Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

10 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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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

clovetra's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

ok i had to pause to collect my thoughts on this.

i hate to say i did not have a good time.

look it feels illegal to give this a 1-star because;

a) the cover is too beautiful to rate it that low

b) i did enjoy the first 30% of this book!

it feels wrong to rate a book lower when i considered dnf’ing many times yet pushed through because i wanted to know how it ended & if it got any better. the fact i had that much interest is worth 2-stars to me. plus i really wanted to like this. REALLY wanted to like this. alas as u can see by my stars um…. i did not!

it was really hard to formulate my thoughts about this book simply because most of the time i had no fuckjng idea what was going on. like if you asked me for a summary i would probably skip a good 60% of the plot because i actually don’t know what was happening. i still don’t really know what happened by the end. like yeah i got what happened to ba but….. with cam & marion? lily? jade even? um. 😀

like even the chapter titles such as “heart”…. i assume it was the house? i cant even be sure.

i wouldn’t be surprised if it was a meta-commentary like “if you don’t understand this book it’s immersing you into being jade in this house” but…. cmon when i don’t even know what i don’t know i am not a happy camper.

that was honestly my main issue. i think if i knew what was going on i would’ve given this at the bare minimum an extra star. but like im gonna have to read other reviews to know what’s going on.

another gripe, which is a lot more minor mind you, is that this didn’t feel like a horror.  it’s more like a thriller. but like nothing was really horrifying to me. bro i need more than just some bugs. the more horrific elements may have been lost on me because i had no idea what was going on!!!!!

my final gripe is that this was such a slow burn oh my god????? storygraph said this was medium-paced…… WHERE. i’m sorry this is not medium-burn this is a snail’s-pace-burn. not even saying that’s a bad thing! it’s just not my thing and if i knew it was a slow burn i wouldn’t have even read it!

idk man im really sad cuz i wanted to love this! otherwise i wouldn’t have pushed past like 30%!!!!!!!

i am hoping that trang thanh tran irons out these “kinks” in her newest book because it looks good. granted i did say that about this book and look where that got me but. IM HOLDING OUT FOR YOU TRANG THANH TRAN!!!!!!!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Death, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death of parent, War, Classism, Car accident, Xenophobia, and Death

Minor: Homophobia, Slavery, and Biphobia

torismazarine's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicide, Car accident, Classism, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cursing, and Xenophobia

Minor: Alcohol and Sexual content

moh_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Death of parent, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

Moderate: Car accident, Death, Alcoholism, Grief, and Racism

Minor: Medical content and War

sephypear's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Xenophobia and Violence

raynbowkitty's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book made me feel physically ill several times. Tough, but intriguing story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Slavery, War, Body horror, Xenophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Vomit, Mental illness, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, and Colonisation

Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent

hobbithopeful's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.75

Sapphic colonization horror!?? LIKE WHAT! This was such an engaging and creepy read. I couldn't put it down, even as I had goosebumps from the suffocating imagery. I don't think there are many authors that can pull off writing about race and colonisation for a horror book, but  Trang Thanh Tran NAILED it! I am a grade A weenie, so this wasn't too scary for me to read. I was guessing the whole time, and I loved the twists and turns. 
I absolutely loved how race was talked about, it was just done so well and seamlessly. Honestly still cracking up about the line "this woman has a PHD in colonization.." . Jade feels so out of place in Vietnam, like a banana she mentions, and honestly I relate so much to her with my own race struggles. 
Also this book is sapphic!  
A truly creepy and tense tale about a hungry house, and too many bugs!
If you like thriller books you will definitely like this one! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, Gore, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Homophobia, and Body horror

Moderate: Animal death

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

Not my fave haunted house book but not bad. Things I liked - the setting, the exploration of complicated family, discussion of colonialism and the erasure (and trying to memorialize) of those who were colonized, the cover art . Things I didn't care for- jade as a character, all the freaking bugs (like I liked them as a horror element but I don't like bugs haha).
I would be willing to read more from this author even though I didn't love this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Racism

Moderate: Grief, Gaslighting, and Xenophobia

motaki's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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? Yes

2.5

A nice concept ruined by an absolutely stilted rythm, not many things were happening plotwise and most of them were so confusing I almost DNF.
I really liked the parts focused on how white colonialism is the worst and the world is still full of racist POS, would have loved more mother/daughter quality time. 
And I get that Jade is an angry teen but she wronged and hurt everyone that loved her, it wasn't the best choice as a narrator IMO. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Biphobia, Body horror, and Abandonment

Moderate: Suicide, Eating disorder, Murder, Racial slurs, Classism, Car accident, Racism, Slavery, and Xenophobia

suzylit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Gore, Biphobia, Body horror, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Blood

Moderate: Racism, Fire/Fire injury, and Xenophobia