Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - She Is a Haunting

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

7 reviews

lunarexorcist's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-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? Yes

i thought this was a new adult book until like twenty pages in my bad. i was so let down jade was 17 and not... like... 22.

i cried at the last forty pages but then went "what. what? what???" until the end. unhinged. i cant decide if it was unhinged in a genius or stupid way, but i will say that

being horny for a ghost that is horny for you also in a toxic yuri way and also a "wow you are so repressed colonialism slash misogyny slash queerphobia is a hell of a thing huh"

is one of the more unique interpretations of "this house eats people" ive seen.

i think the fact everyone sucks so bad throws people off but that just made my chest ache with how real it felt. that was my dad. thats my eldest daughter trauma. im gonna lose it.

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kingcrookback's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

This book would probably fit into the niche of creeping Gothic horror with generational themes of the likes of Mexican Gothic and What Moves the Dead. When Tran's writing was effective, her imagery was genuinely and viscerally unsettling. Ordinarily, the themes of generational trauma, queerness, colonialism and diaspora, and father-daughter relationships should have kept me hooked from page one.

The problem is, I found that Tran's writing was often not effective. Much of the time the figurative language and syntactical choices lacked the necessary undergirding of substance, which resulted in a murkiness that did not seem intentional and consequently just felt confused or unfocused. I understand that sometimes the intention was slipperiness and disorientation, and while that sometimes came across, its success was inconsistent. In fact, what this book did well - the creepy-crawliness, the imagery, the way it taps into the experiences that many American-born Vietnamese people share - made it even more of a frustrating read in the face of its shortcomings, including the underdeveloped side characters and the (occasionally) less-than-natural dialogue.

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s_lorenz's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense

4.5

This author is a genius. She is elevating YA

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wellreadandhalfdead's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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caidyn's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

4.25

This is definitely a book with creeping horror. It builds and builds on itself. And it also has generational trauma with the colonization of Vietnam. A very strong debut.

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ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

“I know this is a dream because I am not afraid of my father. In his hands, the ax catches sun.”

TITLE—She Is A Haunting

AUTHOR—Trang Thanh Tran (they/them)

PUBLISHED—2023

PUBLISHER—Bloomsbury

GENRE—YA horror

SETTING—Đà Lạt, Vietnam

MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—complicated family relationships, (semi-closeted) bisexual, Vietnamese-American MC, haunted house, inherited trauma, ecology, botany, entomology, & mycology, father-daughter relationship, interior design & hotelier, tourism & colonialism, bugs like so so many bugs, *fantastic* & gruesome horror imagery

WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

STORY/PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

BONUS ELEMENT/S—The bonus element for this book is simply a) that I was clever enough to preorder it 😂 and b) that it arrived at my doorstop right as I was in the middle of reading and rereading a bunch of incredible haunted house trope books. 👀

PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

PREMISE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

EXECUTION—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Understanding someone’s core, or guessing at it, is a thrill. Getting it right brings you too close, and that’s fucking scary. It’s like cupping the only water you have in your hands in the middle of a desert. Drop it and you’re done. Wait too long and it’s gone.”

My thoughts:

Oh wow. Wow wow wow wow. This book was kind of a masterpiece. I’m not overly familiar with YA books so I feel like my early struggles with the writing style and characterization was fully a product of that because by the end of the book pretty much every choice by the author made perfect sense and wrapped up into just a fantastic overall read.

The setting of the macabrely haunted French colonial mansion in the Đà Lạt forest was 👀incredible—and so stunningly and perfectly gothic. Every time one of the characters started to set off into the woods I immediately sat up straighter. The motorbike rides into the town, the facetime phone calls and wifi lightbulbs all acted as the perfect modern contrast that gave the story a profoundly unsettling dynamic. And the themes and deeper philosophy… 😚👌🏻

Pro tip: By page 310 you need to be ready to sit down and finish the book in a place you’re comfortable ugly crying in so also please just be aware of that. 👀

“Why is Đà Lạt not raining? Why does it not pour, as Ba says it does in July? Does the sky not know we are hurting? How can it not hear the tenor of my scream?”

This book is best read after eating because this book will a) make you hungry with all the incredible food descriptions but it will also b) make you lose your appetite because ***bugs*** 🤣

Final note: I am really going to need publishers & blurbers to stop comparing every book to REBECCA. It is absolutely getting out of hand. thx. 🙏🏻💕 (Especially when MEXICAN GOTHIC and WHITE IS FOR WITCHING are *right there*. 👀)

“In this house of dreams, I can have anything I want.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

CW // body horror!!, racism, colonialism, Vietnam war brutality, and if you have entomophobia: don’t even *think* about picking up this book 👀 (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)

Further Reading—

Lee, Wen-yi. “The Resonance of Hunger: Food, Family, and Colonialism in Trang Thanh Tran's She Is a Haunting.” Tor.com, 15 Mar. 2023, https://www.tor.com/2023/03/15/the-resonance-of-hunger-food-family-and-colonialism-in-trang-thanh-trans-she-is-a-haunting/
MEXICAN GOTHIC, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia—a must read if you especially loved this book
WHAT MOVES THE DEAD, by T Kingfisher 👀
WHITE IS FOR WITCHING, by Helen Oyeyemi (themes & sentient haunted house)
TELL ME I’M WORTHLESS, by Alison Rumfitt (sentient haunted house)
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, by Shirley Jackson (sentient haunted house)
BABEL, by RF Kuang (themes)
THE CRAFT (1995 movie)—I pictured the house in the book looking like the house in this movie 👀
BEETLEJUICE (1988 movie)
A LESSON IN VENGEANCE, by Victoria Lee (vibes)
HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS AND UNFAIRLY CUTE, by Talia Hibbert (themes)

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