Book Summary and Reviews of She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

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Melissa Grace

Great horror scenes, commentary on colonialism, but ordinary characters and lacks descriptive settings
For fans of Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-García, she is a Haunting is a tale of a house with a long history of colonialism, and the girl who is determined to right the wrongs of the past. In order to earn her college tuition, Jade has reluctantly agreed to travel to Vietnam with her sister to help her dad, who abandoned her family not too long ago, restore an old family home so that they might begin to rent it out to wealthy vacationers. However, Jade experiences many restless nights, suffering from a sudden onset of sleep paralysis, where she begins to see former inhabitants of the home interfering with their day-to-day life. She's not sure which ghosts are benevolent, and which ones are seeking vengeance on her and her family.

This book works on many levels but failed to live up to my expectations. I've been reading more horror recently, and "She is a Haunting" delivers on graphic, visceral depictions of creepy ghosts as well as body horror involving insects and bugs of all manners. The worm and maggot stuff really got me writhing with discomfort (in a way that I was hoping for). The connection to the French colonization of Vietnam as well as Jade's struggle to "go public" with her bisexuality added a layer of depth I appreciated. Who really owns this house: the ones who paid for the house and whose name it has been in for years or the ones who have tirelessly toiled to maintain the grounds for little pay and harsh work conditions?

Unfortunately, I did not love the often-two-dimensional characters. I found it unbelievable that two teenagers were responsible for putting together the entire website with little to no supervision for those in charge of the house and future business. It seems like the only plant growing on this estate was hydrangeas. For a book about a haunted house, "She is a Haunting" failed to create descriptions of the house that might help me feel transported. I had an unclear idea as to what this house actually looked like. I also think there could have been more ghosts, like perhaps a gardener tending to the hydrangeas and Vietnamese cook forces to cook the food of her oppressors.

Overall, there were a lot of elements on which I believe this book delivers, but lacked vital components that one might expect and even look forward to in a horror book. Perhaps this could do well on the screen?