Hello all! I am so pleased to be bringing everyone another fantastic, queer horror recommendation; She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran. It’s just in time for Pride Month and everything!
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Why I chose She is a Haunting
One question I’ve been getting recently is in regards to how I choose my books. Since I like to know as little as possible going in, people have been curious as to what compels me to pick up a particular book. That’s something I would like to try and highlight more in my reviews — especially since I steer away from synopses in my promotion.
There are a lot of things that will sell a book to me, though a good portion of my TBR shelf is actually made up of books written by authors I know personally. I’m a big fan of marketing that uses vague genre tags or focuses on the achievements of the author. Sometimes the cover art draws me in.
For this book in particular, it was actually the page count that made my final decision.
Usually the length of a book doesn’t factor into how much I want to read it or not, but I came into this read looking for something longer. Novellas and novelettes have been so big in the indie horror community lately, which I love. I’m a big fan of that length of fiction and the work has been incredible. I was starting to feel a little guilty for mostly recommending short fiction for my guests posts here though, so it was important to me I get a full novel in this time around.
While going through my wishlist I edited out the inappropriate choices, the non-horror choices, and then sorted them by page count to see which was the longest on my list.
That left me with She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran.
Now you know pretty much everything I knew when selecting this title.
Why You Should Read She is a Haunting
As always, I like to do a brief recommendation of the book before I get into any specifics. That way, if you’re like me and want to read blind, you have this opportunity to tap out before I ruin anything or skew your expectations.
This is one of those rare books that I would recommend pretty much to any horror fan. It’s character driven and well balanced, which gives it a wide appeal for many different kinds of readers. While it is a paranormal horror, a lot of the deep fears are grounded in reality. It’s eerie, it’s dark, and it tackles big issues without ever feeling like it’s going overboard.
The representation is also fantastic, as the protagonist is a young, queer, Vietnamese woman who doesn’t feel like she has a place.
What Worked for Me
Of course I’ll be getting into the specifics of what did and didn’t work personally, but I just want to start by saying how impressed I was overall with the sheer amount of things that were worked into the narrative.
It was a quick read and never felt overloaded with information, but there is so much tied together in these pages. There were some elements that stood above the others, of course.
The Prose
The writing style is unique because it shifts with the story. It’s not just that the plot and characters are good, it’s that everything is presented in a fresh way. I pulled a ton of quotes from this book, and I’m not even going to get half of them squeezed into this review because the writing was so exceptional.
There are times when it’s conversational but cynical, like its narrator:
“Zombie ants, exactly the thing I do not need.”
We are also introduced to a deeper, self-aware side of Jade’s voice as the horrors are introduced and the plot begins to escalate.
“The house cradles me so I don’t scream.”
My favorite lines by far were the ones that snuck up on me. There were several times I had to just stop and appreciate how ominous some of the dialogue was:
“A girl’s body is like a jar, Jade. Once you open it, the inside’s spoiled.”
There was so much variety in how the narrative was approached and I was just blown away by how seamless the shift was from one voice into another. This could have felt so off, but it ended up being a perfect choice for a narrator who is still trying to come into her own.
The Setting
“All houses have a little death in them, given time.”
A setting can make or break a haunted house story, and She is a Haunting delivered. Not only did the property have a dark history, but it was integral to the plot. The house was basically a character in its own rite, and inseparable from the people living in its thrall.
“Funny how a house can be more than just four walls: the center of the universe, the one place your father is happy, an obsession.”
The Representation
As your average, white American, it’s obviously not my place to talk on diaspora or begin to tell readers what is and is not good Vietnamese representation. The sorrow over a lack of connection to one’s roots, however, was something that spoke to me and I found very impactful. I also loved the direct way that the book tackles the harm done by colonization.
There was also a quote that really struck me about the LGBTQIA+ experience. I decided not to include it in this review (for spoiler reasons) but it was indicative of something deeper I appreciated about this story, which was the queer experience.
As someone that is part of the “+”, I think representation is so important and I love that we’re getting more queer stories in horror. I don’t always love reading about the nitty gritty of labels though, and the terminology can quickly become disruptive when authors worry too much about having the right kind of rep.
Before you can get into neat categorizations of orientation and identity, you have to sort out your feelings and that’s not always a process that fits neatly under one label.
What I love about Jade is that she’s not perfect rep. She doesn’t say, “hey, I’m a lesbian because I identify this way and am attracted to these kinds of women.” She’s just a girl who has made mistakes, and is making more mistakes, and is trying to overcome the shame of being different in an environment that frowns on those sorts of freedoms. I can’t speak for the whole community, obviously, but I saw so much of my own experience in what Jade was going through — particularly the part where labels never occur to her. It’s her feelings and her relationships that matter most.
The Languages
I talk about this all the time, but I am a lover of languages. I was absolutely expecting there to be some Vietnamese in She is a Haunting, and I wasn’t disappointed. It was all easy to pick up from context, but there was enough to give a deeper feeling of authenticity to the characters
I was also pleasantly surprised that there was French! French is my second language and I love getting to practice it in horror fiction, even if it’s just a couple lines here and there.
What Didn’t Work For Me
If there was one thing that I didn’t love, it was the pacing.
I read this book in two sittings, and honestly I don’t think it took me much longer to get through than a novella would have. I’m not going to say, by any means, that it was slow.
There were a couple false starts with the climax, though. Things would have that sense of escalation like the end was coming, and then they’d slow down and back away from that fever pitch. While I think a book should have ups and downs with the pacing, it definitely tested my suspension of disbelief because there were a couple times when the danger felt overwhelming, only for Jade to be talked back into a passive course of action with the house.
It didn’t deter me from reading the book, it was just the one area that stuck out as weaker in retrospect.
I’m Interested! Take me to She is a Haunting on Amazon!
Conclusion
Hopefully this has come across already, but I adored She is a Haunting. I’m looking forward to reading more from Trang Thanh Tran in the future. This was chilling, deep, and if you are so inclined I highly suggest giving it a shot.
Happy reading!
More of Cat’s Book Reviews!
Cat Voleur is a published writer of dark, speculative fiction and full time horror journalist. In addition to freelancing scripts and articles on the genre, you can find her co-hosting the Slasher Radio podcast. She currently resides in a house with her army of rescue felines. When she isn’t writing, gaming, or consuming horror content, she will undoubtedly be pursuing her passion for fictional languages. You can find Cat’s work on her website, and don’t forget to follow her on Twitter. If you’re interested in learning more about Cat, check out her origin story.
