Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro

19 reviews

archaicrobin's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Castro’s writing is very blunt and it’s always hard for me to get into at first which affects my overall enjoyment of her books, but it’s very much a personal taste. If you’re looking for flowery, descriptive prose or a complex horror novel I wouldn’t recommend this one, as it’s very point blank and you have to accept a lot and just move on.

If you can do that though, this novel tells and eerie tale of a woman stuck in her depression hating her life, her children, her husband, and herself, all while being haunted by an entity she assumes is La Llorona. Alejandra at first is insufferable because she is so miserable but once she starts seeing a therapist and valuing herself, she begins to find the power within her self to not only change her life but defeat the curse of La Llorona for good.

While Castro’s writing style isn’t my favorite I always love her strong female characters, her ability to create terrifying imagery, and the strong cultural elements she weaves into her story. If you’re looking for a well crafted supernatural tale about strong women, generational trauma, and identity this one is worth trying!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Suicide, Blood, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexism, Grief, and Toxic relationship

boredarchivist's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Misogyny

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexism, Torture, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Blood, Gore, Child death, Death, Grief, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Medical content, Alcohol, Sexual content, Violence, Stalking, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm

Moderate: War, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Miscarriage, Cursing, Infidelity, Biphobia, Mental illness, Abandonment, Genocide, Religious bigotry, and Racism

Minor: Gun violence, Drug use, and Infertility

vexatiousbird's review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I expected gloomy gothic literature and this went all the way into horror territory, but I’m not mad about it. Very deep feminist themes. Good creepy moments. Mostly well-written, except I found the dialogue stilted and the plot was a little meandering. Interesting ancestral characters, but side characters were a little bland. Sometimes felt like it was trying too hard, but overall good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Infidelity, and Sexual content

emzhay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I liked the story of generational trauma being told, but the writing was rather monotonous and over explanatory. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, and Mental illness

Moderate: Rape

osoordinary's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.5

While Alejandra and I live VERY different lives, so much of her pain and sadness, despair, negative self-talk, etc. was a direct description of what I so often struggle with. To see it all depicted in writing was beautiful and normalizing in a way. I give it 4.5 stars because two major moments fell flat for me. Overall, this was a great horror with Mexican-American heritage and lore highlighted. This was a fantastic twist on the legend of La Llorona, and entwining the idea of general curses into Alejandra's journey was engrossing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment

Generational curses

iseefirede's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.25

If you want a quick read, I got through this in less than 24 hours. I was curious about the generational trauma and how it would be addressed. Reading Alejandra's ancestors' POVs was probably one of my favorite parts. 

I feel this book was too explicit in its themes. There was no subtlety to it. The therapist she sees is used to explain what we could've inferred was going on. There's not much, if any, character development. 

If you are looking for a quick horror read, this is for you. If you're looking to explore themes of generational trauma, you probably should look elsewhere.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Blood, Body horror, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, and Self harm

Moderate: Abandonment and Body shaming

Minor: War and Dementia

grey_jayne's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

V. Castro has quickly become one of my favorite writers and The Haunting of Alejandra is a masterclass in storytelling. By weaving ancestral voices in between Alejandra's narrative, Castro ups both the emotional and physical stakes to staggering heights. Some of the best creature writing ever too. I truly adore this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Body horror and Misogyny

ecn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Generational trauma, healing, La Llorna, queer rep. This book is AMAZING and feels made for me. I was apprehensive at first since motherhood was a main theme but I am sooo glad I stuck with it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Religious bigotry, Racism, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Grief, Colonisation, Child death, Sexual violence, Body horror, Infidelity, Gore, and Genocide

paulineerika's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

I struggled a little with how to rate this book. There were some really excellent parts, some parts that made me want to scream, and some parts that just felt a little lacking.

THE GOOD:
- I loved the interspersing of Alejandra's family and their history with La Llorona. Much of the family history and background was so interesting.
- Alejandra's finding her own voice and strength made me want to cheer. 
- I really liked Melanie and her role the story.
- The writing overall was really good.

THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
-

Everything involving Matthew made me want to scream. He was completely one-note and one-dimensional, which I guess was part of Alejandra's depression and story, but man, I hated him a lot and I didn't think he needed to be that bad to make the point.

- I can say the same about Alejandra's upbringing and adopted family.
- The pacing was a little off throughout the book.

THE LACKING:
-

I didn't understand Flor's chapter. It was interesting, for sure, but didn't seem to fit at all with the rest of the family's story. It felt like a way to throw in a well-known figure in Mexican history without properly integrating him into the story.

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Alejandra's sudden decision that she had to kill herself (or try to) in order to kill the creature and magically knowing what she had to do. That kinda came out of nowhere. See also the pacing issue above.

-

Similarly, as much as I loved Alejandra's own journey to finding her voice and her strength, it was definitely a little rushed, given how deeply buried she was.

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The ghosts of her ancestors coming to help her kill the creature was underdeveloped and underwhelming.

- The hints of Alejandra's sexuality could have been better developed, I think.

The book as a whole was definitely uneven, but well-written and I think the strength of Castro's message overcomes a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexism, Racism, and Misogyny

Minor: War