginning of the book. But the book doesn’t pretend to be high brow literature, but neither does the Quijote for that matter. Both are stories well told with twists and turns to keep the interest going. The Sancho Panza here is a very polished ghost who’s pretty much taken in stride.

Chapter 30 explains how the ghost does some of his supernatural stuff, a delayed explanation that adds its own level of suspense to the story. Unlike the Quijote I, this book stays on topic. There are no annoying side shows like shepherd stories to distract from the main story line, which might have happened if the author had taken time to explain more about the supernatural, or the fall-out from the witch trials, or–the most troubling omission in this story–why Sam the protagonist never did any homework and never suffered any consequences at school.

In the end, the book gives some sympathetic treatment to the ancestral Cotton Mather, but there’s no reconciliation with the descendants of the condemned, the girls who attempted to bully Sam the protagonist in high school. But the most obvious question in all this was neither asked nor answered: who in the hell names their kid ‘Cotton’? Would he have felt such a need to prove himself by fighting imaginary witchcraft if he had been named Benedict or Arnold or Donald?

The mix of history and adventure was compelling, finished the book in an afternoon, wonderful twists and perfect for YA or those of us wanting and escape from mature reading.

I saw an ad for this book which led me to make the purchase and at the time believed the book was more NA, or adult but was not disappointed by the book, it’s an intricate story and a wonderful read.

I found this book by way of a recommendation from a friend on facebook.
The story of Sam a teenager who moves to Salem with her step mother after her father is taken ill.
Her family are an old one with ancestors dating back to the Salem witch trials. Ioved this book. Brilliant read.

Immensely likeable characters, life-like teenage drama and rivalries and a satisfying conclusion. I’d recommend to young adults and anyone interested in how socially held views can be detrimental to the society.

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