Weep, Woman, Weep by Maria DeBlassie
October 24-30
A compelling gothic fairytale by bruja and award-winning writer Maria DeBlassie.
The women of Sueño, New Mexico don’t know how to live a life without sorrows. That’s La Llorona’s doing. She roams the waterways looking for the next generation of girls to baptize, filling them with more tears than any woman should have to hold. And there’s not much they can do about the Weeping Woman except to avoid walking along the riverbank at night and to try to keep their sadness in check. That’s what attracts her to them: the pain and heartache that gets passed down from one generation of women to the next.
Mercy knows this, probably better than anyone. She lost her best friend to La Llorona and almost found a watery grave herself. But she survived. Only she didn’t come back quite right and she knows La Llorona won’t be satisfied until she drags the one soul that got away back to the bottom of the river.
In a battle for her life, Mercy fights to break the chains of generational trauma and reclaim her soul free from ancestral hauntings by turning to the only things that she knows can save her: plant medicine, pulp books, and the promise of a love so strong not even La Llorona can stop it from happening. What unfolds is a stunning tale of one woman’s journey into magic, healing, and rebirth.
Universal link for the book on Amazon
My rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Actual rating of 3.25
Mercy has grown up knowing the burden that the women of Sueno, New Mexico carry. La Llorona – The Weeping Woman – she haunts Sueno, taking the girls and women with her, filling them with her sorrows, then releasing them again. It’s very rare for the women born and raised in Sueno, to leave and live a fulfilling and happy life, but Mercy is more than determined to do just that. After Mercy and her best friend are attacked by La Llorona, Mercy escapes, but her best friend does not. After being baptised by The Weeping Woman, her best friend returns, but she’s not the same. Mercy will spend the rest of her life fighting against the shadow of La Llorona that follows her, attempting to finish what she started.
I was intrigued by the premise of this novella, I’ve always been fascinated by the legend of La Llorona, so the second I saw that La Llorona was the centre of this story, I jumped at the chance to read it. I will say that this story turned out a fair bit different than what I was expecting. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, I’m always fine for a book to surprise me, I just found this one to be a lot different from what I thought that it would be.
The story is less one of horror, and more one of a determined young woman who is unhappy with her lot in life. I found this to be a story of loneliness, determination, coming of age, and one of a woman who knows the harsh side to life and realises that that is most likely her future. I’ll admit, I was hoping for a horror, but I’m not disappointed with the story that we were given. La Llorona is definitely a driving point to the journey that our main character takes, but other than the encounter that Mercy has, and a few different things that Mercy experiences and puts down to being The Weeping Woman’s fault. I will admit, I was hoping that the story would be a lot creepier and atmospheric than what it was, and that La Llorona would have a more active role in the story itself, but I’m not mad at what I got. I still felt that this was a very deep story that had a very important message to tell. It really did illustrate that with hard work, determination and belief in yourself, you can achieve anything that you put your mind to. It really showed a woman who was aware of what the town thought of her, yet continued to do what she could to service the community, without even really realising that she was doing so. I loved that about this story, especially when she got older and was once again told what people thought of her, though things were a lot different than what she anticipated. One thing that I found strange was the narration style of this story. It felt very stilted and as though someone was recounting a story to me, but not in a normal story way, if that makes sense? There was a lot of “oh, yeah! I forgot about this bit” and “Oh, but we won’t go into that.” Almost like someone was talking to me instead of weaving a story and dropping me into the world. Even though this story is written in first person POV, which is my preferred POV to read in, it just felt like it was not working for the story at all. I’m not sure if it’s because the story was more telling rather than showing? I honestly don’t even know. I think because it was told in such a way that, as mentioned above, it was almost like someone was telling me about a story they had heard, and not their own. I felt like I was outside the window, watching the story happen in another room. I’m having a lot of trouble describing what I mean, haha.
The characters were interesting, and I did like Mercy for the most part, but I also got irritated by her. That’s not a bad thing, to me, if an author can create a character that makes me feel emotion, regardless of what that emotion is, there is true promise and ability there. Mercy was such a strong and inspiring character, but then, on the other hand, I felt like she blamed absolutely every single negative thing that ever happened in her life on La Llorona and the fact that she had been touched by the weeping woman. I understand that that is the legend of La Llorona, but no one is going to go through their entire life and never be touched by negative situations or bad events, it’s just not feasible or possible. So yes, I did get annoyed that every single slight or mishap was blamed on La Llorona. I really enjoyed the character of Mercy’s new neighbour, and I also enjoyed how patient he was with her and the budding romance that we were treated to. I really want a story that is just about their romance to be honest. I’d devour that!!
All in all, this was a good read that I did like, but it was delivered in a very strange way which did impact my rating and thoughts. I also felt that this book wasn’t marketed in the correct genre because it was more of a coming-of-age story that had a terrifying legend as a plot device, rather than a horror story that was centred AROUND that legend. An eye-opening look at what a strong will, determination and belief in oneself can achieve. If you’re after a gritty coming of age story that doesn’t shy away from the harsher parts of life, pick this one up.
About the author
Maria DeBlassie, Ph.D. is a native New Mexican mestiza blogger, award-winning writer, and award-winning educator living in the Land of Enchantment. Her first book, Everyday Enchantments: Musings on Ordinary Magic & Daily Conjurings (Moon Books 2018), and her ongoing blog, Enchantment Learning & Living are about everyday magic, ordinary gothic, and the life of a kitchen witch. When she is not practicing her own brand of brujeria, she’s reading, teaching, and writing about bodice rippers and things that go bump in the night. She is forever looking for magic in her life and somehow always finding more than she thought was there.
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