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A review by justinkhchen
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith
4.0
A sprawling tale of epic proportion, I went into Build Your House Around My Body expecting it to be straightforward supernatural tale set in Vietnam, but in fact it is beyond any sort of conventional classification; while horror is definitely one genre it covers, it is also part historical fiction, magical realism, character study, and literary fiction. I was at first overwhelmed by its unexpected complexity, and at one point, questioning whether I should ditch the effort. But at the end of its 400 pages, I had to admit it was truly a heartfelt, haunting, and at times, grotesque experience.
Spanning more than fifty years, trauma is a pivotal theme explored in Build Your House Around My Body, an emotion not only felt by the characters, but also the country, as it went through various political turmoils. From that physical / metaphorical wound came rage and hurt, and the story dives deep into how this intangible force takes possession of people and places, making them haunted and cursed.
Told in a nonsensical, nonlinear fashion (8 days before, 14 years before, 16 days before, 3 hours before... etc.), I question if the narrative fragmentation of such extreme is necessary to an already complicating plot (spanning across at least 3 generations of characters), because I have lost track of characters along the way, and when it came to the closure tying everything together, it was more confusion than satisfaction as I couldn't recall who's who.
Build Your House Around My Body gets a cautious recommendation, because what it has accomplished is quite astounding; the Eastern attitude towards the supernatural, the history lesson, the bleak atmosphere and ghoulish imagery, and the sympathetic, but broken characters who are being led towards the path of doom. But it is also a novel that can be easily misunderstood and disregarded as boring and 'too much work' — I certainly wasn't prepared for what I was about to embark. Worth a try if you're in the mood for something substantial and unusual.
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**
Spanning more than fifty years, trauma is a pivotal theme explored in Build Your House Around My Body, an emotion not only felt by the characters, but also the country, as it went through various political turmoils. From that physical / metaphorical wound came rage and hurt, and the story dives deep into how this intangible force takes possession of people and places, making them haunted and cursed.
Told in a nonsensical, nonlinear fashion (8 days before, 14 years before, 16 days before, 3 hours before... etc.), I question if the narrative fragmentation of such extreme is necessary to an already complicating plot (spanning across at least 3 generations of characters), because I have lost track of characters along the way, and when it came to the closure tying everything together, it was more confusion than satisfaction as I couldn't recall who's who.
Build Your House Around My Body gets a cautious recommendation, because what it has accomplished is quite astounding; the Eastern attitude towards the supernatural, the history lesson, the bleak atmosphere and ghoulish imagery, and the sympathetic, but broken characters who are being led towards the path of doom. But it is also a novel that can be easily misunderstood and disregarded as boring and 'too much work' — I certainly wasn't prepared for what I was about to embark. Worth a try if you're in the mood for something substantial and unusual.
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**