Hour of the Witch

I read so quickly. This was a very good read and showed a lot about Puritan Law. I Loved it!

Really enjoyed the setting and the historical accuracy. Character development was a major plus. A very satisfying read. I look forward to reading more from this author.

A detail brutally realistic depiction of a woman in 1662 Boston in an abusive arranged marriage. Illustrates the horrors of history including how women were seen as lesser to the men. This book is more of a legal drama and not a horror and has no supernatural elements whatsoever. The dialogue is accurate to the time period and the author uses a wide vocabulary of archaic words which may be confusing; there were a lot of words I didn’t recognize. No doubt a lot of research was done. The first half of the book is the protagonists’ trial for when she requests a divorce from her abusive husband. The second half is when she is taken to a second trial for being accused of witchcraft. She has difficulty to defend herself in both trials due to the crooked laws of the era. Would recommend for someone seeking a window into colonial era Boston.

“Hour of the Witch” is a story of faith and fortitude rooted in feminist struggle, taking readers back to a perilous period where fallacy asphyxiated reason, and a patriarchal thumb quashed many innocent women. Divorce during the 1600’s was rare, but a woman-driven divorce was even more so - the extensive proof a woman had to present for a divorce was a far greater undertaking than one initiated by a man. So it goes for the novel’s protagonist Mary Deerfield, a young woman desperate to cut ties with her abusive husband Thomas. Toss in an accusation of witchcraft and author Chris Bohjalian presents a situation for which Mary’s liberation seems impossible and her downfall all too certain.Bohjalian first conceived the plot for this novel 20 years before its publication and consulted a professor emeritus of law to ensure the accuracy of the 17th century laws he models. Befitting the period, characters speak Early Modern English, known for its archaic pronouns (e.g., thou, thy) – thankfully, these are only employed in dialogue. The story is told in third-person limited with numbered chapters and four sections (Prologue, The Book of the Wife, The Book of the Witch, Epilogue). Character development is rich - Mary is humble and headstrong, her ability to endure Thomas’s cruelty while trying to escape his clutches poignant. One can understand her frustration and desperation, both of which have her contemplating unspeakable ways to obtain her freedom. Supporting female characters range from kind and helpful to irksome; my personal favorite was Constance Winston, her compassion, self-reliance, and skepticism making her stand out. Her deftness at thwarting Magistrate Caleb Adam’s hostile attempts to twist her words against her during Mary’s trial is gratifying.There are benevolent male characters but they aren’t half as interesting as the detestable ones, with Thomas being the most loathsome - he is a wolf in sheep’s skin, masquerading as a godly and kind man in public while physically and emotionally assaulting Mary in private. I don’t think I’ve ever hated a Bohjalian character more, but a venomous female character named Beth Howland who vilifies Mary at every turn was firmly in second place.The Puritans are portrayed as a righteous and sometimes irrational people that, being inundated in religious fundamentalism and having no exposure to other cultures, fell prey to what the author describes as “desperate self-examination”. Worse than their fretful meditation over the state of their own souls was their scrutiny of others’ lives, giving way to rampant superstition and unjustified slaughter. The patriarchism that is prevalent in the book will make feminists and survivors of domestic violence bristle; the unabashed bloodthirst of the prosecution at Mary’s trial is especially maddening.Bohjalian keeps the reader engaged with perpetual and meticulous planting of seeds of intrigue and jeopardy, his elegant prose and character exposition excusing the book’s length of 477 pages. The somewhat tedious build-up of Mary’s tribulations and the threats coming at her from all sides culminates in a denouement containing a twist ending – something Bohjalian is known for – that surprises and satisfies. This was the perfect book to take in during the start of a long, cold winter where there isn’t much to do but hole up in the house and escape into a high-stakes tale. Bohjalian has crafted another captivating trip through history and psyche with this one.

Chris Bohjalian is one of my favorite authors but I have never had to trudge through a novel like this since college. It’s obviously this was his first go at witchcraft. For 500 pages all we hear about are the Devil’s tines, pestle, white meat for brains. It became so redundant and on top of that you have to read old English the entire novel. After the first half, I read reviews that said it picks up in the second half. This is true but only because of the twist at the very end. Otherwise you are reading 200+ pgs leading to a divorce trial. Then you read another 200+ pages about a witch trial. I wished we knew more about Mary’s actions; possibly some that would make us question whether she was a witch or not. But unfortunately, all we hear throughout 500 pages is about the same two or three instances we knew she wasn’t guilty of. Do not read this novel if you are curious of Bohjalian’s work. Start with his better novels like The Guest Room or Midwives. This one was just way too amateur for his excellent style of writing.