Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Mexická gotika by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

411 reviews

kbowles24's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Blood, Vomit, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

hexentart's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

An interesting premise, intriguing plot, and a deplorable cast of characters.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It obviously held my interest, but it's rare to not positively engage with any character. 

Catalina and Ruth get a pass, but the rest of the characters were either sick, twisted, and thoroughly evil, shallow, self-centered, and pompous, or just woefully pathetic.

Noemi, the FMC/protagonist, is nothing more than a wilful, spoiled, rich girl with delusions of grandeur. She's flaky as hell, uppity, shallow, manipulative, and pig-headed. Not to mention her naivety. She's quite obnoxious and annoying. 

I honestly didn't care if any of them made it out alive, but the writing held my interest until the very end. I needed to see how this all resolved; good, bad, or ugly. 

Now that's not to say I didn't enjoy the book, it just wasn't quite what I expected. The world building, lore, and horror was top-notch. The characters were well fleshed out and felt quite real; they were all just awful people. 

If you're a sensitive reader I implore you to mind your squicks. There's a lot of abuse, gaslighting, and body horror within this book. 

I enjoyed it, but YMMV of course. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, and Classism

merrynthomas's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

emciver's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

zoe_archambault's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

1.0

all i wanted was something like 'the hauting of the hill house' by sherley jackson but all i got was the author's gross sexual assault fantasy and a half assed mystery thrown in the background. The mystery was at least a decent backdrop that made the (MANY) assaults make sense??? but also stockholm syndrome? or mental fuckery as everything descends into madness but it was honestly done so badly and in such poor taste i hated every second of it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Gore, Racism, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Cannibalism

sammybee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I thought this book was going to be more scary than it precieved.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

elizas's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Highly unusual, and I really liked the way that 1950s Gothic tropes were transferred to Mexico. I felt the first half of the book was very slow, though, and the second half often grim. I would highly recommend checking content warnings if you have any triggers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Incest, Infidelity, Sexism, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Racism, Rape, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I do not know how to feel about this book lmao. Moreno-Garcia does a good job of creating this sort of creeping sense of horror and realizations, and Noémi is a compelling character with a ton of backbone. But somehow, despite this book not being very long, it feels like it really dragged on: there are a ton of reveals around 2/3 of the way through the book, and I felt like the next 100 pages both moved very slowly, and went a million different places that made no sense. I appreciated the author's critique of colonialism and cultural sexism, but this one just didn't work for me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

cakegeek's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Incest, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Murder, and Gaslighting

emzinator's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This book has a sleepy lull in the first half - but don't worry, it picks up SO much. I think this book reads almost like a screenplay, and I hope the Hulu limited series gets back on track! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Colonisation