Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro

25 reviews

briboheme's review

dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Suicide

poisoned_icecream's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racism, Body horror, Child death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Miscarriage and War

gem114's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I actively disliked the first 30% or so and thought about DNFing, but I’ve been in a reading slump and was committed to finishing this book.

I had a hard time sympathizing with Alejandra regarding her situation, despite the fact that I know the author meant for me to feel for her. I also don’t think she’s a healthy representation of mental health struggles, as she goes from rock bottom to an empowered woman ready to battle literal demons after only a month or so of therapy. I found myself more drawn to minor characters, like Melanie, Flor, and Francine. I enjoyed the lore of La Llorona and little details about Mexican culture. 

I think I probably would have liked this book better if it had been edited down about 100 pages. The organization would have needed to be tighter, fewer loose ends regarding the ancestor characters, less repetitive descriptions of the creature, etc. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Child death, Suicide, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Infidelity, Gore, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, War, and Death of parent

Minor: Rape, Colonisation, and Car accident

lanternsjourney's review

challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Haunting of Alejandra is not just another retelling of La Llorona. It is a beautiful and heartbreaking story about finding strength by listening to your inner voice. It's about intergenerational trauma that can only be healed with confrontation, learning, and acceptance. It's about how women have been suppressed by the patriarchy over the years and how they survived, or didn't survive, with all they endured. Encasing all of that is a spooky ghost story where we also meet a curandera, or a traditional Mexican healer. They only thing that could make this book better is a family tree in the front of it. I highly recommend giving this one a read!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, Child death, Colonisation, Blood, Body horror, Abandonment, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm

kayyyla's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Death

Minor: Miscarriage

edevoe8891's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Self harm, Child death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Misogyny, Colonisation, Miscarriage, and Medical trauma

simplyammee's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Colonisation, War, Abandonment, and Death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Blood, Animal death, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Slavery

amboyer's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage

mfrisk's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This read is another highly rated read for me from V. Castro. I can understand why there are low ratings from folks who are expecting fast paced action packed horror. This is not that. This book is a character study of Alejandra and is a story about mental health, relationships, family history, and love (with a dash of creature feature/mythology). As we get into the story there are split perspectives which bring us deeper into the story and bring depth to Alejandra’s family tree. This is a slow burn horror with so much to say and I’m hopeful this book can find the people who will love it as much as I do. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, War, Murder, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Death of parent, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts

bookdragon217's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

"You don't have to be the woman anyone else wants you to be or tell you you should be to make them more comfortable in their own existence." 

The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro was a fantastic retelling and reimagining of the folklore of La Llorona stories. Castro's ability to blend genres seamlessly and give us a horrifying yet beautiful tale is her special gift. In this one she gives you a multi-generational story about grief, loss of children, mental illness & suicidal ideations/attempts, post-partum depression, effects of colonialism, the loss of language/culture through trans-racial adoption, motherhood, patriarchy, and feminism. Castro gives us an often gory yet realistic depiction of what healing looks like through reconnection with ancestral knowledge and lineage through reclamation of identity and the past. 

The theme of motherhood runs deeply and is at the root of this story. It exposes how society has failed mothers through patriarchal expectations and taking away of choices. You see the difficulties of maintaining self autonomy and the dangers of removing women's abilities to tell their own stories. Alejandra navigates so much generational trauma and takes a bold leap to end generational curses through therapy that us culturally competent. I loved that Melanie was not only a therapist but also a curandera which allowed her to take a holistic approach to how she helped Alejandra. Cultural competency is something that is lacking in therapy and seeing how impactful it is to the healing process was a breath of fresh air. Spinning the narrative of La Llorona as being a woman who needed empathy, support and understanding rather than someone to be constantly feared is a reminder that the human experience is not black and white and that everyone has deep rooted issues that need to be explored and worked on to prevent the vicious cycles of trauma and pain.

If you love stories about complicated motherhood, ancestral power, feminism and grief/trauma work then pair this one up with:
✨️ River Woman, River Demon- Jennifer Givhan (fiction)
✨️Woman Who Glows in the Dark- Elena Avila & Joy Parker

Thank you to @delreybooks and @hearourvoicestours for the ARC.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Murder and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Death of parent, Mental illness, and Miscarriage