Rachel Schommer Reviews: 8.12.24
- Rachel Schommer
- Aug 12, 2024
- 2 min read
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.
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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.