She Is a Haunting

Product Information

this book was equal parts wonderful and frustrating. i understand why some people wouldn't enjoy the book, whether it's the pacing or the ending not having a concrete resolution—none of it matters because she is a haunting was written specifically for me, specifically for vietnamese-american girls. i've never felt so seen in american media. jade is a flawed character in all of her annoying teenage rebelliousness and curiosity which makes her the perfect protagonist. i felt gutted by jade's identity crisis about being a vietnamese-american girl in vietnam, being in a country rebuilding from multiple wars that white people forced themselves to be a part of yet your home doesn't accept you. it sees you as closer to the colonizers than as their equal and that's incredibly painful. The sound punctuated weekends and holiday meals. I know how to call people to the dinner table, the fixture of my memories with my grandparents now that they’ve both passed away. I was never able to really talk to them. But I knew the taste of my grandmother’s ngoh hiang, of the 爱心汤 she made every Chinese New Year or the Teochew porridge dishes I can’t name, the bags of fruits she used to make us take home or the prawns my grandfather would continue to offer me, years after I became vegetarian. There’s also a tender, tentative, nearly-romance here for Jade with the Vietnam-born, American-educated Florence, left by her parents in the care of her by uncle and his male partner, another victim of divided family. It’s hard not to love Florence and it’s the burgeoning connection between her and Jade—alongside Jade’s imperfect but still loving and protective relationship with her younger sister—that stops the book plunging into irredeemable darkness. Because there is no escaping that this is an incredibly emotionally complicated story and the family dynamics can be pretty damn painful. Especially because part of Jade’s journey as regards her parents, their past, and her own relationship to the history of Vietnam, is learning to live with that pain for better of worse. Some hauntings are, after all, inescapable. Such a sentiment infuses the debut work from Vietnamese-American author Trang Thanh Tran, She is a Haunting, a classic gothic story freshly dressed in the 21st century and the perspective of a young Vietnamese-American teenager caught between the trappings of past wrongdoings and the unknown futures that lay ahead. I went into this book really hoping to love it. It had the potential to be great; to sit alongside works like Mexican Gothic in the Horror Centered Around Race hall of fame. But alas, this fell really short.

I light incense at the small altar in the kitchen’s corner, burning three for Quan Âm’s statue and one for my grandma on Ba’sside. Prayer isn’t required in Mom’s house, and we don’t go tothe temple outside of Tet, but it always feels weird to step by the altar and not pay respects. Ba works rice flour batter into the pan, his presence too real, so I close my eyes. In the story, there’s a strange symmetry between the parasitic nature of the bugs, and the relationships people have to the houses they live in. The author has spoken about being inspired by the idea that houses could tell stories about what they’ve seen. What did you think of the house’s chapters? If you could hear the perspective of one house, which would it be? A riveting debut from a remarkable new voice! Trang Thanh Tran weaves an impressive gothic mystery in which Jade's father is determined to restore a decrepit home to its former glory and Jade is the only person who feels the soul-crushing devastation of colonialism lingering within its walls.” — Angeline Boulley, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Firekeeper's Daughter I nap past noon. Everything aches when I remember where I am. Between jet lag and my devotion to seeing as little of my dad as possible, it takes several minutes for me to admit that my stomach’s close to eating itself. “Shit.” I know what the deal is. I’m his dad. I’m your dad.” The displeasure is clear: Don’t talk to me like that.

About the contributors

Also, at 60% in, we still don’t know why Jade and her ex best friend Halle are ex best friends, even with her new friend/potential love interest, Florence, in the picture. This book had the potential to be a great discussion starter, all while being a thrilling horror. Unfortunately, I think Tran's writing style did not lend itself to this specific genre.

When Jade Nguyen arrives in Vietnam for a visit with her estranged father, she has one goal: survive five weeks pretending to be a happy family in the French colonial house Ba is restoring. She's always lied to fit in, so if she's straight enough, Vietnamese enough, American enough, she can get out with the college money he promised. The two business partners are oblivious to our awkwardness as they talk about upcoming repairs before the house’s grand opening. While Lily fidgets at our dad’s side, Florence steps close to me at the top of the steps, her brown eyes clever and wrinkling as though we share a secret. She slides down the railing. Part of me is pulled along, wanting to learn how her perfect mouth moves between our languages. The set up for this book was incredibly promising. The narrative was clearly playing with themes of colonization, race, and Jade’s personal dilemma of whether or not she should come out to her family. Jade was also very relatable right off the bat, with her struggles with the feelings of disconnect from her culture. There was so much in her to love. In this gorgeously written, deeply haunting ghost story, debut author Trang Thanh Tran explores complex family dynamics and exhilarating romance as a teen girl tries to save her family and herself from a deadly haunted house.There’s a tradition in Gothic literature about dramatic climaxes in which the house (or other central setting) is destroyed, often by fire. Did you see the ending coming in this book? Why do you think the author wrote the final act to play it out this way? 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? A riveting debut from a remarkable new voice! Trang Thanh Tran weaves an impressive gothic mystery in which Jade’s father is determined to restore a decrepit home to its former glory and Jade is the only person who feels the soul-crushing devastation of colonialism lingering within its walls.” — Angeline Boulley, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Firekeeper’s Daughter A riveting debut from a remarkable new voice! Trang Thanh Tran weaves an impressive gothic mystery in which Jade's father is determined to restore a decrepit home to its former glory and Jade is the only person who feels the soul-crushing devastation of colonialism lingering within its walls." --Angeline Boulley, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Firekeeper's Daughter Below it, a girl sits on the stair’s railing, balancing, precarious, her hair as shiny as oil over cast iron.

Dad.” There’re too many sounds in my mouth. This untrained tongue. Idon’t know how to say hello or I miss you in Vietnamese. We’d never said either much, and I don’t miss him. Ihate him. Jade is haunted both by actual ghosts and the specters of colonialism, which take the form of not-so-subtly racist American expats and the crumbling French villas that dot the countryside around Nha Hoa. She is plagued by visions of ruined insects and decay, and she dreams of memories that are not her own, all while attempting to keep a lid on the resentment she feels toward Ba—and herself.

Reviews

She Is a Haunting is exactly the kind of book I love—gorgeous prose, a deliciously terrifying atmosphere, incisive thematic resonance, and a gloriously complex heroine. Jade is an unforgettable character, all tender longings and sharp edges, and readers everywhere will root for her just as hard as I did. Put it on your shelf next to Rebecca and The Haunting of Hill House . An incredible, riveting debut.” — Claire Legrand, New York Times bestselling author of Furyborn and Sawkill Girls It’s quiet, then quieter as the other cars and motorbikes fade away. Lily’s voice is as familiar as a heartbeat, filling the space between us. The air cools against my face, smelling sharply of pine and flowers rather than Saigon’s smoke-tinged lungs. Green and gray, soft hints of yellow, and a pink sunrise unfurl to myright. Overall, I do think this is a compelling, though slow paced, haunted house story. I did enjoy my time with it, even though it tended to drag in certain places. I appreciate the author's attention to detail, creativity and spooky imagery. Did you know anything about the French colonization of Vietnam prior to reading this book? What surprised you most about Jade’s family history?

This YA book builds a sophisticated narrative with an interesting form. It's a story about imperialism and violence against an entire people, as much as it is about skittering insects and spoiled food on the dinner plate. Though, I'm not sure I caught all the symbolism. She Is a Haunting is a YA-story following a girl named, Jade Nguyen, and her experiences at her father's historic, and of course, haunted, house in Vietnam. Tran is also unafraid to explore issues of identity in She is a Haunting. It’s no spoiler to say that colonialism, specifically the colonialism that Vietnam has historically faced, first by the French and then by the United States, is a key theme running throughout the story, brought to life by Jade’s struggle to reconcile her sense of self and her burgeoning romance with Florence, a too-cool boarding school girl. It brings a welcome sense of history to the story; the evil in the house is not an ancient, primordial evil, it is a product of human malevolence from centuries past, allowed to steep and strengthen its hold on those who dare to enter its abode.

She Is a Haunting

The French left them, after the Americans ran,” Ba says. I roll my eyes. Communism: bad for real estate. The thing is, Jade is really angry at her Dad, like really, really angry. After he walked out on them, they never dealt with that trauma. They don't even talk about. It's sort of pushed under the rug, the reality of it all. But the house has other plans. Night after night, Jade wakes up paralyzed. The walls exude a thrumming sound while bugs leave their legs and feelers in places they don't belong. She finds curious traces of her ancestors in the gardens they once tended. And at night Jade can't ignore the ghost of the beautiful bride who leaves cryptic warnings: Don't eat. I did enjoy and appreciate a lot of the topics examined here, including the different relationships Jade had with her family members, the impact and repercussions of colonialism, Jade's family history and sexuality. A riveting debut from a remarkable new voice! Trang Thanh Tran weaves an impressive gothic mystery in which Jade's father is determined to restore a decrepit home to its former glory and Jade is the only person who feels the soul-crushing devastation of colonialism lingering within its walls." -Angeline Boulley, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Firekeeper's Daughter