Incantation

Alice Hoffman
Little, Brown and Company (2006)
ISBN 9780316010191
Reviewed by Maya Landers (age 9) for Reader Views (11/07)


“Incantation,” by Alice Hoffman, is not a book for those who are easily upset, since the scenes in the novel are often graphic. Hoffman’s book portrays a town where secrecy is the key to survival, and betrayals are often, many, and bloody.

The main character, Estrella, is a 16-year-old girl who comes to terms with the fragile balance of the world in which she lives. During the short timeframe in this book, Estrella experiences betrayal, death, and love. She learns a family secret that changes her life, and her family’s lives, forever. Although she is young, Estrella is forced to survive in the wilderness and endure the death of loved ones without the benefit of a large community to help her bear her loss. Estrella’s character is inspiring in her ability to take charge of a hideous situation.

One of the major themes of this book is loyalty: loyalty between friends, loyalty between lovers, and loyalty between family members. Using Estrella to illustrate these points, Hoffman shows the reader many aspects of loyalty and betrayal. Estrella never knows for sure who is loyal to her or who she can trust. To deal with that, Estrella must not trust anyone, so she relies only on herself.

Hoffman’s vivid descriptions, combined with a subject that is always unpleasant to read about, create a book that is memorable. Here is an example of how Estrella describes her mother’s many different kinds of blue yarn:  “Turquoise, aqua, night blue, ultramarine, bird’s egg blue, early morning blue, inside-of-cloud blue, pond blue, river blue, as blue as all eternity.”  This description shows how Hoffman can take an ordinary color and transform it into something amazing.

I found “Incantation” difficult to read because its subject was bloody and gruesome. This is not the type of book I normally enjoy reading. However, it was very well-written, and the characters were well-developed and interesting. Although I would not reread this book, I would read another book by Hoffman because her writing is fabulous, and it is only the subject that I find repulsive.

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