'A young curandera, a medicine woman, intent on uncovering the secrets of her past is forced into a life-and-death battle against an evil Archbishop. Set in the mystic land of Aztlan, "The Unholy" is a novel of destiny as healer and slayer. Native lore of dreams and visions, shape changing, and natural magic work to spin a neo-gothic web in which sadness and mystery lure the unsuspecting into a twilight realm of discovery and decision.
'PAUL DeBLASSIE III, PhD, is a psychologist and writer living in his native New Mexico. A member of the Depth Psychology Alliance, the Transpersonal Psychology Association, and the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, he has for over thirty years treated survivors of the dark side of religion.'
The Unholy is a story about faith. It's about colonialism, and the encroaching of white beliefs and practices on native peoples. Whilst this should have been somewhat obvious from the description of the book I was still a little taken aback by how much this narrative took the centre stage.
The story follows Claire, a native american woman that works as a therapist in a small, church run, mental health facility. When just a child she witnessed her mother killed by a terrifying man in a cloak, a figure that has haunted her dreams for decades since. After the death of her mother she was raised by friends of her mother and taught about her role as a medicine woman. Despite being raised with her culture being a big part of her identity it feels like she's almost at war with herself, afraid to embrace her role and her culture in a place where Christianity rules with an iron fist.
This conflict is the central focus of the book, with Paul DeBlassie III making a point of showing the dark side of religion. Yes, religion can be a very comforting thing for some people, and it can provide a lot of warmth and community, but this isn't always the case for everyone. As a psychologist he saw first hand how religion can cause harm, how it can be the route of abuse and suffering for some people; and how this abuse can have long lasting affects.
Claire is the embodiment of this. Her mother was violently ripped away from her. Her culture is repressed and made out to be wrong. She's treated as secondary by people because she's not a white christian. She's constantly on the back-foot, fighting for herself and trying to prove her worth.
This would be a bad enough situation to be in if that was it, if she was just fighting oppression, but there's more going on that just the very real world hatred that so many people live with everyday. The man that murdered Claire's mother is still out there, and wants to kill her too. A killer being after you is bad, but when he's also the head of the regime that's oppressing your people and has been making your life hell forever, it becomes even more complicated.
I was super excited for this story, for seeing this evil archbishop hunting down a native medicine woman. It's a scenario that really appealed to me, especially when it's revealed that there's more going on beneath the surface than just a man turned bad, that there might be something darkly supernatural beneath the surface. And whilst I did enjoy the journey, the mystery that DeBlassie made, I felt a little let down by the conclusion.
There wasn't anything bad with the resolution, and it made narrative sense for the story, but it happened a little too quickly for me. After so long building up this world and the story the conclusion happened over just a handful of pages. I wanted more from the ending. I wanted it to take a little more time. Despite this fast conclusion, the book was still very engaging and interesting, and played with some interesting story themes and ideas that I'd love to see in more books.
The Unholy might not be a book for everyone, especially if you're not open to the idea that organised religion can be a bad thing, or that white society has oppressed countless cultures and peoples. However, if you're open to seeing these harsh truths, if you have respect for native peoples and understand that white cultures have done them wrong you will really enjoy this book. It puts both the historic sins of oppression and conquest, as well as modern divisions centre stage to tell a story that talks about important themes wrapped up in a supernatural mystery.
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