BUILD YOUR HOUSE AROUND MY BODY by Violet Kupersmith

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

 “You don't believe in ghosts?" she asked.

     "Of course not. They're just stories that people tell themselves to try and make the horrific shit that actually happens in the world seem less frightening in comparison…”

     "What are you scared of, then," she asked, "if you're not scared of ghosts?"

     Long looked up… ”I never said I wasn't scared of them, just that I don't believe in them… I can find the idea of them scary, even if they're not real… What about you, then?" laughed Long.

     "Oh, I'm the opposite of you," said Winnie. "I believe in ghosts, but I'm not afraid of them.”

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TITLE—Build Your House Around My Body

AUTHOR—Violet Kupersmith

PUBLISHED—2021

PUBLISHER—Random House

GENRE—literary folk horror

SETTING—1980s & 2010s Vietnam (especially SW Highlands & Saigon)

MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—Vietnam, post-war diaspora, cemeteries, trickster-like (cursed) Fortune Teller character, pagoda temples, fairy tales, rubber trees, ghosts, possession, seances & exorcisms, snakes, French colonialism & imperialism, racism & colorism, drug use, hallucinations & insomnia, smoke monsters, disconnection & isolation

"It's this place," said Binh, her voice just loud enough for Long to hear it over the engine and just loud enough for him to detect a note of genuine despair in it that he had never heard before. "It's this land. We're lost and going around and around because it wants to keep me here. It's never going to let me leave."

My thoughts:

Oh my goodness was this book fun! I’ve had it on my shelf for a bit as I bought it on a whim when it first came out because after reading the first few pages at a bookstore & seeing that it was set in Vietnam & was described as having folkloric elements & ghosts I knew I had to read it. & since I’m working through my owned books this year & trying to read as many five-star-anticipated reads as possible, obviously this one was finally getting picked up.

And, wow. Wow wow wow. Ok. So. What to even say about this book? It’s wild. It’s unhinged. It’s satisfying. It’s gross. It’s gritty. It’s disturbing. I’d say it’s definitely more empowering than wholesome—though the deeper philosophy was excellent—it reallyyy leans into the darkness but in a way that is totally liberating. All of the women in this book would basically eat your typical “strong female characters” for *breakfast* & still be hungry afterwards—literally just badass after badass after badass femme characters (including a couple lesbians! yay!). There was only *one* kind of cool male character (who was actually my favorite character—I know, I know—but he had that immortal agender energy that just really speaks to me personally…) but all the other men in the story were awful—very realistic, unfortunately—but incredibly unlikable.

I listened to the audiobook & it was so much fun. I had to stop a few times & go back & reread some parts because the plot is super intricate & this is not the kind of book that just gives you all the answers at the end you have to do a lot of work to figure out everything that’s going on yourself & I still wasn’t 100% sure I picked up on everything but I will absolutely be rereading this one so I’m not too pressed about it. I have actually started a list of books I would consider doing as bookclub reads if I ever get around to doing a sort of fairy-tale retellings bookclub or something like that… 👀 Mainly bc I do need someone else to tall me what they thought a couple of things meant because I know it’s something I just can’t figure it out! 😆

Anyway…

I would recommend this book to readers who love reallyyyy unsettling literary folk horror & aren’t too concerned about tidy endings. This book is best read on audiobook! Quyen Ngo does an excellent job & hearing the correct pronunciation of the Vietnamese in the book (there’s quite a bit) is clutch for non-Vietnamese-speaking readers.

Final note: This. would make an *epicccc* movie or tv series. Something artsy too—like A24-style. I want it nowwww.

“She was back. The world seemed enormous now, but wasn't this the sensation that she had been trying to find all along? … Winnie had never felt so beautiful before, or so powerful. If she could have wept, she would have; she was that exquisite… Her teeth had started to ache sweetly; she needed to gnaw something. She twitched. She was ready now. She began to run. The city was waiting for her, and it was made up almost entirely of small, dark spaces where she would fit perfectly.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

CW // body horror, intense alcohol- & drug-use, implied rape (including incest)

Season: Summer

Music pairing: “Jeepers Creepers”, by Louise Armstrong

Further Reading—

• SHE IS A HAUNTING by Trang Thanh Tran

  • Read my review for SHE IS A HAUNTING here.

• FOLKLORN by Angela Mi Young Hur—TBR

• THE DUST NEVER SETTLES by Karina Lickorish Quinn—TBR

• WHEN WE WERE BIRDS by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

  • Read my review for WHEN WE WERE BIRDS here.

• FLYAWAY by Kathleen Jennings

  • Read my review for FLYAWAY here.

• MONSTRILIO by Gerardo Sámano Córdova—TBR

• GREEN FUSE BURNING by Tiffany Morris

  • Review coming soon!

• THE GRASS DANCER by Susan Power

  • Read my review for THE GRASS DANCER here.

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