Mexican Gothic
Ratings631
Average rating3.8
3 stars
I had high expectations for Mexican-Canadian author Silvia Moreno-Garcia's acclaimed novel, but was pretty let down. Given the book's title, yes, there was everything classically gothic, but very little Mexican, aside from the geographic setting (and the occasional Spanish word). This tale of a rich city girl going out to a country mansion to rescue her married cousin after receiving a disturbing letter about her seeing ghosts and being unwell could have been set anywhere. I thought there'd be something connected to the Mexican indigenous culture, or maybe the some local mythology or folklore, but none of that was in the story. On the contrary, there was a decaying gothic mansion; rich aristocrats from England who are creepy, mean and strict; ghostly and strange nightmares; misty countryside (even in Mexico); and sickly, bedridden characters with mysterious ailments. Into that classic template, drop Noemí Taboada even though she's not a very traditional Mexican. She's a chic modern rich girl who enjoys her nightlife even more than her graduate education in anthropology.
When Noemí goes to High Place to rescue her cousin, Catalina, the story unfolds fairly predictably. There is almost no surprise. Will Noemi find something strange and creepy with the Doyle family? Will Noemí find that there is something to her cousin's delusions about ghosts? Will the Doyle family have unnecessarily strict rules about what Noemi can and cannot do? Will Noemi try to break those rules? Will something dark be secretly lurking at High Place? Will this family turn out to be more bizarre and twisted than they seem? I don't need to answer a single one of those questions for you. You can answer them yourself already.
Noemi was not a standout character. I don't think we knew her very well, despite hearing about her backstory a bit, and constantly hearing her thoughts. Being a pretty debutante, I expected her to play against trope, not be shallow, but actually possess a lot of buried strength and depth. Sadly she didn't really feel like that. Don't get me wrong, Moreno-Garcia's writing isn't bad. She was able to provide fairly vivid descriptions and painted every scene with an appropriately decaying sense of beauty, but I also don't feel she really flexed any extraordinary amount of imagination in word or idea.
The narrator was also mixed. Her performance in the characters's voices was pretty expressive, given how serious most of the characters were. Unfortunately, her English accent needed work. Plus, whenever she went into her narrator voice, she got kind of stilted and pronounced everything with an extremely even tone, I even suspected to be AI a couple of times. That really kind of flattened the mood (and in a gothic tale, the mood is half the story).
As I mentioned at the start, this novel was overall quite disappointing. I like my creepy Lovecraftian horror and my gothic tales, but this one was middling.
+1 star for: boil rhyming with doyle, made me giggle every time
+1 star for: actually getting me to make faces of horror and disgust every thirty minutes. people must have thought i was WEEEEIRD on the sidewalk, in the grocery store, on the bus, at work...
+1 star for: “so i'll be wed in the church of the holy incestuous mushroom?”
Very well written BUT very sloww to build up. Kinda gives American Horror Story with the atmosphere. Culture is a big part of the story which I enjoyed and appreciated. Overall decent book
This was good! Not really my usual genre, I read it because GPT recommended it as part of a Halloween reading list. I wasn't really sold on it until about at least a quarter of the way through, and I didn't like the main character - I thought she had a childish, spiteful streak that I didn't succeed in warming up to. The premise is great, and I was really into the gothic manor-on-a-hill vibe. I recently read Entangled Life, so the fungus aspect of it was also right up my (current) alley. Dark and at times disgusting, the evils were well fleshed out, I could practically smell the decay at times.
A slow burn for sure. I feel like maybe if I listened on audiobook I'd enjoy more but as much as I love Silvia, this one just didn't do it for it me.
A dull, predictable book with very few redeeming qualities outside of it's cute central romance and general vibes. But one cannot subsist of vibes alone. There's not much Mexican about it save our main character, and while it checks the boxes to be considered "gothic," I felt the world was far too shallow for it to feel real or tense. Hardly anything happens for 2/3 of the book, and when something finally does much of the mystery introduced is erased a single chapter later when all the answers are given to us in monologue. Noemi infuriatingly remains an almost entirely passive character throughout the book, only ever taking action when she's absolutely forced to. If you're one that can enjoy a book on ambience alone, then you might enjoy it. Otherwise...
DNF @ 38%
This was just not for me at all.
I'm not a big fan of "vibes over plot" books and this seemed to be one of them.
The narrator was also very one note which made this seem even more boring.
This novel certainly paints the dark, gloomy, ‘gothic' setting through and through. It does set the pace/plot right away with a clear direction and even a little bit of mystery and intrigue. While it was surprisingly a bit of a period piece, be prepared for it to turn to some supernatural elements and for it to get twisted or even a little downright disturbing by the time everything ends somewhat predictably, even if well laid out.
I could not tell you what was going on in this book, lord have mercy; this one just wasn't for me.
:(
Contains spoilers
What I loved most about this book were the scenes that took place in Mexico City and the village - such a beautifully rendered depiction of Mexico in the 1950's that really contradicts so many stereotypes. The author says she took inspiration from her family - I see elements of my own family reflected as well. I especially loved the respectful relationship that existed between the healer and the doctor, and their hospitality towards Noemí. It may have been off-page and barely there, and yet it felt like an important distinction between the British mining family and the Mexicans they saw as disposable. It's these kinds of details that give stories impact, and this book was full of them.
I very much appreciate the way the author dropped in the little bits of knowledge that Noemí had picked up from her many varied experiences and studies (and that they were accurate for a woman of her time and place) - it served as a needed reminder of the astuteness that accompanied her penchant for pretty shoes. The social commentary is clear and sharp.
I think I would have been more drawn in by the mystery if I hadn't read or watched The Girl With All the Gifts and Get Out, if I were less informed about mold/mycotoxins, or hadn't developed a mild interest in mycelial connections in the last few years. As it was, I caught on very early on to what otherwise would have probably been a subtle and appropriate detail of gothic atmosphere, and I was unable to just get lost in the story as I so badly wanted to. Instead of feeling tension as things came to a head, I found myself bored and just wanting to get through it.
I've seen this categorized as gothic horror and gothic romance. I would put it firmly in horror - the romance elements are minimal. I did find the graphic descriptions of body horror and attempted rape to be rather sudden and unexpected.
A pustule, not a man, a living, breathing, pustule.
Some interesting themes here. Eugenics, immortality, rebirth and sentient mushrooms, and I'm not going to lie, the mushroom thing got under my skin a bit. I think it dates back to when I was a trainee surveyor, and I once went into a house and there was fungus in the kitchen... FUNGUS IN THE KITCHEN!! It was everywhere and it smelt really bad, really really bad, I still struggle with mushrooms today, all that grey rubberyness ucky ucky.
Anyway, this was pretty good, the writing style is beautifully gothic, the setting is 1950s Mexico but, we could easily be on the moors in England. That wasn't the end though was it? Surely there is more to come from Neomi??
Wil I read more from this author? Yes I will!!!
Well that was a wild ride! So so good. I must be having really good luck with picking good books because this one had me trying to find out what happens next. definitely enjoyed it and will be granting this a 5 stars.
A great echo of classical Gothic stories, I loved Noemí as a badass main character who still feels realistic and I'm excited to read more from Garcia and more Gothic tales
I'm not entirely sure what to think of this book yet?
It definitely started a little slow and I absolutely fcking HATED the scenes with Virgil and Howard, some men are so disgusting
I loved this book! Noemi is such a strong, human character. It was easy to root for her. So glad it lived up to the hype.
I just finished Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Audiobook, and here are my thoughts.
Noemi is a socialite with a full social calendar. Her cousin, newly married, sends a frantic letter to Noemi's father and he sends her to find out what is happening. She knows very little about her cousin's husband, other than he is an Englishman and has a home in the Mexican countryside.
Noemi is smart and resourceful but nothing can prepare her for a home with very little electricity, limited amenities, a patriarch so sick the house barely makes a peep so as not to disturb him. Her cousin's husband, while handsome and charming, has something more sinister lurking under the surface. The house has a life of its own as well, invading her dreams with such horrors, Noemi finds she has no appetite.
The longer she stays within the halls of the house.... The more she starts to lose herself within it.
Let me start by saying that the audio was a very good listen. I very much enjoyed the narrator's voice and I was quickly absorbed into the story. One thing I didn't know before I started the book was that it is actually an historical fiction, a gothic historical fiction and that was a very nice thing to find out.
The characters were really well developed. I liked Noemi right from the get go. She didn't want to have to go to a strange place all by herself but her very real fear for her cousin set her resolve to do what her father was asking. Each one of the house members had something very odd about them and finding out the reasoning was brilliant! It wasn't my normal kind of horror read. This was more of a lowkey set you on edge horror but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author set the atmosphere like a dark tendril of mist across a graveyard... Slow but deliberate and you always feel a little uneasy.
The conclusion of the book was amazing and I really felt the ends were tied up well enough but with this slight edge that makes you wonder if it really is over. It was quite slow in the beginning but it more than made up for it in the end.
4.5 stars
I won't lie. I got this primarily for the cover. Look at it! It's gorgeous. However the reality is that I'm likely too old for this or I've read the OG gothic novels this is looking to emulate. No shame in that but IYKYK. Maybe a younger person will enjoy this more.
Having said that I still think that, especially in the last third, that the narrative is perhaps too expository.
I did this on audio and though I did warm up to it eventually at first I felt like it was a bit of an elocution class but maybe that was just me.
3.5 The first half was so boring that it took me days to get through, however the 2nd half was really good. Glad I stuck it out.
TW: Attempted sexual assault.
I've wanted to read one of Moreno-Garcia's books for quite some time, and Mexican Gothic happened to be the first since I picked up a copy in a spooky, “haunted” bookstore on a trip for my fifth year anniversary. I'm interested in each of her titles, so I didn't have a preference which book would come first. However, I have to say I'm disappointed this was my first read by her since I was disappointed by the book.
The story is set in a Gothic, haunted house and has many Gothic themes and characteristics. I suppose that was my issue from the beginning. It was like being hit over the head: “This is a Gothic story!” I mean, it's right there in the title. I'm not sure what my expectation was. Perhaps some sort of subversion, or turning it all on its head? Instead, it became a runaway train. I think the story tries to lean in so hard, too hard, that it verges on ridiculous.
The story centers on Noemí Taboada who has come to this house to help her cousin, who lives with her new husband and his family. Noemí has no idea what she's in for. She thinks her cousin is simply unwell and needs assistance. But there is so much more going on, and the mysteries and horrors unravel quite slowly before coming down all at once, like an avalanche. The slowness of the first half or so of the book bogged me down a bit. I kept going to see what would happen, but I felt frustrated for most of this book.
Avoiding spoilers, I want to say why I'm giving three stars and not a lower rating. Obviously I haven't said many positive things here. While the face of the story didn't do much for me, the undertones, symbolism, and postcolonial lens all work powerfully here. The story takes place in Mexico, where Noemí's cousin's family has settled from Europe. They settled there long ago and opened a mine. That alone is not only symbolic, but plainly shows how white settlers come in and rip open indigenous land for their own gain. As the story progresses, there are many things the family does, and have done in the past, which parallel how white settlers have treated indigenous women, lands, wealth, children, economies, power, individuality, and freedom. Trying to defeat such a family, to right such wrongs... what could do it? How much would it take?
I can see, when viewing the story this way, how it works. It's like looking at a painting, and it's alright, but when the light changes, it's beautiful, because you can see things that were hidden before. I think, though, that the main story, or painting, or anything, should be done well and enjoyable. The events of Mexican Gothic were sometimes predictable and uninteresting. Great Gothic stories are classics because of the tension in the main character's solitude. I didn't feel that here. I felt bored. With the horror elements, how vulgar and gross they were, even then I wasn't moved since they felt over the top, but not in a camp way.
In writing this review, I've been trying to sort my own thoughts. I'm conflicted because I like what Moreno-Garcia did, but I suppose I don't like how she did it. Perhaps in the future I could read Mexican Gothic again, after reading some of her other stories, to experience the story again and hopefully enjoy it more.
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Hmmm, so this book. I tried reading this on an earlier date. Was deffintly not for me at that time. But I am quite glad that I picked it up again. It turned out to be really intresting and fun. I deffintly enjoyed the just general plot twist of the house being in control. Him thinking he was a god? Just ye I did NOT expect that kinda stuff at all what so ever. So ye, it was just great
Great read for Halloween time, atmosphere very interesting and a type of books I am not usually reading, good entertainement.