TITLE: Weep, Woman, Weep
AUTHOR: Maria DeBlassie
PUBLISHER: Kitchen Witch Press
ISBN: None
PODCAST EPISODE: Book Club 19
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
Weep, Woman, Weep is the latest book release by bruja and award-winning writer Dr. Maria Deblassie. Released August 25, 2021, Weep, Woman, Weep is an intricate gothic fairytale. The impoverished town of Sueño has been plagued as far back as anyone knows by La Llorona, the Weeping Woman. Those who walk the banks of its river at night are liable to be stolen by her. She feeds upon their sorrow, forever looking for her children that she drowned before killing herself. Or maybe she is simply looking to add to the number of women she forced beneath the water.
DeBlassie draws upon her own New Mexican mestiza heritage in the telling of this story. She takes the tale of La Llorona, which has been argued to have originated with an indigenous woman who helped the conquistadors, and adapts it to a modern setting. What if that original tragedy was the indigenous woman marrying the Spaniard in an attempt to erase that heritage with each subsequent generation - their skin getting whiter with each baby born? What if La Llorona isn’t drowning you, but instead baptizing you away from your dreams and back into habitual patterns of abuse that life has forever subjected you to?
Weep, Woman, Weep focuses upon the life of Mercy, a woman born in that ill-fated town. Originally determined to leave, Mercy’s priorities abruptly change course when her best friend falls victim to La Llorona. But how, after such a tragedy, does she not fall victim to the Weeping Woman herself? And how will she reconnect with a heritage her mother denied her and find a new path forward that heals not only herself, but her entire community?
The novella deftly deals with a startling number of difficult topics. It struck me personally as a meditation upon the very nature of grief itself and modeled a positive way of coping with it. Mercy weathers the difficulties that La Llorona throws at her well. As the story progresses it becomes more and more difficult to tell just what is La Llorona’s doing and what is simply life and bad luck. Maybe, the book dares to ask, they are simply one and the same - the water witch representing everything that life has a tendency to throw at you.
DeBlassie has created a book that not only teaches the reader the importance of self-care, but is a form of medicine itself. I had never quite seen La Llorona utilized as such an evocative metaphor. This book was truly wonderful, and I believe it could be a balm to soothe the wounds of people trying to find their own way in life and come to terms with their past. Generational trauma is a difficult topic, but DeBlassie has addressed it well and shown her readers a new way forward.
AUTHOR: Maria DeBlassie
PUBLISHER: Kitchen Witch Press
ISBN: None
PODCAST EPISODE: Book Club 19
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
Weep, Woman, Weep is the latest book release by bruja and award-winning writer Dr. Maria Deblassie. Released August 25, 2021, Weep, Woman, Weep is an intricate gothic fairytale. The impoverished town of Sueño has been plagued as far back as anyone knows by La Llorona, the Weeping Woman. Those who walk the banks of its river at night are liable to be stolen by her. She feeds upon their sorrow, forever looking for her children that she drowned before killing herself. Or maybe she is simply looking to add to the number of women she forced beneath the water.
DeBlassie draws upon her own New Mexican mestiza heritage in the telling of this story. She takes the tale of La Llorona, which has been argued to have originated with an indigenous woman who helped the conquistadors, and adapts it to a modern setting. What if that original tragedy was the indigenous woman marrying the Spaniard in an attempt to erase that heritage with each subsequent generation - their skin getting whiter with each baby born? What if La Llorona isn’t drowning you, but instead baptizing you away from your dreams and back into habitual patterns of abuse that life has forever subjected you to?
Weep, Woman, Weep focuses upon the life of Mercy, a woman born in that ill-fated town. Originally determined to leave, Mercy’s priorities abruptly change course when her best friend falls victim to La Llorona. But how, after such a tragedy, does she not fall victim to the Weeping Woman herself? And how will she reconnect with a heritage her mother denied her and find a new path forward that heals not only herself, but her entire community?
The novella deftly deals with a startling number of difficult topics. It struck me personally as a meditation upon the very nature of grief itself and modeled a positive way of coping with it. Mercy weathers the difficulties that La Llorona throws at her well. As the story progresses it becomes more and more difficult to tell just what is La Llorona’s doing and what is simply life and bad luck. Maybe, the book dares to ask, they are simply one and the same - the water witch representing everything that life has a tendency to throw at you.
DeBlassie has created a book that not only teaches the reader the importance of self-care, but is a form of medicine itself. I had never quite seen La Llorona utilized as such an evocative metaphor. This book was truly wonderful, and I believe it could be a balm to soothe the wounds of people trying to find their own way in life and come to terms with their past. Generational trauma is a difficult topic, but DeBlassie has addressed it well and shown her readers a new way forward.