A questionable miracle
The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts
by Kim Fu
Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2026
$24.99 / 9781443465878
Reviewed by Sergio Espinosa
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The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts by Kim Fu offers myriad reflections on what it means to experience grief in every sense of the word, and how by getting swallowed by this powerful emotion someone could end up drowning (both metaphorically and literally).
The story takes place in our post-pandemic world, in a town called Bering Rock, with the main character Eleanor, a therapist, coping with the passing of her mother Lele. Lele’s last wish was for Eleanor to use the money Lele saved during her entire life to buy a house. Despite the tough real estate market, an irresistible offering presents itself to Eleanor in the shape of a picture-perfect house in the town’s outskirts. As the story progresses, however, Fu, a Seattleite via Calgary and Vancouver, casts doubt on the quality of that miracle. A relentless storm, Lele’s ghost, and past traumas bring down the house down brick by brick. Eleanor’s life collapses too.
One of the strongest points of the novel is the exploration of how blinding dependency to parents resembles a paper house, which will dissolve and disappear in a more chaotic and disastrous event once the parents are gone. As portrayed by Fu (Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century) Eleanor is unable to be a whole person without Lele because she relied on her to take care of everything: expenses, groceries, laundry—even parts of her personal life.
The author does an amazing job by presenting Lele’s death as a painful rebirth of Eleanor, who no longer has a safety blanket that protects her from real life. She must now accept every jab and cut life’s sharpest knife has to offer. The sensation of being extremely vulnerable to the world and having to learn by herself how to become a functioning adult member of society is treated with meticulous care. It was smartly relatable too, grounding Eleanor’s character and worldview.
Furthermore, the author does not embellish or shy away from the challenges and battles women have to overcome and push through in every moment of their lives. Some of those ordeals are the depiction of a professor’s sexual assault of Eleanor, the unbalanced work relationship with her colleague and business partner, and a bone-chilling interaction with a locksmith. Eleanor has to put those traumatic incidents away. In trying to not let them affect her and keep on going, she demonstrates how seriously cracked our society can be, not to mention the unfairness women still face (and their resilience). On top of this, Eleanor does not have Lele to aid her resolve her predicament; and the worsening situation was already dismal to begin with.
Something that could have benefited the novel a bit more was the pacing, particularly in the middle section. All the patients Eleanor sees in every therapy session, as well as the many subplot points developed in this portion, hindered the smooth reading experience Fu accomplishes in the first third of the book. Elements such as the crumbling and fixing of the house caused by the weather, the mix of the ghosts from Eleanor’s lifetime, the revelation of how Lele actually dies, and many others, were very captivating yet underdeveloped layers within the story. By handling many ideas at the same time, their impact and lasting impression feel more like the caress of a feather rather than a gut-punch, and that leaves the reader less affected and satisfied than they might be.
Nevertheless, Fu’s prose and writing are lethal and blunt arrows, always landing on the bull’s eye. Fu’s commentary on the topic of grief, her brief descriptions about the physicality of Eleanor’s world, or how Eleanor feels at certain moments, show how talented and masterful Fu is with her craft and storytelling. For instance, just by describing a slice of tuna’s hue as having “eraser-shaving grey at the edges,” Fu demonstrates her craftsmanship, creativity, and her ability to create vivid pictures from mundane elements through unexplored and artistic ways.
The ending leaves Eleanor in a slightly ambiguous yet powerful place. It is time for her to finally choose how she wants to continue on: expect someone to fix everything and care for her, or for her to take the reins of her turbulent existence with determined hands and no matter the consequences. It can go either way, but what is powerful about this ambiguity is how the reader is able to discern—based on Eleanor’s growth or descend into madness—what is most likely to happen if they were handed an epilogue or another chapter in her story.
Moreover, Fu’s clever decision of giving Eleanor the profession of a psychologist showcases an irony: how by trying to help others she is has failed to care enough for herself. That has stopped her from becoming the fully-fledged adult she longs to be and have an ordinary, undramatic life. Yet, something within Eleanor fights against that life, limiting the possibility of recovery and the normalcy she desperately craves. Fu’s The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts is a whirlwind of human experience; and a captivating account of the messiness of grief when it is toxically intertwined with a daughter and mother’s codependent relationship (and the damaging outcomes such family dynamics can eventually bring to the surface).
*
Sergio Espinosa is a third year English (Major) and Creative Writing (Minor) BA student at Thompson Rivers University with an interest in reading, baking, and running. [Editor’s note: the review of The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts is Sergio’s first contribution to BCR. We’ll welcome more from him in the future!]
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The British Columbia Review
Interim Editors: Trevor Marc Hughes (nonfiction), Brett Josef Grubisic (fiction and poetry)
Publisher: Richard Mackie
Formerly The Ormsby Review, The British Columbia Review is an on-line book review and journal service for BC writers and readers. The Advisory Board now consists of Jean Barman, Wade Davis, Robin Fisher, Barry Gough, Hugh Johnston, Kathy Mezei, Patricia Roy, and Graeme Wynn. Provincial Government Patron (since September 2018): Creative BC. Honorary Patron: Yosef Wosk. Scholarly Patron: SFU Graduate Liberal Studies. The British Columbia Review was founded in 2016 by Richard Mackie and Alan Twigg.
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