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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i think i really would have liked this more if maite hadn’t spent 25% of her time comparing herself to other women and disparaging herself. it got really exhausting at the halfway point.
for the amount of time it had, the story was just a little too repetitive, hitting a lot of the same beats over and over. it all came together really well in the end, but just a little too late. i didn’t see the big reveal and it was good, but i had a hard time getting into this on.
for the amount of time it had, the story was just a little too repetitive, hitting a lot of the same beats over and over. it all came together really well in the end, but just a little too late. i didn’t see the big reveal and it was good, but i had a hard time getting into this on.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm pretty sure I could read a novel length description of folding laundry and I'd love it as along as it was written by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. There is something about her prose that just sucks me in completely. I really enjoyed this noir - and LOVED reading it while listing to the accompanying curated Spotify playlist. The story was appropriately "small" for a noir, but richly atmospheric, with delightful layers built in to the character development about the way we see ourselves vs the way the world see us.
It took me a while to get into this, which was unfortunate, because it made it hard for me to keep track of all the different groups. The political parts were interesting and, unfortunately, still relevant for many countries today (perhaps moreso now than ever). Maite, the main character, felt very realistic and relatable; for all her flaws, she's just trying to get through the day so she can read her romance novel. Alas, the book didn't feel particularly substantial. A fine read but not a great one.
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a good read but it didn't knock it out of the park. I was entertained throughout but I felt like it fell flat in a couple places.
I appreciated reading a noir set in Mexico, a setting very different from many noir books I have read. Silvia Moreno-Garcia wrote a very interesting set of not quite likeable characters. It was great to get to know all the characters and see that no one character was the hero of the novel, as Maite kept trying to identify, but instead they were all imperfect and flawed people. While I could guess some of the twists, I still enjoyed getting to see how everything fell into place. The stories all weaved together wonderfully and I think having the two viewpoints helped to enriched the novel for the better.
Where this novel lost me was the world building. I think Moreno-Garcia tried to bite of more than she could chew. Learning the history of this time in Mexico, while eerily familiar to current US events, was a great choice for the noir, but I think Moreno-Garcia just tried to hard to make statements. It felt like a very Neo-liberal view on this history, painting both sides as equally bad without truly digging into the facts, but kind of pretending to. I am not saying she had to go deeper but the way she wrote this novel as stuck in between left me feeling disappointed.
I wouldn't call this a bad book but this won't be the best noir or mystery I have ever written. I would recommend this book for those looking for an interesting, if not fully fleshed out mystery read.
I appreciated reading a noir set in Mexico, a setting very different from many noir books I have read. Silvia Moreno-Garcia wrote a very interesting set of not quite likeable characters. It was great to get to know all the characters and see that no one character was the hero of the novel, as Maite kept trying to identify, but instead they were all imperfect and flawed people. While I could guess some of the twists, I still enjoyed getting to see how everything fell into place. The stories all weaved together wonderfully and I think having the two viewpoints helped to enriched the novel for the better.
Where this novel lost me was the world building. I think Moreno-Garcia tried to bite of more than she could chew. Learning the history of this time in Mexico, while eerily familiar to current US events, was a great choice for the noir, but I think Moreno-Garcia just tried to hard to make statements. It felt like a very Neo-liberal view on this history, painting both sides as equally bad without truly digging into the facts, but kind of pretending to. I am not saying she had to go deeper but the way she wrote this novel as stuck in between left me feeling disappointed.
I wouldn't call this a bad book but this won't be the best noir or mystery I have ever written. I would recommend this book for those looking for an interesting, if not fully fleshed out mystery read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, War
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
for me, velvet was the night found it’s feet at the end of the story. what started out an an enjoyable but slow, sometimes dramatic, story passed in seconds toward the end.
while i struggled to connect with maite (mostly out of frustration and sadness than anything else), i found her chapters to be extremely understandable and relatable on a grander scheme- especially her feeling of being trapped in a boring life with a boring job, and a frustrating relationship with her family, only to be comforted by books, comics, and music. by fantasy.
in comparison, i found elvis to be a a highly interesting character, likely due to the fast-paced and mysterious nature of his chapters. funnily enough, i don’t particularly feel like either was a necessarily “likable” character, though they had likable characteristics.
velvet was the night is a book that i found myself ultimately, by the end, enjoying thoroughly. i look forward to reading other works by ms. moreno-garcia to compare.
while i struggled to connect with maite (mostly out of frustration and sadness than anything else), i found her chapters to be extremely understandable and relatable on a grander scheme- especially her feeling of being trapped in a boring life with a boring job, and a frustrating relationship with her family, only to be comforted by books, comics, and music. by fantasy.
in comparison, i found elvis to be a a highly interesting character, likely due to the fast-paced and mysterious nature of his chapters. funnily enough, i don’t particularly feel like either was a necessarily “likable” character, though they had likable characteristics.
velvet was the night is a book that i found myself ultimately, by the end, enjoying thoroughly. i look forward to reading other works by ms. moreno-garcia to compare.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Injury/Injury detail