Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - Мексиканска готика

I see everyone say how the first 100 pages nearly made them DNF this book but it gets better later and I can't relate because to me the last 30% is where the book has lost me. I just feel we as a society are past having to give everything sexual undertones to make it scarier and using incest as shock value. It's a trope I've seen in media so many times and it perfectly ruined the haunted, creepy atmosphere of this book. I did love the writing and the big majority of the book. I loved Naomi as a character (though I still wished her romantic interest would be the doctor from the village, not Francis) but the explanation and ending turned me off horribly.

Content Warnings

magicalghoul's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Must admit I read the first two chapters and wasn't too impressed but thankfully I kept reading and it held me and didn't let go, holy shit.

The sense of dread ramping up, the good good grotesque imagery, the atmosphere... It was a distressing read (in the best way) and managed to give me the creeps in more than one occasion.

It also hits for the most part that good point with exposition where you can guess where the story is going since it gives you the necessary elements to do some guesswork without dumping it on— and when the dumping did come at least it didn't feel so out of place, which I'm thankful for since I'm very pesky with that sort of thing.

Using the gothic genre as a conduit to portrait white supremacy and patriarchy (and all it entails— the racism, the misogyny, the colonization and commodification of people as mere bodies) was brilliant. I simply love it when horror is used to talk about and portray socially relevant themes. Absolutely enjoyed this.

Content Warnings

More...