Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

32 reviews

shadow_cat94's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

This book is focused on the generational trauma and displacement caused from colonization in Vietnam shown  through a single family and the house they're rebuilding over a summer.

The main character, Jade, is struggling with feelings of abandonment by her estranged father and coming out to her family as bisexual. These manifest in fights with her father and a new potential friend, Florence, at every opportunity. Her sister, Lily, is forced to be the peacekeeper as she wants to have her father back in not only her life, but everyone's life again.

I found the flash stories written from the house's POV endearing. The story overall felt like it fell flat in the ending for me. I didn't like the final interaction between Jade and Ba, it left a bad taste in my mouth. The way the sisters never talked it out or talked anything out, yet had this perfect relationship prior to going into that house seemed off to me as well. I loved the mom. She was written consistently enough and often enough that I was satisfied with her part in the ending,

it didn'tfeel like a deus ex machina.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Car accident, Abandonment, and Alcohol

There is a death by burning in this story along with other types of deaths. They're not in graphic detail, but you are "present" with the MC when it happens for the most part.

tae_not_tea's review

challenging emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Colonisation

Minor: Abandonment

lunitareads's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

  She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran is a chilling, gothic story that blends ghosts, family, & identity with a haunting twist. Jade Nguyen, a Vietnamese American teen, visits her dad in Vietnam to help restore an old French colonial house with a familial connection. The Nhà Hoa, Flower House isn't just falling apart-it needs a whole limpia (cleansing). It is full of spirits, dark secrets, & a hunger that can never be satisfied.

At its core, the story reminds us of the remnants of French colonization in Vietnam. The house, a relic of colonial power, symbolizes how the past keeps its grip on the present through haunted rooms & the cultural scars left behind. Jade feels the pressure of this history as she struggles with her identity. She doesn't feel "Vietnamese enough" when she's in Vietnam & doesn't feel "American enough" when she's in the U.S. Not only is she grasping that identity dilemma, but also about her sexuality. It's like being stuck between worlds, much like the spirits in the house.

Body parts serve as interludes, keeping suspense. Food plays a magical role; it's not just about meals but links to her culture. Traditional Vietnamese dishes carry warmth and a strange fear, reflecting the spirit's hunger and the hunger for belonging that Jade herself feels. Ugh... but you smell, at times, the rot and feel the parasites crawl.

This book is perfect if you love ghost stories with deep meaning, creepy, eerie atmospheres, and the idea of belonging to more than one world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Abandonment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Blood, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Suicide, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

alavenderlibrary's review

dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.75

This book is for the first & second generation children, oldest born daughters, daughters with complicated relationships with their fathers, burntout overachievers, and anyone who has ever questioned the validity of their identity. Whether that be race, sexuality, or anything else for that matter. 

Jade is a Vietnamese American girl who just wants to escape the shame that has followed her around since even before her father left. All she has to do is survive five weeks in the French colonial house her Ba is restoring— playing the happy, helpful daughter—and he'll give her the money she needs to cover what her college scholarship won't. 

But the house is alive. And it eats, it thrums, and infects, and Jade is begining to realize that something—someone doesn't want her to leave. And that if she isn't careful, she won't want to leave either.

I really loved this book! It was hard for me to get into at first, since I don't particularly like first person perspective that much, but the story and it's elements drew me in so well. Bugs and rotting food play a huge part in the horror of this story, especially the idea of parasites—which I wasn't expecting but really enjoyed the inclusion.

I also appreciated the focus on colonialism and it's effects, told through the haunting and anthropomorphism of the house, Nhà Hoa. Part of the book is focused on the dead French matriarch, who hated the Vietnamese people and is a ma đói: hungry ghost. But as Jade learns more through the memories of another Vietnamese girl who died there, the house is ultimately the one in control and wants to be full of people forever, no matter how it happens. 

I did find a lot of similarities between Jade and myself, so I connected a lot more with this book and that's why it was such a great read for me. The only reason it doesn't quite get 5 stars for me is because I really did not like that writing style of first person and her inner monologues for majority of the book. But the author's prose and story really made up for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Xenophobia, Blood, Abandonment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Genocide, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide, and Violence

devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Biphobia, Child abuse, Slavery, and Lesbophobia

margaretwaltemath09's review

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

elysianbud's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

btrz7's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death of parent, and Colonisation

lunarexorcist's review

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: Body horror, Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

t0rixoxo's review

couldnt get into it, just wasnt interesting enough for me?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood and Abandonment