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A review by novellearts
She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran
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
She Is a Haunting is a bit different from what I expected, but I didn’t mind the deviation.
With a setting in Vietnam, this was already a book offering me something new compared to most other stories that I’ve read. Jade arrives to join her family in the restoration of a colonial home. Shortly after arriving, Jade starts to experience sleep paralysis. Oh, and don’t forget the cryptic message: “don’t eat.”
In all honesty, I think I enjoyed the social struggles of this book more than horror. I think it was much stronger in the former and a bit weaker in the latter. We get to see the internal struggles between sexual orientation of Jade and also the external struggles of how her unaccepting father handles it. We also get to see Jade and her sister, Lily, struggling between their two cultures: Vietnamese and American.
I really, really enjoyed the representation in this book and the showcase of emotional turmoil. On the other hand, while I enjoyed the atmosphere and the writing, this felt a little bit slow to me on the horror end. I wasn’t as gripped by this part of the story as I was about the character’s conflicts. I don’t normally read YA too often anymore, but I really enjoyed this one.
Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5208162594
Fable Review: https://fable.co/review/f773b592-23fe-4322-87e8-66e61dbc4b86/share
With a setting in Vietnam, this was already a book offering me something new compared to most other stories that I’ve read. Jade arrives to join her family in the restoration of a colonial home. Shortly after arriving, Jade starts to experience sleep paralysis. Oh, and don’t forget the cryptic message: “don’t eat.”
In all honesty, I think I enjoyed the social struggles of this book more than horror. I think it was much stronger in the former and a bit weaker in the latter. We get to see the internal struggles between sexual orientation of Jade and also the external struggles of how her unaccepting father handles it. We also get to see Jade and her sister, Lily, struggling between their two cultures: Vietnamese and American.
I really, really enjoyed the representation in this book and the showcase of emotional turmoil. On the other hand, while I enjoyed the atmosphere and the writing, this felt a little bit slow to me on the horror end. I wasn’t as gripped by this part of the story as I was about the character’s conflicts. I don’t normally read YA too often anymore, but I really enjoyed this one.
Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5208162594
Fable Review: https://fable.co/review/f773b592-23fe-4322-87e8-66e61dbc4b86/share
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism