She Is A Haunting
by Trang Thanh Tran
Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted February 23, 2025
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I will start by saying this debut novel might have been more effective if it had been either third-person narrative, or first-person past tense, rather than the present tense it is most of the time. In many ways it is a typical haunted house story, but there are other elements that make it more complex. It is also a YA coming-of-age tale, plus one of the immigrant experience, along with colonialism. The narrator is Jade Nguyen, who like the author is first-generation Vietnamese-American. Her parents had fled their home country decades before, but her father left them, returning to Vietnam about four years prior to the main action. Jade is seventeen, and it is the summer following her high school graduation. Her grades were good enough for a partial scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania, but student loans would also be needed, unless she can get her father to provide otherwise. Her mother works in a nail salon, hardly the type of job that would allow her to contribute. Her father offers help, but only if she will help him. He has invested in an old French Colonial house, renovating it to be an inn or B&B. It is also personal for him, since some of his ancestors had worked as servants there.
He had worked in construction in the US so he is capable of overseeing the renovation, but says he needs Jade's help, perhaps mainly for designing a website, even though his partner's niece had already been working on that. Six weeks in the stifling heat and humidity of Vietnam might be bearable if it helps pay for her education. Jade is also reeling from a breakup with her best friend, maybe girlfriend. Jade is bi, perhaps leaning more toward girls, but for reasons she can't explain, had kissed the boy Halle had a crush on. Now she and her sister Lily are in Da Lat, in the Lam Dong province of Central Vietnam. Cuong Nguyen has named the house Nhà Hoa, which he thinks means Jade Lily, to honor his daughters, although Google translate says Flower House. There are quite a few names and places that use diacritical marks I can't reproduce here, including Mr. Nguyen's first name, and the name of the town and province. However, with or without those marks, Google says Cuong is Viet for strong. He may have been strong at one time, but not for most of this story. Another trauma Jade has to deal with is the fear she was the one who drove her father away from the family. Her mother and brother are staying in Saigon with some of her relatives, and Jade does not want them to come to Da Lat, since she is sure any attempt at reconciliation would be disastrous.
When the hauntings begin it might be easy for some readers to assume they are just Jade's dreams or hallucinations. A young Vietnamese woman, almost nude, in the kitchen, standing in front of the open refrigerator, implores Jade not to eat anything in the house. Jade had already seen evidence of ants, silverfish, mold, and fungus throughout the house and around the grounds. She even thinks some insect had gotten into her mouth while she slept. No matter how many times she clears off the windowsills in her room, the next time she looks there are dead insects there. Is the mold the cause of that, and if so is it also affecting her mental faculties? Then she sees a second ghost, this time a French woman, probably of the family that owned the house. Jade's father had already told her that his great-grandmother had been a servant there, which she confirms when she finds old photographs, which also confirms the young Vietnamese ghost was the French woman's sister-in-law. It is not until Florence, the young local whose uncle is a partner with Jade's father, also sees the young ghost, do we know for sure it is a true haunting, not just in Jade's imagination. The young ghost's name is Cam (Camilla, obviously not her true Viet name). She had bought safety for her family by marrying into the French family, but then was never allowed to see her family again. Jade believes that Cam is trying to help, to warn her and protect her from sister-in-law, Marion. But what if Cam has an ulterior motive of her own? Is it just the two women who are haunting the house, or is the house itself a malevolent entity?
I liked the book, although I'm not sure I liked Jade. Not that she is a bad person, just self-centered, blunt and forthright in her speech and actions. If not for that, she may have been able to notice her father and sister had also been affected by the house, but when she realizes it she is not sure if it is Cam or Marion to blame. Her anxiety about her sexual orientation also causes problems, being wary of coming out to her parents or sister, which leads to alienation from potential allies, like Halle, and also Florence. I wasn't pleased with the climax either, a bit too cliché. Up to that point it kept me guessing, kept me hoping Jade would make things right. The aftermath was wrapped up too quickly, with Jade's emotional catharsis glossed over. The conflicts between parent and child, between Vietnamese and American culture, along with those hesitant steps all of us have to go through on the threshhold of adulthood, make it an emotional rollercoaster of a story. So, a partial recommendation, with different things that will appeal to different readers.
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