Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Mexican Gothic

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “It’s Lovecraft meets the Brontës in Latin America, and after a slow-burn start Mexican Gothic gets seriously weird.”—The Guardian
 
ONE OF TIME’S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • WINNER OF THE LOCUS AWARD • NOMINATED FOR THE BRAM STOKER AWARD

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, NPR, The Washington Post, Tordotcom, Marie Claire, Vox, Mashable, Men’s Health, Library Journal, Book Riot, LibraryReads
 
An isolated mansion. A chillingly charismatic aristocrat. And a brave socialite drawn to expose their treacherous secrets. . . . From the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow comes “a terrifying twist on classic gothic horror” (Kirkus Reviews) set in glamorous 1950s Mexico.


After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.   
 
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.
 
Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness. 
 
And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.

“It’s as if a supernatural power compels us to turn the pages of the gripping Mexican Gothic.”—The Washington Post

“Mexican Gothic is the perfect summer horror read, and marks Moreno-Garcia with her hypnotic and engaging prose as one of the genre’s most exciting talents.”Nerdist

“A period thriller as rich in suspense as it is in lush ’50s atmosphere.”Entertainment Weekly

Reviewed by nannah on

4 of 5 stars

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I can absolutely understand how this won a Goodreads Choice Award. It’s engrossing and addictive, sharing the relevant message that white supremacy is like a cult.

Content warnings:
- incest
- racism
- eugenics!
- sexual assault (graphic)
- drugging

Representation:
- the protagonist and her cousin are Mexican and indigenous

Noemí, socialite and flirt, receives a letter from her cousin begging for help and saying she hears voices in the walls of her new husband’s house. When Noemí arrives at High Place, her cousin’s new English family are inhospitable, save for the patriarch, whose interest in her is racist and fetishistic, and the younger son, who might prove to be her only ally in the search for what is turning her once cheerful cousin listless and ill.

I really enjoyed this one! Every character felt very distinct, as did the setting, which transported me to a place I could clearly imagine. I didn’t always like the protagonist, but I loved that she so clearly stood out from other characters I’ve read recently (especially the ones who exist to spout a moral. Don’t get me wrong, I love works of fiction that have something to say, but they should present stories and characters first). The writing overall was strong, although at times it could be inconsistent, with passages reading very awkwardly.

The book isn’t science fiction, but it’s almost written like one. By that, I mean it feels like Moreno-Garcia approached the book not from within the more rigid barriers of historical fiction, but from within the almost limitless taps of possibility that sci-fi allows. It’s cool to see that writers are looking at the new discoveries in science (and, okay, I know that they aren’t all that new by now) and applying it to the past, rather than just the future. We don’t always have to go to outer space to find things we’d think of as “alien”--but Moreno-Garcia makes the mycelium work here just as well as any alien in a sci-fi thriller that I’ve ever read.

I also really love that she incorporated the “mestizo” issue into the story. A couple months ago I heard the finer details of the issue from an indigenous friend for the first time, and I remember wishing more people outside of Mexico knew the awful history of the word. When Spain and England colonized the area now known as Mexico, they mixed with the indigenous populations. These people of mixed heritage had been called “mestizos” to separate them from the Spanish and the English (and the rest of the indigenous population). They were of lower social standing than the whites, but stood higher than the indigenous people. My friend said there were those who considered them to be a superior race, or products of whites experimenting to find a superior race (like the patriarch hints at in the novel).

This book is told by someone who is "mestizo". While I can’t really comment on how well any of this is done, I do love how the author incorporates the issue. It’s never preachy, and the plot always comes first.

All in all, this was a wholly absorbing read. I loved the slower pace, especially. It was like stepping in muck, becoming slowly engulfed in the atmosphere and setting, being slowly pulled into the deteriorating mental state of the MC. I didn't want to stop reading.

Okay, so … after reading a few reviews, I’m disappointed that so many people found the reason behind the cousin’s condition cheesy. Even if they know about mycelium being the network of forests, and how mycelium work in general! Because that’s what makes the story believable! To each their own, I guess.

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  • Started reading
  • 16 November, 2022: Finished reading
  • 16 November, 2022: Reviewed