onceupona_lilc_daydream 's review for:

Memoirs of a Haunted Hmong Girl by Moon Vang

3.0

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As a Hmong person who grew up catholic but still had to learn the ways of Shamanism and it’s ties with our culture, the premise of this book had SO MUCH POTENTIAL. The story itself was good and i wish the writing could back it up. A story of forbidden love between two realms and the hardships of truth telling and honesty and finding their ways back to each other literally had my heart ripping to pieces, but i just couldn’t get over how this book felt like reading a college entrance essay. It needed so much work for this story to be told in a entrancing and magical way. There were just too many holes and gaps missing.

That being said, there were parts that spooked me out because i grew up with scary Hmong stories and folklores and the bits and pieces we got in this book did remind me of those.

There were loving moments that made my heart sad and sing, reminding me of endless fairytales and folklores i grew up with. Now, i did cry a few times but that’s just because I’m sensitive and i really did want to believe in their love story and their hardships to trying to be together. Again if it was executed better, i think more people would feel the same way.

I’m sad this book didn’t have a better author. Even with all the sponsors and editors, this book lacked quite a bit.