This week we play the "fun" game of am I being haunted or am I losing my mind? Hopefully it's a game none of us find our selves playing in real life, but damn, is it fun to read about!
THE HAUNTING OF ALEJANDRA by V. Castro.
1. It should surprise no one that I was excited to read this one: woman-centric horror written by a woman of color. Even better, it’s heavily steeped in Mexican lore. I’m always gonna be a sucker for horror that I feel I can relate to (women-centric) and/or that I can learn from (Mexican lore). I’ve not read everything Castro has written, but I’ve enjoyed everything I have read and this one is no different.
2. While excited to sink my teeth into more of Castro’s work, I was admittedly worried I’d be annoyed by the main character. I struggle with people feeling bad for themselves without changing anything about their situation. That is 100% the vibe I got from reading the blurb; however, I didn’t find her to be annoying at all. I found her situation to be sad and surprisingly relatable, even though I’m not a mother myself.
3. That was a surprising element for me: how motherhood plays a huge part of this story, yet I, a woman who has absolutely zero desire to be a mother, one who doesn’t have the best relationship with her own mother, connected to this story on a level I didn’t think I could. But that’s Castro for you. She has a way of making her characters and plots feel familiar. A way of bringing you into the fold of a situation you’re unfamiliar with and making it feel like a place you’ve been before.
4. As a woman, the child of a first generation American, and a person who came from a broken home I related HARD to a few of the themes that span this story:
- Generational trauma
- Questioning one’s identity
- Depression and feeling unfulfilled
I think that’s why I enjoyed this story so much; I could see myself in aspects of the MC which allowed me to sympathize and empathize even when her situation was so different than my reality. It was walking a mile in someone else’s shoes. That mile just happened to be a terrifying navigation between haunting and mental illness.
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