Reviews with content warning for Murder - She Is a Haunting

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

32 reviews

ember_is_gay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

i did enjoy this, however around the 3/4 point i started getting lost with what was happening and it just got confusing. jade and florence were very cute and the ending did make me happy

very shortly after i read 'a house with good bones' which is such a similar book but i think done a little bit better which then made me reflect more on 'she is a haunting'. i originally gave this 4 stars but moved it down to 3.5. i really wanted to like this, but i think the commitment to making it horror (even YA) wasn't there, the love storyline seemed more important. the moments where the horror came in and was well written did captivate me, but the ended to soon and suddenly i was reading a different book. i genuinely think that either focusing on the horror theme more and leaving the love storyline would have been better. it felt like once jade and florence were together suddenly there was a half-horror storyline that needed wrapping up but with no way to do it, hence my confusion mentioned. if that love storyline had been left out and the focus was on horror it would have been a lot better. or even if it was just a YA romance/contemporary it would have been better. the two just didn't fit well here.

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itzbrianna's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

She is A Haunting is a bug horror novel set in modern day vietnam. The protagonist, Jade Nguyen, and her sister visits their father at their family’s ancestral home and the house is haunted.

This book contains a very detailed father daughter conflict dynamic that resonated with me. And throughout this book we learn of Jade’s family history and the colonial impact on their family by the french.

Throughout the novel there are poetic snippets revealing parts of the house and the haunting. And there are incredible scenes and descriptions detailing the different ways imperialism has impacted vietnam. The use of bugs and infestation in this book is pure genius.

Jade is a complicated character and her relationship with her father is no different. We get to learn a lot about Jade through interactions with her family, with the house, and other characters in the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and though it dragged on for a little too long I still think it’s worth a read if you love haunted horror. Thanh is very descriptive and has beautiful imagery throughout this book. Not to mention the cover is GORGEOUS. I highly recommend!

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moh_reads's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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chroniti's review

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dark hopeful 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

4.25

Eerie and creepy along with the struggles of a broken family and the scars of colonization. Finally, a Vietnamese-American horror with a bisexual main character for me, a bisexual Vietnamese-American woman to read.
The romantic subplot did not overtake the horror in this book and was able to fit neatly with the main character's story.
The characters are flawed and very human.
The middle portion is slower-paced since there's more focus on the characters rather than the horrors, which I felt was important to put time aside to flesh out the characters and their dynamics.
This felt like watching a great horror miniseries in book form.
I-uh-I would not recommend reading this while you're eating...
Some of the things described in this book can be stomach-churning.
Great horror read!

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uncreativeoops's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

The vibes were immaculate, which is pretty important for a gothic horror novel, and the author managed to create an eerie and tense atmosphere while also describing everything so aesthetically. The descriptions felt very... indirect? I sometimes had to reread parts because I wasn't sure what was actually happening but that is by no means a criticism; I adored the language. Plotwise however, I struggled a bit. Haunted houses only work if the characters have a good reason to be in them and not leave once, you know, they realize they might die. In this case, there were reasons for the main character not just going home, but they weren't strong enough for me. I got her motivations and I liked how her struggles with her family and her identity played out, but her behavior in the house was just ridiculous. And some of it seemed like it only happened to set up conflict between characters, the main thing that didn't work for me. Nearly every thing that characters got angry about was so obviously only there to create a shocking reveal and lead to an argument and some of the "dark secrets" I just straight up didn't consider as bad things. The romance also suffered from this.
My favorite thing however were the shorter horror chapters and how horror as a genre was used to discuss colonialism, racism, and sexism. Gothic horror has always been used to portray societal issues with supernatural metaphores and this was done so well here. I also have never read YA horror before and was pleasantly surprised how well these two can be mixed.

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sknappy1's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.75

SO much going on all at once, and not balanced very well. I think I would have liked the different narrative elements individually or if they had been melded more effectively (because a haunted house that is so both literally and as a deeper allegory for the lingering legacy of colonialism -- if that is the intention -- is conceptually great), but it just feels like it's trying to be several different things mashed haphazardly into one. Super overwritten as well, and yet at the same time basically everything that should be shown is told and vice versa.

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bookcaptivated's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

4.0

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leweylibrary's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

I wanted to like this one more than I did unfortunately. I did like the spooky, LGBTQIA+ vibes and the fuck colonialism sentiments, but I just found myself having a hard time getting into the book and staying in it. I also wasn't crazy about most of the characters. Overall it fell a bit flat for me, but I do appreciate it and think there are others who will love it more.

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heatherinthenether's review against another edition

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challenging 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? It's complicated

4.0

This is a delightfully unsettling thriller that explores family and love, societal expectations, culture and history, colonization and generational trauma. It's a powerful and truly haunting story that stays with you long after you finish the book. For anyone with a bug phobia, this is not the book for you.

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