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tamara_joy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Blood, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Murder and Classism
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content
meika_one's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Murder, and Alcohol
abitbetterbooks's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
I always say I’m not a horror fan, but I think I’m constantly getting proved wrong. This book wasn’t even that scary! I loved Mexican Gothic (which in my opinion was much more disturbing than this one) so I knew I had to give Silver Nitrate a shot. While I’m no film buff, I still really enjoyed the connections and details to the industry.
I loved Monserrat and Tristan. I loved their banter and closeness that only knowing someone your whole life can bring. I also adored heroes that were 38 and felt like real adult humans that made real adult human decisions. I also appreciated how flawed the characters were.
As a note, there is a decent amount of discussions of Nazis and Nazism as they pertain to post-WWII in Latin America, and in particular the ideas of “Aryan superiority” and eugenics.
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, and Antisemitism
Minor: Biphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
jazzlibrariansbookcase's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Moderate: Death
Minor: Terminal illness, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
blewballoon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Racism, Sexism, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, and Drug abuse
erandle's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Racism, Blood, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Alcohol, and Colonisation
ivorymusic82's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death and Blood
Moderate: Racism
carriepond's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Look, I am a SMG fangirl. This is the seventh book of hers that I have read. I love how she explores common themes like racism, colonialism, and misogyny by dipping into so many genres and periods of Mexican history. I love her female characters, who are so different from one another but are all strong, smart, and cool in different ways. I will never discourage people from reading her books. She is awesome.
With that caveat, I will say that I found Silver Nitrate more difficult to get into than other books of hers that I have read. She is not one to write breakneck, fast-paced books, so I didn't go in with that expectation, but this one was so slow in the beginning that I found it difficult to get into. Probably around 70 percent of the way through the pieces really started coming together and I was hooked, but it took me longer to get invested than it usually does with her books.
Although not my favorite of her novels, Silver Nitrate has much of what I love about Moreno-Garcia's writing-- flawed characters, strong female leads, and a progressive, feminist lens applied to traditional genre tropes and themes.
Graphic: Racism, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Car accident
rachelunabridged's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
After having a blast with Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic, I knew I had to check out more of her work. I'm so glad that I finally had the chance to do just that with her latest book, Silver Nitrate. With a background consisting of the Mexican horror film scene and Nazi occultism, it really snatched my interest right from the beginning.
Though the build-up was quite slow, I felt like the author did an awesome job letting the plot simmer for the first half of the book, but then really letting shit go wild in the last half. I had such a blast following the characters throughout this read as they peeled back the layers of intrigue and mystery, and I loved getting to linger in the tension and atmosphere that Moreno-Garcia built.
While there were some spooky scenes, I think that calling this a horror story might be misleading in some reader's eyes so I would actually recommend this as more of a thriller or suspense with some horror elements. If that's enough to grab your interest, definitely give it a read!
Graphic: Death, Racism, Blood, Car accident, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism and Toxic friendship
Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism
bookcheshirecat's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
“Montserrat had three loves. One was horror movies. The other was her car. The third was Tristán.”
➽ This book sounded so compelling, but it was a huge letdown for me. The story follows Montserrat, a talented sound editor who struggles in a male-dominated field. I loved the setting of 90s Mexico and the premise was interesting. Montserrat and Tristán find Abel Urueta, a cult horror director and occultist who knows about a legendary, lost film that's steeped in legend. I found this Thriller painfully boring despite the obscure topic. The author had Montserrat do a ton of infodumps about her love for movies and Horror. They were a chore to get through and didn't make me any more interested to find out more about the topic. Nothing much happens in the book until the very end, so it becomes very repetitive quickly. The occultism and Montserrat's emerging powers weren't explained at all and a lot of the 'worldbuilding' made no sense at all. So many things flew over my head as they came out of nowhere. There wasn't really much to keep my interest, so maybe this author isn't for me!
Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail