She Is a Haunting is one of the best books I've ever read. It's a haunted house story with the deep knowledge that haunted houses aren't always simply haunted houses for us. Haunted house stories rely so heavily on a some sort of past that continues to haunt the house, but our world so often has this idea that history only began once the ruling class arrived. Trang Thanh Tran reminds us that the history of colonialism is recent and that our houses would be haunted by complex and hateful relationships, not simply a ghost for ghosts sake.

This story is hauntingly beautiful and grotesquely powerful. Its a reminder that sometimes to unravel our own histories, and even that of our parents, we have to go much further back than simply who they are today. We all live long lives that are shaped by those that came before us. Our desires, our dreams, our hopes are all haunted by the past of our families and sometimes that means the house wants to eat them all up.

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pre-reading:
im about to start this and ive been following trang and this book for SO LONG and i cant believe its real and in my hands.

more! viet! rep! im giving it 5 stars already because its mere existence is so so important to me. thank you, trang, for helping make my dreams come true by writing