Reviews

The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro

anaodaniel's review against another edition

1.5

The short version:

This book reads more like love and light Instagram post. 

I found the writing repetitive, and heavy handed with way too much telling and very little showing. This meant that I felt disconnected from the characters because we’re constantly being told everything they’re feeling and thinking instead of being asked to imagine it ourselves. The characters’ thoughts and actions are so over-explained that it left me feeling bored and unengaged. The whole novel reads like an info dump. 

I found myself literally rolling my eyes at the trite, over-simplified, pseudo-empowerment nonsense in every sentence. 

The long version:

I found the opening few chapters very misleading. They gave me the impression that the book was going to be tense and eerie. It’s not, and it doesn’t take long for that original atmosphere to be completely leached away by the overly repetitive writing. 

I normally really love books that explore intergenerational trauma through horror, but this book doesn’t ever commit to being a horror novel. Instead, it goes for easily digestible and cheap sentiments about healing that are repeated so often that the book feels more like bad self-help than anything else. It doesn’t want to engage deeply with trauma, or emotion, or for that matter with the complexity of the characters, all of whom felt more like talking props than people. 

On a more serious note, I found this book’s overly simplistic view on healing and intergenerational trauma to be genuinely infuriating. It goes for cheap, saccharine moments that don’t mean anything, and it cheapens the very real work and pain that goes into healing intergenerational wounds. Every scene is naive, sanitized wish fulfillment. This (and all of the pseudo-therapy speak) does real damage and is disrespectful to the actual work that trauma survivors do. The author wants to brush past anything real or messy in favour of trite, easy solutions that are boring and disingenuous, a problem which is only amplified by the treatment of  the La Llorona character/creature. The overarching tendency to brush past hard things in favour of simple, obvious statements also lends to the feeling that these characters aren’t whole people, they’re just props to push a watered down version of what healing means. 

 I think this book would go into anaphylactic shock if it encountered complexity. 

rjsthumbelina's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

kemb22's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

bhofmeier's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

etakloknok's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jessileemiller's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

cheeraven21's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

sunshine_honey19's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

spunglass's review against another edition

4.0

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the digital ARC of "The Haunting of Alejandra" by V. Castro.

I began reading, and couldn't stop.
The heartbreak was so tangible, and the pain of these connected women echoed through time.
The shared heartbreak and trauma throughout the generations were what hurt the most.
It might just be my opinion on how I read this... but in every segment, it felt like almost every woman lost part of themselves (who they were/what made them strong), or had to give up something precious - due to a man... and ultimately childbirth became a strength and a weakness for them.

The real horror for me wasn't the supernatural aspect... but how real the trauma, and losses were.

The only real downside to this book though was how quickly things wrapped up at the end, and there were a few parts that felt a bit disjointed from the pace the story started taking.

Overall though, I am thrilled to be able to recommend this book to anyone that will listen!

4/5

rene_'s review against another edition

4.0

[4.5] ahhh this book was extremely ugly. It follows Alejandra and the maternal generational curse that haunts the first born mothers of the entire line. The creature creeps into the mothers’ minds (and times, their first born daughters), manifesting as a physical being only seen by them, filling them with depression and pain from their situations, ending with the creature feeding on the mothers’ fears and at the end of their lives, their physical bodies. My thoughts throughout the entire book was just if the women were able to leave their goddamn husbands and without society taunting them for it, the curse could’ve gone away so much sooner. With La Llorona, though im sure is a real myth passed amongst Mexican history, I kind of imagined it as depression and anxiety of not being enough for your families. We were also able to see some of the stigmas women loved through from like the 1800s to the 2000s and I think that’s a neat part of this book :) .5 off because I didn’t cry reading the book