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catwhisperer's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Pregnancy, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Body horror, Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Suicide attempt, and Violence
bookdragon217's review
- 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
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.
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Murder and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Death of parent, Mental illness, and Miscarriage
jessreadreceipts's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child death, Body horror, Blood, Suicide, Gore, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Classism, Misogyny, Racism, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Colonisation, Abandonment, Cannibalism, and Gaslighting
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Car accident, and Infertility
aldourquiza's review
- 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
Graphic: Miscarriage, Abandonment, and Body horror
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Sexism
Minor: Colonisation and Medical content
readyourbookshelf's review
- 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
Alejandra knows what she is: a Mexican American woman, adopted as an infant and grown into a mother who puts everyone before herself. Now if only she could figure out who she wants to be. Quietly weeping in the shower one evening, the voice inside her head reminds her how worthless she is. But when the shape moving in the mist causes her to second guess where that small voice originated, Alejandra starts down a path of investigation and self-discovery.
I really enjoyed this book. It was generational trauma all the way down. . . but in a good way? This book is a story of not only the trauma that makes its way down the family line, but also the strength. While Alejandra is the protagonist, we are given multiple POVs throughout history that give us a clearer picture of where it all came from: the fortitude and the pain. The connections between Alejandra and the women she chooses to take her journey with are wonderful.
There are a few places where the dialogue felt a little stilted and the moral of the story felt a little heavy handed, but it still did exactly what it set out to do, which is talk about how we find our place in the world and how it is always easier when we find a tribe, be it blood relations or found family. Each of the characters is interesting and rooting for Alejandra, which makes the things happening to her all the more horrific. This is a horror story about hope and that is one of my favorite things. I highly recommend checking it out.
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Blood, Colonisation, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt
Minor: War, Dementia, and Infidelity
magalis's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I really wanted to love this one, but it just wasn't what I expected. I think the premise is great, and the horror is (for the most part) well-done, but the book itself falls flat. I do think with some editing and some polishing this could still end up being a good book, but as it currently stands (unpublished, expected out in April), it needs some work.
The good:
*I thought that the monster was really well done! The descriptions of it and its actions were genuinely creepy. The little segments at the end of the flashback chapters where we learned more about its origins were interesting.
*The premise itself is very interesting. The idea of a monster preying on generations of women, and the cultural aspects from Mexico that were brought in were interesting, and I wish there had been more of them.
The less good:
*I found the dialogue really stilted and awkward throughout (no one in real life actually talks like the people in this book). There were a lot of weird monologues that very much felt out of place, and all of the therapy parts felt like they were copied straight out of a psychology textbook example conversation. Pretty much whenever the characters were having a serious conversation I got pulled straight out of the story because of how awkward the dialog felt.
*I felt like this relied a lot on body horror, lots of descriptions of periods and childbirth and general female pain, which is fine, but not my cup of tea. (TW for rape, blood, and suicide throughout)
*The alternating chapter structure could use some work. The ancestor stories jump aren't chronological so you don't really get a good grasp on how the generational trauma is building.
*The final flashback chapter, featuring the original La Llorona, felt tacked on at the end, kind of like an afterthought. It didn't feel necessary.
*The pace of the book was very slow. A lot of time was spent on Alejandra's mental state, which was fine, but it really felt repetitive and boring after awhile. A book this length would normally take me about a week to finish, but this took me over a month because I just wasn't invested enough to want to pick it up and keep reading.
Graphic: Body horror, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Suicide
Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Violence, Sexual content, Infidelity, Rape, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, and Dementia
jrharris's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
What can I say about The Haunting of Alejandra?
It’s dark. It’s painful. It’s a generational curse. But it’s also about Alejandra’s personal struggles. I personally believe a lot of people will relate to Alejandra’s mental health in this book. It’s a really well written display of postpartum depression and loss of identity after having children. V.castro’s writing constantly reminds us that Alejandra loves her children, but laments about losing herself and her interests in the process of raising them. That, plus a useless husband who berates her for not being happy with the comfortable life that he’s “given” her only adds fire to the fuel. This is a horror book but it’s more than just a ghost story. It’s a woman struggle with taking care of herself.
Castro takes the tale of La Llorona and makes it her own in this story. Using the imagery of La Llorana, she’s created a horror that lingers with you after you’ve finished the book. She created a being that’s been pursuing Alejandra’s family for generations with a hunger that can’t be satisfied. The moments of horror are full of gore and suspense, especially with the final confrontation at the end. Usually, i find multiple POVs a little too much after awhile but because all of the POVs were connected to Alejandra in some way, it really showed how this creature has impacted the women through the years.
This was a beautiful book and I think V. Castro deserves all the praise she’s getting already for this. This book doesn’t come out until April 18, 2023 but I was very kindly given a digital ARC through Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine. Thank you for the early access and all opinions are my own. V. Castro is one of my favorite authors and I loved this.
Graphic: Body horror and Gore
Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Death of parent
bookishbrenbren's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This book was fabulous! I loved the Mexican culture that is integral to this story and the very honest portrayal of someone who has been adopted out of their community and the struggles to reclaim a heritage or identity that was taken from them. I love that Alejandra's story is so thoroughly mapped to her therapy and takes readers through real therapeutic approaches to handling overwhelmingly negative emotions. I hope to see more books published that showcase the benefits of therapy in the future. Even as someone who is not a fan of historical fiction, I enjoyed jumping back into Alejandra's ancestor's stories (with one notable exception - more on that later). These are much shorter narratives, almost vignettes, and provide some action-packed breaks from Alejandra's emotion-heavy chapters.
There was much to love about this book but I also don't think it's going to be good for everyone. Most importantly, there is a lot of potentially triggering content with regards to suicidal ideation and deeply depressive though processes. There is graphic violence, emotional abuse from a partner, violence against children and the book touches on adoption trauma as well. Please check any other CWs I may have forgotten about.
Secondly, the book is very plot-driven - we only really get to know one character (the MC Alejandra) and even then her character is mostly sketched out through emotional episodes where she is at her lowest, and there is not much depth to the character's thoughts. Beyond that, the other characters are largely interchangeable in voice, although not in circumstance, and can read flat at times. So, if you are mostly into books for character dev, maybe this isn't your cup of tea.
As well, if you are not a fan of historical fiction, those parts of the books may drag for you. I typically do not like hist fic but in this book they were short and entertaining snippets that kept me engaged in the story at crucial points. However, I must complain about Flor's chapter - perhaps it's because the Mexican Revolution is much more recent history than the other chapters, or because I personally know a little bit about that time period, but ugh this chapter was SO BAD. It was incredibly cheesy and completely unrealistic and didn't fit in with the concept of generational curses at all.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Body horror, Death of parent, Grief, Toxic relationship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Dementia, Colonisation, and Gun violence
taratearex's review
- 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
4.0
A retelling of the La Llorona legend told through generational trauma, and battling our own demons, figuratively and literally. A story of familial and community love, of self care and living as our authentic selves.
It's got gore and incredibly creepy scenes that'll make your skin crawl, but it's also this inspiring and beautiful story of overcoming hardship and finding inner strength.
I definitely recommend this if you're a fan of horror, but also if you're a fan or multi-generational stories, and stories about strong women.
Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the e-arc!
Graphic: Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Pregnancy, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Gore, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Child death