TLDR; no one wants to read about hydrangeas on every page!
Queer horror with Vietnamese characters set in a countryside town in Vietnam? Yes please. OkTLDR; no one wants to read about hydrangeas on every page!
Queer horror with Vietnamese characters set in a countryside town in Vietnam? Yes please. Okay, first look at the cover of this book. Then think of how it was marketed as a cross between Rebecca (one of my favorite gothics ever) and a haunted house book. Sounds great so far, right? Maybe my hype for this book was too much because it was a slog to get through and I should have stopped reading instead of forcing myself to finish.
All the elements of the book were things that I liked reading about: strained familial ties, growing up Asian American, returning to the motherland, close female friendships, creepy houses. But it was all mish-mashed in with a predictable but boring plot, and some uneven writing. There were beautiful passages full of vivid imagery, but I had no idea what was actually going on. Like all style and not much substance. Also, I think very other page contained the word hydrangea. I ended up skipping all the chapters from the POV of the house or ghost or whatever because I didn't understand what it added to the story.
It's weird, there were both too many things going on in terms of what this book wanted to cover, but also, not enough happening so that the pacing made the book feel like a slog....more
This was an okay mystery. Sort of in the same vein as Agatha Christie. It's more of a mystery-lover's mystery because it's about of group of college kThis was an okay mystery. Sort of in the same vein as Agatha Christie. It's more of a mystery-lover's mystery because it's about of group of college kids who are in a mystery fiction club. The twist sort of fell short and it seemed very hand-holdy. In the end, nothing really was a surprise and most of the characters were not very well fleshed out....more
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