Reviews with content warning for Body horror - She Is a Haunting

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

88 reviews

clovetra's review

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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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vanessamariebooks's review

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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)!

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torismazarine's review against another edition

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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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claudiashelf's review against another edition

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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

4.25

❝ It sounds ridiculous and yet real and threatening—every house learning as you learn to live inside it. Every house listening. ❞
❝ I am a tourist in the country where my parents were born. Even my clothes have been here before me. ❞

I completely concur with my opinion on the rarity of finding a good book about haunted houses that can live up to my expectations. However, I must say that this particular story impressed me beyond measure with its exceptional plot and captivating writing style. The author's ability to weave a web of suspense and tension around the readers is nothing short of remarkable. The way the plot unfolds, and the characters come to life, is a testament to the author's skill and creativity.

Despite not being particularly fond of horror, I found myself engrossed in this book's premise, which was intriguing and unique. The book introduces new Vietnamese voices to literature, which is a welcome shift from the conventional narratives we often come across. Furthermore, the author explores significant ideas related to colonialism in Vietnam, diaspora feelings, and identity.

The author utilizes horror as a tool to delve into these complex themes with precision and nuance. The way the author has executed this is awe-inspiring. The horror elements in the book are not merely for the sake of scaring the readers, but they serve a more profound purpose in the narrative, which is a hallmark of excellent horror writing.

Overall, I believe this book is a must-read for anyone who enjoys horror, as well as those interested in exploring cultural themes and perspectives. The author's writing style, combined with a unique approach to horror, makes this book an enthralling and thought-provoking read.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

3.25

This isn't really my genre of reads, but it also didn't totally keep my attention. On audio it was hard to tell but there were these kind of small passages sometimes at the beginning of the chapters(?) that seemed to be from the house's pov (kinda?) and those were the most interesting bits. I think it could've been even creepier overall. I did really like the concept of a house haunted by colonizers, but it didn't quite hit for me in the end *shrug*

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kiracat13's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

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missdeaddoll's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious fast-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

3.5

I find this to be more literary fiction than genre fiction because this is about a girl figuring herself out and a family coming together. She gets to learn about her family’s past and accept her sexual identity, which was cute and I enjoyed the lgbt romance. But this only had a few enjoyable parts. There wasn’t a lot to the plot. It was hard to be fully engaged with the characters at times. I do think this is a good coming of age story, with some mild haunting. The ending has the most action and I wasn’t very much interested in it.

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