The plot follows Alejandra. A stay-at-home mother of three, she battles with depression and her own expectations of what motherhood is supposed to be. Alejandra was adopted by a white family as a baby, and as such doesn’t have a lot of connection to her Hispanic roots. Is her depression and dissatisfaction a mental health issue, or is it something more sinister, dark, and much, much older? To answer these questions, she enlists the help of a counselor who is also a curandera, and Alejandra reconnects with her birth mother. Together the women work to unravel an ancient curse on the bloodline.
I love how the author interwove the perspectives of the women in the modern world with those of their ancestors. This technique gave a rich narrative with lots of interest for the reader. The specter is well formed and graphically depicted, which I appreciate in ghost stories. I want to be able to picture what the author sees, and she gives plenty of details to make that possible. This is also a very women-heavy book, with the husband, though the cause of some strife, largely out of the picture in Alejandra’s battle. There is little sympathy for him in the story, and Alejandra does little to try to explain or involve him. The author, too, does nothing to redeem him. Some of the dialogue seemed a bit lengthy and contrived, particularly during the counseling scenes. And the counseling scenes often seem to take precedent over the horror elements of the novel. Some trigger warnings should probably be added to this book, attempted suicide and ideations at the top of the list.
At the end, this felt like women’s fiction with a touch of horror rather than straight horror. It was not necessarily what I expected, but I enjoyed the read. I’ll definitely look for other works by V. Castro.
Comments
Post a Comment