Almost everyone really enjoyed the book, but a couple of us were not impressed with it. I just realized – I think everyone had finished it!
Some highlights:
- Feminist angle was a plus
- Was it history or fantasy? Which was more interesting? Fantasy part was either really stupid/boring, or an exciting part of the story, depending on who you ask
- Took some of us a while to get into it
- Made you want to research topic, visit Salem
- Hard to understand their belief of getting sick in relation to religion, with no concept of medicine or the scientific method
- It sure took Connie a long time to catch on to some things…
- Almost seemed like Connie & Liz were a couple
- Sam was not a very strong character, not very fleshed out
- Characters overall a little disappointing
- Did they really kick the women, not a stool out from underneath them?
- They also hanged men for witchcraft
- What the heck was Connie doing all the time? What was her “research” in-between visits to the library? She never even cleaned the house!
- The trials were both interesting and terrifying
- Rye bread with ergot could have had a hallucinogenic effect on the accusers, or they were just crazy bitches
- Giles Corey – “more weight”
- Blue sparks were too cheesy, didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the book
- Lots of similarity with A Discovery of Witches (woman just discovering her witchy past; searching for book) and Harry Potter (mandrake root, philosopher’s stone)
- There really was a Deliverance Dane, but she did not get executed
- People’s actions in large groups can be terrifying
- Bakersfield in the 1980s – parents were accused of child abuse, put in jail, it was all a lie
- Once that accusing finger has been pointed, it’s over; people’s opinions are tainted forever
- Elmo
- West Memphis Three
- It seemed like Connie and Grace were always on the phone – where was the disconnect between them?
- Initial description of the house seemed to be missing lots of info
- The thing on the door – would you even stay there after that?
- Was it realistic that Deliverance didn’t escape with Mercy? Maybe, since she was so religious
- Death was much more common back then anyway
- Connie = Constance, bottel = bottle (JEEZ, Connie)
- Plot development was lacking
- Manning Chilton saying “I’m not sexist” – was he referring to the fact that he was considering women as a possibility to help prove his theory?
- Thought that the scene in the stacks with Chilton was the end, but then he just left!
- Peter was the philosopher’s stone – lame, not even a big reveal
- Book was with the cookbooks – also lame reveal
- Does magic really exist?
- Moving rocks in Death Valley; crop circles
- Why a dog? What is the purpose of a familiar? (Gargamel & Azrael from the Smurfs!)
Books:
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Possession by A.S. Byatt
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
The House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine Howe
Deception Point by Dan Brown
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Waging Heavy Peace (Neil Young’s autobiography)
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Movies:
Bad Teacher
Paradise Lost
Central Park Five
Angels & Demons
Da Vinci Code
We Bought a Zoo
Dangerous Beauty
TV:
Outnumbered
The Mighty Boosh
OurShelves 