Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

112 reviews

pineneedles's review

slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Colonisation

willowmae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

Well written, a good horror, don’t read if you are scared of bugs.
Set in Vietnam 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Physical abuse, Racism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

zombiezami's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense

4.5

This author is a genius. She is elevating YA

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Moderate: Biphobia, Child abuse, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

Minor: Toxic friendship

wellreadandhalfdead's review

dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism and Car accident

aformeracceleratedreader's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Racism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Xenophobia, Grief, and Gaslighting

starsincline's review

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Racism, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Alcoholism

blonohorror's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Racism, and Colonisation

pey333's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Racism, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Violence and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Biphobia, Sexual content, Suicide, and Murder

alphabetseeds's review

dark mysterious 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

4.0

This book has a slow start mostly defined by Jade's resistance to settle into the haunted colonial villa and try to patch a broken relationship with her father while also trying to deny her desire for friendship - and more - from the beautiful Florence - that escalates into the creepy and bizarre slowly and steadily to a frenzied and blurry, sort of confusing ending.

Jade's a great character who feels out of place everywhere - she's not Vietnamese enough, not American enough, not gay or straight enough - and is at odds with her desire for a fresh start at college and a drive to protect her little sister and mother from the truth of their father's abrupt departure in the past. Her anger attracts the ghosts of the house to her in different ways, but nothing is really as it seems.

I enjoyed how real everything felt while also casting doubt as to the cause or problems of supernatural happenings. Jade sabotages herself at every turn and has trouble trusting the right people.

Overall, this was a great read -atmospheric, tense, with good use of horror movie tropes intertwined with the terrible realities of colonialism and tragic Vietnamese ghost stories.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror and Death