Motherhood makes for potent storytelling material. Horror fiction about motherhood highlights the vulnerability and physicality of childbearing and childrearing and all its companion terrors. In The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro, motherhood’s many complexities are brought to bear in a story inspired by La Llorona, the haunt of Mexican folklore. After learning the barebones story of La Llorona as a young adult, it inspired both revulsion and a profound curiosity to know more about the mournful murderer of her own offspring. There’s a reason you can find versions of these undone women in white across cultures, from Ireland’s banshee to the hantus of my own background, Malaysia’s langsuir and pontianak. As in The Haunting of Alejandra, they awaken a universal primeval terror, and if you dive deeper you’ll find so much more than what chokes the surface.
Note: This book comes with a lot of content warnings, including maternal mortality, attempted suicide, child endangerment, and rape.
The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro
You’ll find edge-of-your-seat terror and body horror in Castro’s novel, but what makes it satisfying is its clear-eyed and feminist perspective on motherhood. Alejandra’s story is one of generational trauma, colonization, and the endless sacrifices women are expected to make as a reward for bringing life into the world. By taking a critical look at the story of La Llorona and questioning the identity of the story’s real villain, Castro demands that we think twice about maternal pain and grieving.
Alejandra is a stay-at-home mom with three children and a husband ever-poised to dismiss her needs. When we meet her, she’s questioning her marriage and life choices, and she’s contending with alienation and isolation. Alejandra loves her children fiercely but increasingly feels defined by them. She can’t identify her value beyond what she provides as a mother and a wife, and it doesn’t help that she has no job, no money, and no family to offer her emotional support.
Her relationship with her adoptive parents is strained, and Alejandra was only just getting to know her biological mother when her husband’s work moved them far away from her mom. She’s distanced from her Mexican American culture, but community is the only thing that might help her survive the generational haunting coming for her and her children.
When a ghoul appears in her home, Alejandra can only believe she’s spiraling toward a mental break. The veiled creature’s malevolence infects her, telling her she’s worthless and ungrateful, but it isn’t until the monster comes for her children that she determines to look deeper into her family history and seek help from a local curandera to find answers and the strength to fight back.
The Fright Stuff
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This is speculative body horror you won’t want to miss, especially if you’re looking for stories about motherhood and seeking cultural connections. Books that reinforce the real benefits of maternal wellness and therapy are always welcome on my shelves.
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