Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - She Is a Haunting

The vibes were immaculate, which is pretty important for a gothic horror novel, and the author managed to create an eerie and tense atmosphere while also describing everything so aesthetically. The descriptions felt very... indirect? I sometimes had to reread parts because I wasn't sure what was actually happening but that is by no means a criticism; I adored the language. Plotwise however, I struggled a bit. Haunted houses only work if the characters have a good reason to be in them and not leave once, you know, they realize they might die. In this case, there were reasons for the main character not just going home, but they weren't strong enough for me. I got her motivations and I liked how her struggles with her family and her identity played out, but her behavior in the house was just ridiculous. And some of it seemed like it only happened to set up conflict between characters, the main thing that didn't work for me. Nearly every thing that characters got angry about was so obviously only there to create a shocking reveal and lead to an argument and some of the "dark secrets" I just straight up didn't consider as bad things. The romance also suffered from this.
My favorite thing however were the shorter horror chapters and how horror as a genre was used to discuss colonialism, racism, and sexism. Gothic horror has always been used to portray societal issues with supernatural metaphores and this was done so well here. I also have never read YA horror before and was pleasantly surprised how well these two can be mixed.

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criticalmiss's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.0

I enjoyed how it all wrapped but but they book really lost me in the middle, I kept leaving it to read or listen to other books.
Definitely had a satisfying ending though

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pinkalpaca's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad 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

4.0

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velvetssamu's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

2.75

the concept for the book was super interesting but i found it very repetitive and slow for the first 200 pages

if you are afraid of bugs in any way do not read this book

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sarah_shelf's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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queer_bookwyrm's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

4.0

4 ⭐ CW: body horror, sleep paralysis, death of a parent, immolation, racism, cursing

She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran is a YA horror about a Vietnamese-American girl struggling with identity and family reconciliation amid a haunted house.

We follow Jade, who is visiting her father with her younger sister in Vietnam, as he fixes up an old French Colonial house. Jade's father has been estranged from the family for a long time, but has made a deal that if she stays the summer, then he will give her the money she needs to go to college at UPenn. Then Jade realizes that the house is haunted by a racist, French colonizer who is tormenting her as she did another Vietnamese girl who lived there.

Jade is a bit of an angsty teen girl, angry at her father and making not great decisions. But we soon realized that her father put too much on her when she was young instead of taking responsibility. Jade carries the weight of being the oldest daughter, as well as trying to navigate her Vietnamese-American identity. Throughout the book we see her struggle with not feeling Vietnamese enough. Jade is also coming to terms with being bisexual.

I liked Jade's relationship with Florence and the juxtaposition of their two very different personalities. The hauntings are really visceral and creepy! The interplay between dreams and real hauntings makes reality hard to parse out. A lot of disturbing descriptions. We get themes of how colonialism is a rot upon a country. The racist ghost, Marion, rotted from the inside when she died in the house, so get plenty of imagery of rotting food, parasites and dead bugs. It's ironic that Marion always referred to the Vietnamese people as parasites, when she herself became a parasite of the house after death.

This was a super creepy read and perfect for spooky season. I'm really enjoying all this diverse horror! This would make for a great horror movie.

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nutmegandpumpkin's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

The author did a fantastic job with the actual horror aspects & overall creepiness. The characters were OK but not entirely likable apart from the younger sister IMO. The writing was also just okay with the exception of a couple of great lines sprinkled here and there. The story felt VERY slow yet some of the aspects felt rushed at the end.

I’m honestly having a hard time pinpointing how I feel about this book. I found it somewhat enjoyable but not extremely memorable. I think the potential is there but it didn’t quite reach it.

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