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A review by richincolor
They Thought They Buried Us by NoNieqa Ramos
ARC via publisher
No lie, this book is a tough read for any POC as it really leans into the horror of being a POC in a largely white space. I knew going in that thrillers and horrors are often not easy reads (at least for me) but this novel…really puts their reader through it. While it was tough, I was deeply engaged in the story and it is a page-turner of a novel, until the end. The story just builds and builds, but fizzles at the end as it is unresolved, and I think that is why I have mixed feelings toward this novel.
The strength of the novel is clearly Yuiza who is a fantastic main character, and because she is a horror maven, clearly recognizes right away how odd things are at Our Lady of Perpetual Mercy. Right away she decides that she wants to uncover the mysteries of why so many of the work-study students seem to be only POC and that many of them seem practically out of it. So much she calls them zombies and it makes a lot of sense. She notices that many of the BIPOC students never seem to be in class and when the system starts turning on her, she decides to fight. And this is where I truly felt Yuiza’s horror because she realizes that despite doing everything she can to succeed, the system is set up for her to fail and become one of the “zombies”. With her roommate, however, and her creative mind, they work together to try to outwit the system as best as they can.
At the same time, Yuiza is having dreams about the early days of the school and learns of her connection to those events. To me, this mystery was so powerful because I figured out what was going on before Yuiza did and it just added another level to all the horror of the novel. The way the past mystery links with the current mystery is so well done and just really adds to how generational trauma is passed on.
Like I said in my opening, this novel was expertly well written, as there were moments that it was told as if it were a script, yet the dream sequences even has a “shiny” film to them (if that makes sense.) The strength of the characters, the horror of Our Lady of Perpetual Mercy, and the very stylistic writing made for an excellent read. It just saddened me that the end of the novel just didn’t land.
No lie, this book is a tough read for any POC as it really leans into the horror of being a POC in a largely white space. I knew going in that thrillers and horrors are often not easy reads (at least for me) but this novel…really puts their reader through it. While it was tough, I was deeply engaged in the story and it is a page-turner of a novel, until the end. The story just builds and builds, but fizzles at the end as it is unresolved, and I think that is why I have mixed feelings toward this novel.
The strength of the novel is clearly Yuiza who is a fantastic main character, and because she is a horror maven, clearly recognizes right away how odd things are at Our Lady of Perpetual Mercy. Right away she decides that she wants to uncover the mysteries of why so many of the work-study students seem to be only POC and that many of them seem practically out of it. So much she calls them zombies and it makes a lot of sense. She notices that many of the BIPOC students never seem to be in class and when the system starts turning on her, she decides to fight. And this is where I truly felt Yuiza’s horror because she realizes that despite doing everything she can to succeed, the system is set up for her to fail and become one of the “zombies”. With her roommate, however, and her creative mind, they work together to try to outwit the system as best as they can.
At the same time, Yuiza is having dreams about the early days of the school and learns of her connection to those events. To me, this mystery was so powerful because I figured out what was going on before Yuiza did and it just added another level to all the horror of the novel. The way the past mystery links with the current mystery is so well done and just really adds to how generational trauma is passed on.
Like I said in my opening, this novel was expertly well written, as there were moments that it was told as if it were a script, yet the dream sequences even has a “shiny” film to them (if that makes sense.) The strength of the characters, the horror of Our Lady of Perpetual Mercy, and the very stylistic writing made for an excellent read. It just saddened me that the end of the novel just didn’t land.