A review by rebroxannape
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

 

This book shares a lot of motifs with some of the old-fashioned Gothics of yore. By yore, I mean the 1960’s and 70s. But it does goes down a much darker road as far as physical and sexual horror. And it turns at least one of the usual tropes on its head. Luckily (for me) the gross and horrific parts are pretty isolated and not around every corner so I was able to take what there was of those disturbing scenes in stride. I wasn’t bothered by the creepy mushrooms and creeping mold.

Noemí, our heroine, is a young and spirited socialite, who, though a little frivolous, also has a serious side. She is very smart so we understand that most of her flightiness stems from boredom. It is 1950 in Mexico, and Noemí needs her father’s financial support and permission to start her master’s degree in Anthropology. He just wants her to find a suitable husband, but will agree to “let” her go back to University if she will travel to the home of her newly married cousin and childhood friend, Catalina, to check on her. Her father has gotten a very disturbing letter from her and is very concerned.

This house is sick with rot, stinks of decay, brims with every single evil and cruel sentiment…They are cruel and unkind and they will not let me go…I bar my door but still they come, they whisper at nights and I am so afraid of these restless dead, these ghosts, fleshless things…the false faces and false tongues…You must come for me Noemí..the spider walks…You nave to save me…Hurry.

Is Catalina going insane or being drugged? Or is she really being haunted? Or possessed? Or is everything under control and Catalina improving as her husband Virgil claims? Highly doubtful.

Understandably alarmed, Noemí hightails it to “High House”, the spooky dilapidated old estate on the mountain to investigate matters and see how she can help her cousin. But the house is completely isolated and Noemí is a guest and there only at the family’s pleasure. Virgil, Catalina’s husband, his cousin Florence, the Mrs. Danvers-like mistress of the house, and Howard Doyle the elderly and sick in mind and body head of the family are firmly in control and hold all of the strings. There is no way they are going to let Noemí just take Catalina and her sizable (and sorely needed) fortune out of their control. From her arrival at the house, Noemí must engage in a cat-and-mouse game with Catalina’s new family with only Florence’s ineffectual and shy son Francis as an ally. She must slice through their lies and obfuscations and somehow fight their power and get Catalina and herself out of their sphere of influence. But Noemí seems to be slowly taken over by something in the house itself. Can Noemí herself escape let alone rescue her cousin?

As the tragic and evil history of the family and what they are up to is revealed, we understand that Noemí must call upon every ounce of her considerable strength and cleverness to escape. But can she escape unscarred? And surely Catalina and Francis are beyond salvation. The secrets and truths are truly dreadful and offensive. Much of the book is slowly paced and the frequent recounting of Noemí’s bizarre and nasty nightmares was of little interest to me. I was frustrated with her blindness to the part drugs probably played in her problems. But the last 20% or so of the book is terrifying and exciting and I was amazed and satisfied at the conclusion. It ends with hope and love and much happier than I expected.

Despite its sometimes over-the-top Gothic elements this was a serious book that incorporates a lot of symbolism, history, and explores the perniciousness of racism based on the belief in eugenics. It was a little out of my usual wheelhouse though I do like psychological horror and domestic thrillers from time to time. I’m not an expert so it was hard to rate. I’d give it a 3 1/2 stars but for the last paragraph which really moved me. 4 stars.

⭐⭐⭐⭐