Rating this book was strange mostly because though nicely written, the story wasn’t cohesive and didn’t live up to my expectations of what could have been done with and gained from it.

I’ll start with the positives since there definitely were some. The author’s prose is atmospheric and has a rhythmic, creepy quality that serves the gothic theme well. The sights, sounds, tastes and smells of Manila were brought to life through consistent ‘show, don’t tell’ technique and the descriptions of Filipino cuisine especially were so vibrant.

The book immerses you in Filipino life through linguistic, cultural and religious references, weaving them in seamlessly. This is good and I do prefer books not to spoon-feed readers, but a balance could have been struck where significant historical context could have been ingrained to help all readers understand the depth of referenced cultures and beliefs. This doesn’t mean translating everything, but just weaving that essential background in so the reader understands the nuances of, for example, Chinese-Filipino values.

Now for the major issues. The blurb highlights this house full of secrets and the paranormal, suggesting this will play a significant and interesting part in the narrative – this expectation was not lived up to. The magical realism aspects of this book had so much potential to engage with and enrich the storyline, but they ended up being on the side of what was essentially just the main character finding a romantic partner.

The book’s engagement with the more disturbing themes also didn't read too well for me. Media can and does explore difficult topics but it requires a lot of care. Apart from e.g., Manang Rio, the character's interactions with the topic of Celestina's abuse felt bizarre and tone-deaf. This could of course be highlighting how prevalent victim blaming is in society, but the narrative seemed to just take it as a given and little effort was made to indicate how this would negatively impact Celestina. The book being in third-person omniscient perspective could have showcased this well, but it didn’t. Little was learned, little was shed light on in this regard sadly.

All in all, this book lacked cohesiveness and an end goal. It’s titled Celestina’s House, but the house isn’t used to its full potential and Celestina doesn’t really engage meaningfully with or develop alongside it. Characters and plot events come and go, their meaningfulness to the story never realised. What was the significance of Verg being able to see people’s aura/light, why wasn’t this supernatural attribute engaged with beyond just mentions? In trying to be too mysterious, the book’s message got lost.

Overall, though a nicely written book with potentially interesting themes it was executed in a way that left me feeling like I had not read something meaningful. Unfortunately, the ending had me asking ‘what was there to be gained from this?’

Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for providing me with an advanced reader copy of Celestina's House.

This book! Wow! I wrote most of my thoughts in my Goodreads review. But man did this book blow my mind. I was expecting a simple tale not a dark, twisted story. I was wrong. Very wrong. This book opened my eyes to the harsh realities of life itself. It was outstanding for a debut novel and twisted in a way I should have seen coming. The book was articulate and detailed especially when describing food or places. It does not describe but rather paints a picture. This books is one I'll definitely recommend to readers who are open to topics and themes that are taboo and too dark for conversations with friends. Kudos to the author. She wrote the book well. Hoping to see more of her work!

I really wanted to like this book as I had never read a book set in Philippines by a filipino author, but this simply didn't work for me.

The writing style made it clear that this is a debut novel, as there were many descriptions of clothes and conversations that could be taken out or improved to improve the readability. Also, maybe this is an arc problem and will be corrected in time for official publication, but there are plot holes that made me wonder if this was edited at all. So many instances where the narration would mention a family tradition or superstition as if we the readers already knew about them, but they had never been mentioned before. And in one moment Celestina is introduced to a character by someone else and they say something like "You already know X" but Celestina had never met this character before, they only heard of her by someone else.

The characters are flat, one dimensional and unlikable in the worst of ways: not because they were well round with flaws, but because they were written in a way that they had no redeeming quality. Celestina herself doesn't feel like a character, there is no strong progression from a traumatized teenager to the young woman she is by the end of the book. One moment she goes through a terrible experience and the other she is a twenty something vixen.

There were some decisions that in my opinion didn't serve the story at all. The random first person narration from the ghosts pov were unnecessary and clunky. The magical realism could have been taken out of the story and nothing of substance would have been lost. And yes, that includes the poor explanation and execution of Antonio's character.

The worst part of the novel for me was definitely Celestina's relationship with her father. This novel has a victim blaming tone that goes beyond her father being a terrible man and how the characters react to what happened between them. I won't say that was the author's intention, but more a lack of care when dealing with the subject. Their story is abruptly interrupted and so their last scene together doesn't feel cathartic, it feels empty.

I liked the city and food descriptions, the use of filipino culture and language (it was interesting for me to see how much it borrows from Spanish) and the folklore, but not even this was enough to save this novel for me, unfortunately.

Read as an ARC kindly provided by the author, publisher, and netgalley.

I have never been to the philippines nor read anything set there. I was interested to learn about philippino culture.

The descriptions of Philippine life, their myths, superstitions, and the supernatural side were, I thought, well done. There were many full descriptions of different foods and drinks suggesting a phiIippino love of good food, though some descriptions turned me off ever wanting to try some of the dishes. I liked the main character, Celestina, who, after a life changing experience in her teens, left her broken and trying to find her identity. The writing style was different, with narration coming from different points of view (including 2 ghosts)!

What I hated was the way women were portrayed and treated. There were several scenes that left a very bad taste in my mouth!! Celestina's relationship with her father was just gross, and I didn't like the victim blaming from her father. Mother and JoseMaria. At times, I wasn't sure I was going to finish it, but on the whole, I'm glad I did.

ARC received in exchange for an honest review

sad to report that this was genuinely one of the worst novels i have read in a long time. i will try to be less scathing in this review but i can't promise good structure or flow in this, considering the author did not.

first off, i need to get the most uncomfortable aspect of this novel off my chest first: Celestina's relationship with her father. i did not like the development nor did i feel like the narration of minor, passing characters regarding their relationship as necessary. we were introduced to so many characters and get to read from their perspectives throughout the novel, but for what reason? it did not add to the depth of the main characters nor did it provide any insight to the story that was unfolding. reading from some random movie director about Celestina's relationship with her father took us away from the very sensitive and intimate events that were happening. also, i hated the reason of her father's condition, seemingly out of nowhere, no explanation whatsoever. this decision of the author not only justified the behavior of her father by explaining it away as a result of this fantastical element, but it also reduced what happened as a trivial plot device that pushed our main character to develop further, which i hate. what was the reason for all this anyway? if it's a way to drive the character towards developing her identity, then it was a cheap and unnecessary way to do so. i cannot believe this will be published in the year of our lord 2024. maybe this novel has taken years to come together, but surely one can move with the times and idk, find better alternatives to drive the story forward? everything was so poorly escalated, too. the dialogue and narration were so stilted and awkward, which brings me to my next point.

the dialogue is terribly wooden. absolutely nobody talks like that. very pre-2013 teleserye dialogue. ridiculous and soapy. it took me out of the story several times and i got annoyed with the cliché line drops and narrative maneuverings. i thought this would give me something fresh, you know? alas no, the tropes were tired and lazy— yet i would have excused this, and would have taken all this criticism as a bad decision made by debut author, by virtue of Filipino pride and solidarity had the novel been at least well-written... which is unfortunately not the case. is it really difficult to write well? considering it's your job? like first of all, where is the editor? i beg you to reevaluate your decisions. secondly, how did this get approved by so many people? again, reevaluate your decisions and maybe try to reflect on yourself. do not let bias get in the way! finally, is it this easy to get published nowadays when all one has to do is angle with the POC narrative? shouldn't we prioritize obtaining quality work first? i would have loved to celebrate a born and raised Filipino getting published in the West— but not with this quality! as a fellow Atenista, where's the magis? in line with the poor dialogue and narration, i want to say my piece about the use of Filipino and Hokkien languages. initially, the incorporation of the Filipino language was exciting to read. i have never before read an English book with as many correctly used Filipino words as there was in this novel, and they were very natural! i could tell that the author spoke the language well and grew up with it. but while i enjoyed reading the Filipino words and being able to understand the context and references being made by the author as only someone who has lived in the country can do so, i beg the author to stay away from trying to write Hokkien. being Filipino-Chinese myself (much like Celestina) this should be checked again by someone. thankfully, the Hokkien was not a lot to warrant much attention from me but i was annoyed nonetheless with the use of my language and context just to “deepen” Celestina's character. i know she's some made-up granddaughter of Henry Sy and you think “oh we should show how Chinese she is” but i would have really preferred the author to stay away from it if she does not have anyone to check this aspect. for example, no Fil-Chi person greets another in the Hokkien translation of "How are you?" because that is the Western way of greeting, which the author should know. i do not know the author's context and how they grew up, but i am quite sure that my current context and lived experiences are closer to that of the main character's, even if she comes from a wealthy family.

so what can be done to improve? i suggest two more years of heavy editing tbh. this is not publication ready. i would have liked a focus on the influence of local myths to the stories because then it would have made sense why the fictional serials of Celestina's father are such a hit. with this emphasis and connection to the characters, it would have meant a lot more for Celestina to take the house that was so haunted by the many spirits that her father writes about. to be honest, the magical realism was so poorly incorporated into this novel. i would have appreciated a more consistent and cohesive approach rather than it being sprinkled around when convenient. this brings me to my next point: the lack of a central theme. how can one write a decent novel without a main theme? why are you even writing this novel? why is this even titled “Celestina's House” when our main character Celestina just prances around Manila and tries to find love? we have lost the main point of the story. i wish we got to explore the house more and focused more on what having her own space means and what this old relic of a house has done to her self-identity, even as it is haunted by spirits of the past. i would have wanted her to develop a deeper connection to the haunted house and how this could have been an avenue for her to heal from her traumas. i would have wanted a focus on the various Filipino superstitions and how it affects everyday rituals and routine. perhaps here, her Chinese identity could have been better inserted, as Fil-Chi have many more superstitions that are centered around fortune, health, and marriage. and now, you can see how this can connect to the old haunted house. but anyway, i am only a reader and this will be published either way. what happened was that the characters move through the book like they're not real. events happened, escalated tackily, and the characters were too passive to make a good story.

so, there is no overarching theme! there was no connection nor cohesion to the narrative. things happen and then we move. have i mentioned how ridiculous the plot escalation was? and how soap opera-like, too: unnecessarily dramatic and unrealistic. dialogue was stiff and narration was clumsy. nothing was done well except the descriptions of Manila, which i applaud— as only someone who has lived here and walked these streets can know what to describe. but then again, the characters read like they were written by a 12 year old, so one-dimensional and nonsensical. actually, the entire story is so poorly written that i am very disappointed in everybody involved in the making of this novel. i'm sorry. if i could give this zero stars i would, but i'll be nice and give this 1 star for the worldbuilding.

Clarissa Trinidad Gonzalez takes the reader to the Philippines with her effective imagery of Filipino culture, traditions, behaviours and activities in Celestina's House. I am Filipino myself who has been living away from the motherland for two years now, and the descriptions of familiar places and scenarios sends me to a whiplash -- unfortunately, not in a good way.

I am confronted by many aspects of Filipino culture that I dislike and disagree with, that I find regressive. This is unfortunately the sad reality and the reason why I moved away. But such reaction is a testament to how visceral Trinidad Gonzalez's writing is.

I do fear how an international audience would receive this novel. Personal biases aside, I found that there are some elements that lack context or rely on the reader's further research to understand (lacking descriptions of some food or some terms for family members, lack of historical context for the prevalence and uniqueness of the culture and beliefs of Filipino-Chinese families).

This was unfortunately not for me, as I found the writing a bit too poetic for my taste and the story didn’t fully grip me. I did appreciate the setting though

The atmosphere that this book holds kept me hooked. I loved the ghosts haunting each generation and that there was so much vibrancy with gothic tones.

A mesmerizing debut a story that drew me in and kept me turning the pages late into the night. Ghosts haunting three generations exquisitely written characters.A book I will be recommending a new author to follow.@netgalley @dundren

"An exquisitely dark debut, rich in atmosphere and complex characters blending both charm and flaws. The vivid descriptions of food are tantalizing. Every moment of this novel captivated me. It evoked echoes of 'Mexican Gothic', but with a unique blend of family drama and literary gothic. Certainly, a book worth keeping an eye on!"

I am a bit undecided on which category this book should be placed into. However, I found it to be an interesting read. I plan to take my time to digest it fully. I was particularly impressed by author's writing style. One of the best parts of this book is how well the author created the setting and ambiance. The pace of the story is slow, but it's worth staying with it. It's a family drama with well-developed and interesting characters, and it has a bit of a gothic sense to it. I also thought the supernatural aspects of the plot were well done. It's a brilliant debut novel.

This was such a well done novel, I enjoyed the use of ghosts and that it dealt with three generations. The characters were everything that I was hoping for and enjoyed the overall feel of them in this story. Clarissa Trinidad Gonzalez has a great writing style and enjoyed what I read.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6443816229

This is a hard one to categorise but I enjoyed it. Quite a meandering, slow moving story, which is part family drama, part love story, part love letter to the Philippines and its culture. But I really felt the emotions of Celestina as she faces up to her various challenges (and the ending really got me!). The writing particularly sang off the page when the author is describing the places where this is set - I honestly now feel like I've visited the Philippines without ever having been there. And I loved the little magical/supernatural touches.

A great debut novel, and thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Such an atmospheric and rich setting in the Philippines, with ghosts weaved throughout. A strong debt!