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Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Incest, Miscarriage, Torture, Cannibalism, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gaslighting
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Pregnancy
Minor: Miscarriage
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Classism
The way the author decided to showcase the past just didn't work for me. The visions and the retelling of the Doyle family history through speech felt lazy and didn't really set the scene for me. I was hoping to go back in time with the characters from the past rather than hear the stories from somebody in the present.
What I found most frustrating, however, was the fact that the main character behaved unnaturally in my opinion. She ignored a lot of things that any sane person would be very unsettled by, and I feel that she behaved in this way just to prolong the suspense of the reader finding out what the Doyle family secret is.
The secret itself was very strange and quite sickening to read to be honest. That was probably the point, but I didn't really enjoy it. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I still don't understand any of the symbolism and I'm not sure what the author was trying to say with this story.
Was it supposed to be a modern take on classic Gothic horror? Was it making a comment on something? I have no idea.
Sadly, this story was just too slow and the climax was too strange for me. I think it would work better as a film with the atmosphere and suspense played out on screen!
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Classism
And DAMN - I don’t even have overly well-articulated thoughts about this book yet.
Firstly I will say Garcia has 100% earned her acclaim, the writing was EXCELLENT - great story flow, character development, and suspense.
Silvia Moreno Garcia writing carries a sense of refined purpose - I enjoyed how it didn’t feel like anything was superfluous or wasted. There was a solid chunk in the book before the twist is revealed where I was like ‘what the actual fuck is going on?!’, but even the confusion was well executed and left me turning pages quickly to see what happened next.
Our heroine, Noemí, was enchanting, delightful, extremely smart, and also deeply human. I enjoyed seeing her determination, grit, and courage come to fruition - she truly handled it all so incredibly well, I…would’ve been doomed. 😅😅
Catalina was so sweet, and Francis was such a tragic figure who I became grudgingly fond of. The rest of the Doyle’s, with the exception of Ruth, were horrific people - the women were truly victims but even then so many went along with it - it was just such an intense story.
The only thing I think I would change about this book is to give a bit more closure with the ending.
This was some dark dark shit - the sexism, the incest, the eugenics - jfc - it was A LOT. Truly so fucking horrific. Death by fire was too good for those mf’s
For my fellow sensitive readers definitely check the trigger warnings - I was in a headspace to be able to handle this book but there are several quite upsetting and disturbing scenes and themes.
The eugenics aspect of this book was extremely disturbing - it wasn’t overly belabored but it was eerie and disgusting how normal the Doyle’s seemed to feel it was. I’m a biracial kid, so I’m familiar with the idea of eugenics and shit, but I had, I admit, avoided reading about it beyond the cursory history of it because it is so terrible.
As an aside, I don’t think I’ll be able to look at mushrooms the same way ever again. Iykyk. 🫣
If you’re looking for a banger of a well-written 1950’s gothic style thriller/horror novel, 10/10 would recommend!
As a P.S. I see some people complaining about how slow and boring the first half is - but I think that made the horror really grab you in the second half because the first part *almost* feels like a normal story and you can totally see why Catalina and Noemí were lulled into a false sense of security and self-gaslighting until they learned the truth. To me it seems genius tbh. 😅 Like an episode of The Twilight Zone but more complex and filled out.
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Gaslighting