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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 thatbeing 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.
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
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Body horror, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Gaslighting, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Murder, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Abandonment, Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Misogyny, Car accident, Suicide, and Grief
vanessamariebooks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I wish I could say I loved this, but it just wasn't for me. Way too much description and the writing tries to be lyrical/poetic, but it just ends up making things more confusing (and the story was already pretty confusing to begin with). I do think that for the chapters that start with a body organ (kidney, liver, brain, etc.) the lyrical/poetic writing works well with these chapters, but I wish it would have been used for those chapters only and not Jade's chapters as well. I appreciate the topics/themes it tries to tackle (colonialism, intergenerational trauma, bisexuality), but it fell a little flat to me and didn't feel fully fleshed out. As for the characters, I honestly didn't care about any of them, even Jade, our MC. I didn't hate them, but I didn't love any of them either; I was really indifferent. This was also a really slow read, and I was bored throughout most of it. If it wasn't for the audiobook, I definitely would have DNF in the beginning. On the plus side, the cover of this book is gorgeous (and one of the reasons I wanted to pick this one up)!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Body horror
Moderate: Colonisation, Homophobia, Racism, Grief, Abandonment, Biphobia, and Emotional abuse
melodyseestrees's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Body horror, and Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcoholism, Car accident, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Violence
the_unquiet_librarian's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
3.5
This house isn’t just haunted, it has an appetite for its occupants.
Jade Nguyen leaves her home in Philadelphia with her younger sister to spend the summer with their estranged father. Ba has purchased a 1920’s French Colonial house in Vietnam where Jade’s great grandmother grew up in servitude. Nha Hoa, as the house is called, is to be a bed and breakfast and a home for the Nguyen family. He has also agreed to pay Jade’s college tuition if she stays the summer and creates a website for the B&B with his business partner’s daughter, Florence. Strange nightly occurrences, an abundance of dead insects, and the constant smell of rot plague Jade. Her father is adamant that the house is not haunted and the relationship between father and daughter becomes increasingly strained.
When a ghostly presence warns her, “don’t eat”; she must find a way to protect her family from an unknowable threat and enlists the help of Florence. The longer they stay, the hungrier the house becomes and the seeds of fear bloom into paranoia. The house with its sinister past become a body, representing the parasitic nature of colonialism, creating a dark backdrop for the haunting. Vivid imagery bathed in Vietnamese culture and atmosphere is illuminated through eloquent language. Its verisimilitude is achieved through adolescent prose that capture the insecurities and concerns of a teenager contemplating the cost of college, sexuality, and cultural identity. Despite the narratives’ slow pace, the beguiling setting of this gothic horror is the true star and will leave the reader hungry for more. —Rebekah Palmer
Content Warnings
Minor: Car accident, Gore, Vomit, and Toxic relationship
kingsheir's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
3.75
Slower start then what I was hoping for. But eventually picked up speed and started to settle into the pace and I liked how it played out.
I’ll admit the slow start had me and I was hoping for a bit more in places. Specially with how the fmc saw herself and also her mothers reactions in the end. But still a good story worthy of being told again and again.
I’ll admit the slow start had me and I was hoping for a bit more in places. Specially with how the fmc saw herself and also her mothers reactions in the end. But still a good story worthy of being told again and again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cultural appropriation and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Outing and Racism
Minor: Death of parent
kswartz's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
The themes explored in this book, such as family, generational trauma, colonialism, are interesting in the context of a hungry, haunted house. But the author's style was not to my taste. It seemed fussy and overly complex, very twisty without much payout. It was hard to focus and I found myself skimming without missing very much. Still, it was weird and gross and unique.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Colonisation, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Blood
beholderess's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, and Body horror
Insect and parasite related yuckinesssarah984's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is a pretty solid YA haunted house story. There are some really effective scares in here and I loved the Vietnamese setting, but sometimes feelings and character motivations got a bit lost in the flowery writing and the romance didn't really work for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide
Moderate: Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Abandonment, Body horror, Grief, Car accident, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Cursing, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Slavery, War, Blood, Confinement, and Animal death
Bugsbooksthatburn's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Colonisation, Body horror, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Vomit, Sexism, Animal death, and Emotional abuse
2treads's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
A story is what holds me hostage during sleep.
Anything that leads with a haunting, a sentient or otherwise inhabited inanimate object, complicated father-daughter relationships, a self-aware, queer, motivated, complex, and confused main character will have me reaching for it. The malevolence that comes through as Jade learns more of the house's history and previous owners is a palpable thing, as are the marks left by French colonialism.
#SheIsAHaunting brings this and much more, the underlying sinister vibes, entangled familial and colonial history, identity, sexuality, and the need for acceptance are all wrapped around Jade as she tries to navigate her fraught relationship with her father in order to be able to pursue her educational aspirations.
I love that Tran has given us a look at how each child responds to the father in their way, based on their age and understanding of why he isn't home with them. It also speaks to their complex relationship with their heritage and cultural identity. How you feel in the place of your parent's birth and history versus how you feel in your country of birth that finds many ways to make you feel Other.
But it is also the sacrifices that we can be led to make for those we love while ignoring the damage such actions cause. It is learning and relearning, listening, and understanding that there is always another story, another person who was also used and impacted by the need for power and longevity.
I want to go through this terrible thing, but I’ll never fully understand the intimacy of a home rooted in soil.
Anything that leads with a haunting, a sentient or otherwise inhabited inanimate object, complicated father-daughter relationships, a self-aware, queer, motivated, complex, and confused main character will have me reaching for it. The malevolence that comes through as Jade learns more of the house's history and previous owners is a palpable thing, as are the marks left by French colonialism.
#SheIsAHaunting brings this and much more, the underlying sinister vibes, entangled familial and colonial history, identity, sexuality, and the need for acceptance are all wrapped around Jade as she tries to navigate her fraught relationship with her father in order to be able to pursue her educational aspirations.
I love that Tran has given us a look at how each child responds to the father in their way, based on their age and understanding of why he isn't home with them. It also speaks to their complex relationship with their heritage and cultural identity. How you feel in the place of your parent's birth and history versus how you feel in your country of birth that finds many ways to make you feel Other.
But it is also the sacrifices that we can be led to make for those we love while ignoring the damage such actions cause. It is learning and relearning, listening, and understanding that there is always another story, another person who was also used and impacted by the need for power and longevity.
I want to go through this terrible thing, but I’ll never fully understand the intimacy of a home rooted in soil.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation
Minor: Body shaming, Death, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, and Blood
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