Everyone Knows Your Mother Is A Witch (Galchen)

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is A Witch
Rivka Galchen (2021)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a Pandemic Book Club selection. The meeting was postponed due to conflicts and had not taken place at the time of this writing.

I was able to get the audiobook quickly and then got a copy of the hardcover. There's a long wait for the ebook, which is surprising for a four-year-old book, particularly one that was "meh".

The book was a little better than the audio because I listened for a couple of hours and wasn't sure what I was listening to.

First thing, the book is historical fiction. The woman in question is the mother of Johannes Kelpar, and the events in the book are based on an actual incident. That being said, the author was intrigued by reading a nonfiction book about the case and decided to write her own book, a book which invents many of the characters and some of the incidents. This almost makes me wish I had read the original nonfiction book, if it's available in English. On the other hand, there are many nonfiction books that I read and think, "This should've been an essay."

I am seriously not likely to search for the original book because the incident just doesn't pique my interest enough, particularly after reading one book on the subject.

Basically, the book was boring. I kept waiting for something to happen. It's almost like this was someone's writing exercise, to write a journal in someone else's voice, and then sold it. I finished the audio a couple weeks back and I couldn't tell you how it ended.

Despite not enjoying this, I pushed forward to read the book, so I could finish it before the original meeting date. I didn't. And then a week later, I brought the book back to the library unfinished because others were waiting for it. I still have the audiobook, so I could re-listen to, say, the last hour, but I'm not sure that I will.

This will be one book that I give a medicre rating to, not because it wasn't well-written, but just because I was bored.

Beyond the Ocean Door (Sathi)

Beyond the Ocean Door
Amisha Sathi (2024)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was an ARC I received from LibraryThing. Part of what is posted here will be in my review on their website. I'm confused, though, because their site says the book was published back in December.

Beyond the Ocean Door is a fantasy with an impressive amount of world-building and history before the book even begins. In a secluded valley, the Vale, there is a military organization, the Vow, that keeps the people safe from everything outside of the valley. We're never entirely sure just what's out there. The Vow was founded by legendary telepath Valeria Reed, who trains the telepath students. In the current class of "Rooks", there are only three of them.

Not all telepaths are the same, as there are nine different gifts that they might have, but all can create imaginary worlds called "Veils", which usually look like the regular Vale.

Kallista, who had her memories erased when she was brought to the Vale ten years ago, has the same powers are Valeria, while Maya, who was born in the Vale, has a different ability. Both Maya and Kallista want to leave the Vale because they feel like they are prisoners.

No ocean doors appear until nearly halfway through the novel. It's a door that Kallista discovers in her Veil that seems to lead into some chaotic dimension. We later learn that everyone has an ocean door and it leads into their subconscious, and by entering a telepath can manipulate a person.

I liked the world-building but I thought the book was a little long and dragged in places, but the pace picks up toward the end. And I enjoyed the use of "stories in three acts" to relay flashbacks through an unreliable narrator.

The story is basically over but with all the history, a prequel story about the formation of the Vow and what is beyond the valley could be interesting.

This took me longer to read than I thought it would, and I have to be careful about requesting 500+ page books from Library Thing in the future.