Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

303 reviews

jlaz_13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Violence, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Infertility, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Trafficking

raikowlreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.25

2/3 of the book was just a scary mystery. The last 1/3 was fucked up in every way 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

emmalouisereads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I wanted a spooky read for Halloween and I wasn’t disappointed. Incredibly atmospheric… and genuinely revolting at times. 

It’s a really strange story (that I enjoyed mostly for reasons that would be spoilers and I can’t mention). It certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

I’d love to see this made into a gothic film. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

kjulie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

Too much yuck for me. It was all atmosphere and slow on plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kiractivity's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

This book's writing style is absolutely amazing, it drove me through the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, and War

binches's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

rating: good ⭐⭐⭐
personal enjoyment rating: very good ⭐⭐⭐⭐

loved the buildup from uncomfortable vibes over scary nightmares to an absolutely terrifying conclusion

the dialogue felt very artificial at times and the pacing was a bit too slow and dry at times (though the overall slow pacing was perfect), otherwise, it was amazing and weaves together real horrors of the past and present with an allegorical paranormal element to create a horrifying and unsettling story 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

theprocrastinatingbookworm's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

nerdinthelibrary's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Incest, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Cannibalism

faeriequeenlauren's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Upon first read, I gave this 4.75 stars simply because I felt the initial set up went on for too long. Looking back on it now, I think the choice to have such a slow start really pays off when things pick up in the end. I enjoyed how slow the first 100 pages were, because in contrast, the last 200 pages felt much more wild and disorienting with so much going on plot-wise.

I loved the development of the relationship between Francis and Noemí and even though I’m not obsessed with Francis as a character, I liked where the story went. It was never too heavy on the romance side of things, which I felt was appropriate for the subject matter. 

The whole ending and the big reveal of what’s actual going on was a bit predictable imo, but the execution was well done, so I can forgive the predictability. The mushrooms being mentioned in the beginning was pretty obvious to me, as well as the mold in the house, etc. And the eugenics stuff in the beginning kind of revealed the incest bit that came later, but again, I’m not super upset by it being predictable to a certain extent, as the execution of the end reveals was so well done that it made up for the twists being a bit predictable.

 

Moreno-Garcia’s writing style is beautiful. I loved the words she used to describe things and I felt like her vocabulary choices really emphasized the haunting, disturbing nature of what was happening. 

I also loved Noemí as a protagonist. She was smart, headstrong, self-assured, etc. She never let the chaos around her completely consume her, which I loved. In addition, she was an active player in the narrative of the story, and lead many events, rather than just letting them happen to her. 

Overall, if you like Crimson Peak, Jane Eyre, The Invitation, We Are What We Are, or anything with a strange family with secrets living in a creepy gothic manor, you’d probably love this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Vomit, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

Not sure how to tag it, but the main character is an active smoker. Also contains discussion of eugenics.