Reviews - She Is a Haunting

2.35k reviews for:

She Is a Haunting

Trang Thanh Tran

3.5 AVERAGE

luosymekawa's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ladylady's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

a girl goes back ( eldest daughter of immigrant parents) goes to Vietnam to visit her dad for college money and they stay at the creepy house ( the house was built by colonial French couple). Like most gothic novels, the creepy house is secrets .

Content Warnings

alexis_maturana's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective 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: Complicated

thelesbianlibrary's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional 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

the_unquiet_librarian's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This house isn’t just haunted, it has an appetite for its occupants.

Jade Nguyen leaves her home in Philadelphia with her younger sister to spend the summer with their estranged father. Ba has purchased a 1920’s French Colonial house in Vietnam where Jade’s great grandmother grew up in servitude. Nha Hoa, as the house is called, is to be a bed and breakfast and a home for the Nguyen family. He has also agreed to pay Jade’s college tuition if she stays the summer and creates a website for the B&B with his business partner’s daughter, Florence. Strange nightly occurrences, an abundance of dead insects, and the constant smell of rot plague Jade. Her father is adamant that the house is not haunted and the relationship between father and daughter becomes increasingly strained.

When a ghostly presence warns her, “don’t eat”; she must find a way to protect her family from an unknowable threat and enlists the help of Florence. The longer they stay, the hungrier the house becomes and the seeds of fear bloom into paranoia. The house with its sinister past become a body, representing the parasitic nature of colonialism, creating a dark backdrop for the haunting. Vivid imagery bathed in Vietnamese culture and atmosphere is illuminated through eloquent language. Its verisimilitude is achieved through adolescent prose that capture the insecurities and concerns of a teenager contemplating the cost of college, sexuality, and cultural identity. Despite the narratives’ slow pace, the beguiling setting of this gothic horror is the true star and will leave the reader hungry for more. —Rebekah Palmer

Content Warnings