Reviews with content warning for Racism - She Is a Haunting

This is a book that younger me needed. A book that made a younger, angry, and hurting me, feel seen.

Trang Thanh Tran perfectly captures several things perfectly. In particular I found that the depiction of the relationship between estranged parent and teenage daughter and the experiences of diaspora communities was spot on, and really resonated with my own experiences.

I enjoyed Jade as a character. I liked that she was so very angry (as many of us are that age) and allowed to be angry and that she did not feel and need dampen it. I got a lot of haunting of hill house vibes from this story, and whislt i loved the exploration of the different themes (strained familiar relationships, identity, diaspora experiences, and colonialism) i do wish that they were fleshed out more! I did not realise that the house was a metaphor for colonialism until I read another review. I found also the pacing a bit off in the last 100 pages. Nevertheless, I think it was a solid debut, and certainly a book I would read again. I do think She is a Haunting is a book that needs to be reread again and again. I'm sure there are so many things I missed (and I admit that confused me) during my initial read which would require me to pick it up again.

I will also be keeping an eye out for Trang Thanh Tran's other works.

I would reccomend this to anyone wanting a YA Horror featuring unapologetically angry girls who are discovering their identity, haunted houses and explorations of the impact of colonialism.

Content Warnings

piastri's review

Go to review page

3.5

i really enjoyed this! unfortunately i read it over like. three months so i didnt entirely follow everything i read, but the tying together of colonialism, the immigrant experience and horror was really intriguing.

definitely plan to reread later so that i can properly appreciate it

Content Warnings

megan_harper's review

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

2.0

Content Warnings

ferdireads's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

well...what to say abt this one...? *sigh*

the plot was very slow to build, and a lot of situations kept getting hashed out but never resolved. the issues jade started with never get resolved or discussed, so there's no satisfaction there. at one point of the story, it felt like the plot was starting to deviate from what was intended and it just felt really odd. a lot of scenes also felt very out of place, and like a mishmash of ideas. so much was just not clicking; adding onto that the slow pace and buildup, the book starts to disinterest you halfway through.

trang thanh tran did an amazing job with the gothic horror elements of the story, and using bugs/spiders and other creepy crawlers, and parasites, to push the horror aspects was absolutely genius. even if you're someone who isn't squeamish or afraid of these things, reading certain scenes will absolutely make you dry-heave a little and cringe is disgust and fear. im already horribly afraid of all those things, so you can guess how i felt lol.

either way, it was a good gothic horror that utilizes vietnamese cultural elements perfectly, but a lot of it falls flat very fast and jade's poor character development definitely doesn't make things any better. the ending also felt pretty unsatisfying :/. idk if this was the author's debut novel, but it certainly felt like it was.

(one thing im very glad abt tho is that jade is bisexual :') there's very little bi rep out there, so it's very nice to see it)

Content Warnings

margaretwaltemath09's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious 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

3.75

Content Warnings

elysianbud's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.0

This made me cry several times. The characters are complicated people which I loved, especially the depths of Jade and her father.

Content Warnings

More...