Reviews with content warning for Racism - She Is a Haunting

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

101 reviews

kaiyakaiyo's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

3.5 stars rounded up!

this started off super interesting but the haunting within a haunting threw me off a bit and the family dynamics were a bit too heavy for the haunting plot to balance out. the “scares” felt a bit cheesy and 2D in comparison to the commentary on race/colonization in Vietnam and the crumbling family

that being said the relationships, especially between sisters were lovely! as an oldest sister i deeply felt all the heavy lifting Jade did and how she felt she had to pay everyone before herself. Lily was a really accurate 2nd child; old enough to remember the rosy “before” but too young to understand or process the fucked up “after”. I have a sister just like that & our different approaches to our deadbeat father have driven a wedge between us over time just like this. really affirming to see on a page, as sad as it was

the ending was a bit cheesy & grand gesture-y so minus some points for that

anyways gotta love a book that ends with a deadbeat dad on fire!

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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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aformeracceleratedreader's review

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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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jessicanb93's review

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dark sad 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? Yes

3.5

While I enjoyed the story overall, I did struggle a bit with the writing. I found it a little difficult to follow sometimes (I feel like there were random time jumps in the middle of a paragraph).
On the side of horror, this is the most I’ve read about bugs or food in a story, and it really grossed me out. I would recommend checking trigger warnings, and if you have any sensitivities to subject matter dealing with food and long descriptions of food being eaten, please proceed with caution.

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starsincline's review

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3.25

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blonohorror's review

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dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

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pey333's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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buxomfloozy's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

3.25

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ashcrash's review

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dark mysterious sad tense 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

2.0

i really wanted to love this book. the premise sounded amazing and i’m always down for food/bug/haunted house horror, but it really fell flat across the board. the main character is a teen in a complicated situation

and i get that she’s meant to be an unreliable narrator once the house gets its claws in her

but it definitely feels like none of her decisions relate to her internal monologue or any characterization we get of her. speaking of internal monologue, there’s a LOT of it. i love scene setting and atmospheric books, especially horror, and it could totally just be the audiobook, but the way the description/prose/jade’s thoughts are weaved in with actual plot is very confusing and slows down the book a lot. there are lots of great plot elements here but way too many, so by the end it feels like none of them amounted to anything, and the central “mystery” also feels unresolved. because of all of that, the ending is completely underwhelming and doesn’t feel earned. also surprisingly disappointed by the romance, which feels forced and rushed though there are some nice moments. the theme of colonialism is a super important thing to bring into the haunted house trope, and i do feel like it works well in regards to the business partner couple, but at other points it feels like like it gets lost in the confusing narrative rather than working as an actual force in the story the way the haunting itself is. overall really disappointing, unfortunately :(

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anna_23's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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? Yes

4.5

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