17. 'The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane' - Katherine Howe

Not going to lie... I grabbed this at the library on a whim. I already had a handful on me but the book jacket just made the novel look appealing and I had to have it. I managed to devour it rather quickly, though it wasn't necessarily because it was just that fantastic. The truth is that Howe's debut novel is actually kind of predictable which is one thing that I absolutely tend to detest about literature. I'd rather have a movie be that brand of disappointing than a novel. After all, I did just invest a good portion of a weekend (or more) on hundreds of pages... is it wrong to want to be satisfied?

Don't get me wrong, the book did have its good points. Several of the characters were actually very engaging and I was incredibly fond of Grace Goodwin, the unseen but oft consulted mother of the main character. Maybe I just like hippie throwbacks and wish that it was possible for me to live that kind of lifestyle at the moment. Who can really say? She was honestly a bit more intriguing than Connie herself, though perhaps it's because less is known about her than the main character. I like the degree of mystery involved, I suppose.

The problem that I did have with the book, aside from a lackluster ending, was simply that it didn't exactly take a brain surgeon (or more than a quarter of the novel) to realize that there was going to be a very important connection to the seemingly random key and slip of paper that Connie finds upon perusing her grandmother's bookshelves for the first time to the girl doing the exploring. I mean, really? Finding it in the house on like... day one... doesn't make that entire situation blatantly obvious or anything. I guess I would have liked to have been forced to think a little bit more. I like plots with a bit more intricacy than Howe's manages to possess. I'm not sorry that I read it. I like the idea that perhaps the fear of magic being performed in Salem back in the day actually had a hint of reality to it, but there were better directions the plot could have taken to have gotten us to a memorable conclusion... because frankly, there wasn't much of one. It's only been a week and a half since I read it and already it's a little bit faded. Alas. I guess I really am getting old.

Rating: 3/5