Aunt Maria

This is one of those later DWJ books which has an interesting idea that isn't completely worked out in a satisfying way. The strange village run by awful Aunt Maria, with a gender war in the background, could have been a terrific setting, but it fizzled out in an over-hasty resolution with some loose ends that bothered me. I think it would have been more convincing that AM wanted Mig to be her successor, if she had tried to cultivate and win her over in the beginning, instead of ignoring and torturing her. The tension between two sides of a person who is publicly sweet and lovable and inwardly manipulative and abusive was not strongly enough portrayed, because it's obvious from the outset that AM is bad news. It would have been a much stronger story if Mig had been sucked in at the beginning and had to get herself free. The diary format could have reflected this, showing as it does everything from Mig's point of view - maybe the writing could have been a way for her to realize what was really going on, as in The Spellcoats. However, that is not the story that we have!

The repeated motif in DWJ books of a male figure who has been buried/asleep/separated into pieces and returns appears again here, also not as strikingly as in some other books. Makes me want to do a survey of this particular theme and write something about it.