Lessons in Magic and Disaster has been so hard to review because my response to it has been deeply personal. It’s an achingly beautiful book. The ache starts in the opening paragraph,
Jamie has never known what to say to her mother. And now–when it matters most of all, when she’s on a rescue mission–she knows even less.”
Jamie discovered as a child that she could do magic. If she found a spot in nature at the intersection of cultivated and abandoned, and wished for something she really wanted, made an offering and then put the spell out of her mind, she might get what she wants. Or maybe it’s a coincidence. As far as she knows, she is the only witch. The story begins when Jamie decides she’s going to share her magic with her mother, who has retreated from the world in grief. Of course things go wrong. Jamie’s spouse, Ro, gets pulled in, which strains their relationship, and then Jamie’s academic career gets pulled in and her life is in complete disarray.
This book is all about tension and perspective. Jamie is a student and a teacher, a teacher and a daughter. She hands her mother a tool that her mother uses out of fear instead of hope. She loves her spouse deeply, but hasn’t shared a foundational piece of herself with them. While her mother tries to expiate her guilt and grief through magic spells, she further unravels Jamie’s life, creating more tension between them. But Serena also finds other witches and brings together a community to support Jamie.
This book made me miss my mom so much. She died 14 years ago, so this isn’t a fresh grief, but Anders tapped right into it. Jamie is trying to form a relationship with her surviving mother based on equal adult footing. The dynamic between them of love and frustration, the constant shifting of parent and child roles, felt so familiar to me. I could feel the tension that would fill the space between us when my mom and I were trying to talk to each other like adults, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. Where Jamie and Serena land at the end of the book felt cathartic.
Also woven through Lessons in Magic and Disaster is the frustration of the ebb and flow of bigotry. Jamie is a trans woman, daughter of lesbians, and married to a nonbinary spouse. She has a student who makes clear he doesn’t respect her, and she becomes the target of a transphobic campaign. Through her characters, through Jamie’s study of Emily, Anders is illuminating the queer women and queer people who have always been in the world, living their lives.
I loved this. I think it’s the best thing I’ve read from Charlie Jane Anders. I’m going to need this in every format and it’s going to be on my shelf, right next to Annalee Newitz’s Automatic Noodle.
I received this as an advance reader copy from Tor Books and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.