“She Is A Haunting” by Trang Thahn Tran, is about a teen, Jade Nguyen, visiting Vietnam to live with her estranged father for the summer, with the mutual understanding that her father would pay for her tuition to university. However, the summer becomes increasingly unbearable as time passes with bugs crawling through the house, suffocating but beautiful gardens, and ghosts from the French Colonial house’s horrible past. Plus a scooby-doo-esque scheme to drive her family out of the haunted home and to safety. 

“She Is A Haunting” Is a wonderful atmospheric horror, featuring a Bisexual main character, a broken family, and a mystery to be solved or ultimately consumed by. The full, hardback cover has 337 pages, with an estimated word count of 96,300. The genre of the book is YA Gothic, Mystery/Horror, and LGBTQIA+, all apt categories. 

However, before we continue with the review, there are things that could be triggering, so please be aware of: 

Colonization and the effects thereof, desecration of graves, body horror, rotten food, references to Asian stereotypes, racism, sleep paralysis, gaslighting, and fire. If any of these topics are triggering then I would advise proceeding with caution, and remember that this is fiction and you can always put the book down.

Our point of view character is Jade Nguyen, starring alongside her sister Lily, her father known in the book as Ba, and delinquent and fellow paranormal investigator, Florence. Jade was a fascinating character to say the least, in short; she is not a good person. She lies as easily as she breathes, and she’s not above manipulation to get what she wants. Her character is balanced out by her love of her family, and sincere regret when it comes to one of her past mistakes that cost her her only friend. Jade is a wonderfully human character, full of flaws and virtues that make her headspace an interesting and compelling place to be in. The mystery of the missing bugs Jade was collecting was a horrifying reveal, one I almost wish I could experience again due to how shocked I was. I especially loved the descriptors and ambience of the house, Nhá Hoa. All consuming, unearthed bride, the walls closing in, it’s all wonderful and creepy, smelling of hydrangeas and rot. Every so often, there are pages from the house’s point of view, each line and description is a hint that will come back to bite later. The mystery and horror were well done, with it building into a fantastic climax.

However, I have noticed some aspects of the book that I didn’t particularly like on first read. To reference back to the estimated word count, the book is a little slow paced, each facet building on top of eachother. While reading it for the first time I felt a little lost as to where it was building to, until that plot point was uncovered. Some parts are mentioned in the beginning of the book, not mentioned in the middle, and revealed to have had a horrific result in the ending. The ending, the denouement specifically felt too short, and the time jump a little too vague.I couldn’t tell if it was a few days or a few weeks later. 

I will reiterate the trigger warnings, if any of the previously mentioned triggers are too much for you to handle then please refrain from reading this book. All of those warnings are present and a huge part of the book’s themes and storytelling. 

I loved “She Is A Haunting,” from the loving and horrifying descriptions, the plot, and the characters. It was a fantastic read. I would recommend this book to body horror lovers, or those who want to read body horror but want to start off light before jumping into the more horrific horror books out there. Its descriptions are haunting and evocative, and in many ways painfully alive. I would also recommend this book to diaspora groups living in the United States, born and raised Vietnamese Americans but who still feel like outsiders in both America and Vietnam. Jade is a second generation American living in Pennsylvania, who experiences all the confusing feelings that come with navigating two cultures and identities. This is the inaugural read of SPSCC’s Book Club but it is not the last! The next book we will be reading is, “Fire Keeper’s Daughter” by Angeline Boulley. A story that follows an 18 year old who never fit in with her French or Ojibwe heritages. After a horrifying tragedy strikes she has to put her dreams of college on hold, and start investigating undercover with the FBI…If this interests you, then don’t wait! 

Book pickups begin Wednesday, November 1st and the Book Club meeting discussing the book is on November 29th at 3 PM in Building 22, in The Library. An important note to make is that once you pick up the book, the book is yours. You can annotate, alter, anything you desire – the book is yours now.