Weep, Woman, Weep by Maria DeBlassie

TLDR:

Weep, Woman, Weep did a wonderful job of showing Mercy's growth throughout the years and overcoming all the obstacles that life (and La Llorona) threw at her. The book not only leaves you feeling hopeful but it makes you understand the importance of not letting trauma weigh you down.

Please note in an exchange for an honest review, I received an advance reader copy (ARC) from NetGalley.

As someone who grew up on stories of "La Llorona" I can assure you that I was terrified of the idea of reading anything containing her legend. I'm a scaredy cat and I admit that. I can still vividly remember sitting in the benches during 8th grade gym class as a friend told a group of us a scary encounter her cousin experienced during her visit to Honduras.

And yet, I still requested this book because I was curious.

This novella is a set in a small town in New Mexico where La Llorona haunts the riverbank, baptizing the woman and spreading her sorrow. Mercy and Sherry where two girls who promised each other that the moment they could, they would leave their small town in hopes to lead happy lives just like Sherry's aunt.

Yet La Llorona had other plans. One night, Sherry was dragged to the river where she was baptized meanwhile Mercy tried to save her friend to only fall onto her pale cold grasp as well. Luckily, Mercy was able to escape with only a mark of her palm left behind.

Nothing was the same. Sherry married a man from the church and abandon her dream to leave the city so she can live a life that La Llorona had set her on. Meanwhile, Mercy must now fight everyday from falling into La Llorona's grasp once again.

What I Loved

• Mercy's journey. The book is told in first person so I greatly enjoyed reading her internal dialogue. It gave me such great insight on how much her mind clicked.
• How it handles issues. This book mentions domestic violence, colorism, and racism, and misogyny and it handled well. It handled the issues in a realistic manner where some of these things are open secrets but no one dares to do anything about it.
• The cover.  It's the reason it caught my attention!

What I Disliked

• I wish we got to know more of other characters. I was curious about a lot of the side characters but I do think they provide just enough information.
• Not really scary. It had its creepy moments but the novel wasn't too terrifying. It would have helped to build some of her lore up. I think the reason some things were creepy just because I personally already had a preconceived image of her in my head.

Final Thoughts

I liked this book. I personally kept flipping between La Llorona actually being real and it being some sort allusion to depression/trauma. Having La Llorona in my head actually just being their trauma catching up to them made me enjoy the book a lot more.

Would I recommend this? If you're in the mood for a quick read about a woman overcoming her trauma and learning who she is, I say give it a go! If you're a regular horror reader, I don't think you'll find this book scary but it does have its few creepy moments.

Warning! Spoilers ahead!

A quick little section:

My Favorite Character(s): Mercy.

The Character I Hated: N/A

Favorite Moment:

• Santos playing music for Mercy.
• To me, Mercy as a child wanted to not appear to dark since it would make her seem native (something very true to this day). I really enjoyed how she was happy that Santos can identify her as non-white. It shows how much Mercy has matured as she got older and how she is no longer concern with such outdated views.