Cackle – Rachel Harrison

I was walking through Barnes and Noble with my brother when the cover of this book caught my eye. Then I read the synopsis. I knew I had to read it.

In order for me to properly review this book, it is important that you know what the synopsis said. It’s also important that you know the blurbs that are on the book.

First thing’s first.

Annie was dumped by her long-term boyfriend Sam. She takes a new job, moves to a new town, and starts over at the age of thirty. In this new town, she meets Sophie. Sophie is unapologetically herself. She does what she wants, when she wants, and lives how she wants as a witch. Annie and Sophie become friends, and it goes from there.

I adored this concept. A while ago, I went through my own breakup with a long-term partner. I didn’t have the means to move towns and start over, as much as I wanted to. I almost went to grad school just to get a breath of fresh air. What an expensive breath of fresh air that would’ve been.

I liked the idea of being able to move and start fresh and make new friends. Even now I can feel my heart screaming, “Yes! Yes! Do it!” but alas, I am stuck living vicariously through books.

To me, a breakup is a heavy topic. Especially a long-term one. When you’re with someone for a long time, it’s incredibly easy to feel like they are truly your other half. This implies that, hey, you’re not whole on your own. So when they go…. It leaves this big gaping hole in your chest that aches any time you smell something that reminds you of them, see something that reminds you of them, or eat something that reminds you of them. And when you’ve been with someone long enough, everything reminds you of them.

I didn’t get a lot of this in this book. To me, this book was very lighthearted. She obsessed over her phone and him texting her back, and there was a lot of alcohol involved. There were small details that made it feel like they were a long-term relationship, but there was none of the gravity that I would expect in a breakup.

In addition to this, the book is told through first-person POV. If I’m in the character’s head, and boy was this a quirky head to be in, then I should be feeling the aches and the stabs and the devastation.

There were lines that made me feel a little something.

I lost it. I fucked up. I wasn’t enough.

Cackle, Rachel Harrison, p156

You don’t need a boyfriend, darling. You need perspective.

Cackle, Rachel Harrison, p174

The novel is described as “darkly funny, frightening novel” which is not true at all. I really wouldn’t call it funny, but humor is subjective.

The thing that created distance for me from the emotions of the book is the writing style. It tells more than it shows, some lines are incredible redundant, or the lines are super cheesy.

Exhibit A: “The spider picks up speed. It has a lot of legs.”

Why yes! Spiders have eight of them. Why are we confirming this when it is already something the reader knows?

Exhibit B: “I pretend I’m in a Diane Lane movie. I masturbate.”

Why do I, as the reader, need to know that? And if it’s an attempt at being funny, it’s not. It’s not quirky either. It is just weird to me. I will say that it fits the erratic nature of Annie’s character. But… Bruh.

I adored Sophie. This is because she is a self-actualized woman living her best life without allowing the judgment of other people sway her. She bakes. She lives in a giant mansion. She wears all black and makes her own clothes and cooks a lot. The best part? She does it without the need for a partner. Too often, like Annie, people struggle being single.

However, I feel like she could’ve been developed more. I suppose the mystery of her past is what makes her intriguing, but it would have been nice to know for certain.

The ending was really predictable. It was fun to see Annie grow as a person, but I definitely had to put some distance from my inner critic and the writing style. I fought the urge to roll my eyes frequently.

I did like the way Sam, her ex-boyfriend, was handled. I enjoyed the fresh perspective Annie got.

The vibes of this book are what make it. A little dark and witchy with lots of baking and cooking. It’s fun. It is a light and quick read.

My urge to move towns and make new friends hasn’t been quelled, though. In fact, it’s worse than ever now.

I want to move towns and have a witch for a best friend.

“He fears because he is small. I will not meet him there. I will not shrink down to his size, or anyone else’s for their comfort, their appeasement.”

Rachel Harrison, Cackle