Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

92 reviews

jpisano's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Blood, Incest, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Misogyny

Minor: Alcohol

mvlee's review against another edition

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? No

3.75

I don’t know what to say about this book that hasn’t already been said so, I’ll write my review for others who also don’t usually like to read/watch horror books/movies. 

The introduction sets up the story and the characters. Like others have pointed out, this is the only time you can see/feel that the book is set in Mexico. I would have been more interested in this story if the plot was based on real, local/cultural superstitions than what the actual plot was. Maybe Moreno-Garcia wanted the story to be more universal? I don’t know. But the beginning was the most interesting part of this book IMO. 

As a person who avoids horror (in books, TV, and movies) 99% of the time, I was able to finish this book through sheer willpower and the ability to listen to the audiobook at 2x speed. I was able to understand what was going on even at that speed and didn’t have to linger too long on the horror and gore scenes, thankfully. That being said, the story actually wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be - again, thankfully. There were lots of creepy moments and I definitely got creeped out but overall, it wasn't too bad. Also, as many others have pointed out, you’ll probably finish this book with a distaste in mushrooms. I sure did. I already don’t like mushrooms (they taste awful!… don’t @ me) but, after reading this, I also don’t want to hear the word mushroom for at least a month. 

What I liked: 
I did find the “lore” behind the house/mushrooms interesting but, that  only had a minor scene and was not the focus of the story. I also appreciated that the main character, Noemi, was smart and strong enough to persevere and stuck to her goal (save her cousin). Hooray for a smart and capable main character!

What I didn’t like:
Aside from the gross and horrific stuff, there wasn’t really anything I thought was “bad.” Everything was written in a way to further the plot and set things up for the ending. 

Overall, I’d recommend it since it’s not too scary and does have a pretty interesting story overall. Personally though, it’s not one of my favorites and I’d probably never re-read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use

kingsteph's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Classism, Murder, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Suicide, Medical content, Violence, Drug use, Racism, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Incest, Miscarriage, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Vomit, and Terminal illness

sargasso_c's review against another edition

dark 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? No

3.0

Mexican Gothic is the first in what I hope will be a long line of vintage literature resurgence featuring characters of color. Because gothic novels are so slow-paced and the horror is revealed slowly, the characters need to be interesting and/or loveable enough to keep one reading. I believe that Mexican Gothic fell short in this respect. In addition, the little reveals throughout the book did not quite coalesce to into a lens through which the big reveal can be seen. I enjoyed this read, but it did take me quite a while to finish it, as I did not feel a pull to keep reading whenever I had to set the book down. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, and Incest

Minor: Vomit

thekinkykid's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Racism, Misogyny, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, and Incest

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Dementia, Drug use, Cannibalism, Death, Torture, and Toxic relationship

strange's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I loved a lot of this book's ideas, and really enjoyed the writing as I did with Moreno-Garcia's other books, but the execution just didn't connect with me. Characters that I feel I should have liked felt impossible to connect to, and the pacing (specifically the division between the first two thirds and last third of the book) could have been much better and really felt jarring and tension-erasing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Confinement

Moderate: Gore, Emotional abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Cannibalism, Colonisation, Incest, and Infertility

urs's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Cannibalism, Child death, and Body horror

Moderate: Incest, Sexual assault, Racism, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Confinement

Minor: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

carodonahue's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The writing in this was beautiful and the setting and characters well-drawn. I thought I’d try something spooky around Halloween, and while the ghost and haunted elements were quite engaging, I found the sexual violence, or more accurately the threat of it, incredibly disturbing and at several points considered setting the book aside. I was curious enough to finish, but I found this further into real life terror rather than otherworldly horror and would not have chosen it had I known it was intense in that way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Minor: Rape, Torture, and Violence

boba_n_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

What a novel! The amount of horror, intrigue, and mystery filled in these 300 pages is a wonder. Never in my life have I read something so creepy and even disgusting at times while being so enthralled and unable to put it down. I loved every word. Moreno-Garcia really gives us her all - her incredible voice moves the story along and brings life to every character. Highly recommend this book, especially during spooky season. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Torture, and Vomit

risemini's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

this was rlly good, i didnt know what to expect from the cover but i got a mix of a less boring dracula and resident evil 7 lmao. i liked the romance too. its objectively a good book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Miscarriage, Murder, Racism, Rape, and Suicide