Thistlefoot

!!!
5 stars
Not really a Review Just Notes:

- folklore-retelling, present & past mixing, Jewish magical realism - I dont think I have ever read a fantasy/magical realism novel with Jewish main characters so that was a new and good experience - or maybe I have but it didn't impact me in this particular way, I don't know. Definitely something for me to seek out more of...among other things this made me want to learn more about my family history...pre arrival in canada...
- the complexity of the way history is lived in the present was so well done here. Both the ways a family's history is passed down in the physical body and the family psychology, but also the way that those legacies (in this case represented in part by magical powers) are not portrayed as wholly good or bad but instead very complex.
- the idea of houses coming alive is extremely cool.
- the telling and retelling of myth/story/history by the house itself was a really beautiful aspect of this book and also made any plot holes or story discrepancies matter less because the idea of storytelling itself was being discussed and “all stories are true”
- the historical parts of this book were powerfully told and the weaving of past and present worked really well. The climactic scene was chaotic but still managed to have really beautiful imagery, and the naming of the villagers and reviving their stories was meaningful
- p. 328
- the descriptions in general are very vivid.

Critiques:

- there were plot holes but none took away from the overall impact of this book for me enough to knock it down from 5 stars. The vibes made sense even when the plot occasionally did not.
- I guess the biggest world-building question was just why aren't there more of the longshadow man/memories haunting the present in physical form.
- I didn't like the one fourth wall break towards the end, referencing “your world” where all the magic stuff is not present...that felt like a moment of not trusting the reader to understand that this is our world despite the small differences.
- the presence of the 3 bus characters was not well explained. Their presence made the book feel more like an adventure story, and i didn't dislike them, but they did feel a bit random. Similarly i wish the plot line with Winnie had been more fleshed out (lol) - i saw a few negative reviews saying this book was too long and i honestly think the opposite, it could have been a few chapters longer and given a bit more backstory on the three bus characters and a bit more development of Winnie (the whole geological thing was really cool and maybe could have been more deeply tied into the idea of stories/remembering etc if her character had been developed a bit more).
- kinda reads like YA in parts but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing...