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A review by fulltimefiction
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
2.0
Mexican Gothic is a book that received lots of hype upon its release –and even before then. A suspense story in a gothic Mexican setting? With that gorgeous alluring cover? It sounded very promising.
I decided 2 years ago to wait before reading newly released books of authors unknown to me until we have more ratings and reviews. This book reminded me of why I chose to stop that habit: the average rating dramatic decrease and the rise of new opinions.
So back to the book, we have Naomi, a rich party girl being sent to investigate her cousin's bizarre letters.
I would not consider this book a mystery as much as horror. I love horror movies but I can’t seem to be able to enjoy this genre in writing. I recognized times where I should’ve been scared but I was mostly underwhelmed instead. Whenever there is a supernatural element added to a mystery… I become unimpressed but the issue here, is me, I simply do not like this trope? Which is legit in novels.
Other than that, the characters were not memorable at all, I felt like the author was trying too hard to make Naomi the liberal, open-minded, feminist of her time. There’s also a hint of romance that wasn’t done well and made me question several things about that relationship.
I gave this book the extra star because I don’t think it’s at fault here. Nonetheless, it dragged. Oh, how it dragged in the first half, barely any progress was being made, lots of boring scenes, and too many descriptions for my taste. The pace was off since basically nothing was happening–a painfully slow build-up- in the first 60%. A bit later everything starts happening at the same time. Without making much sense. I didn't like nor enjoy the ending, it was a mess and too much? Well, might be because I'm not a fan of the PNR in mysteries (unless we're talking about UF).
If Mexican Gothic was shorter it could’ve been more engaging and fun to read. I did consider dnfing it because I was not invested in the story but I was too curious about “the horrifying end”… This book in no means can be called long in normal standards, it’s less than 400 pages. But still, authors should not force themselves to prolong the story for the sake of writing more pages. Readers never like that.
Briefly, I did not enjoy this book. I might lower my rating later but for now, I’m keeping it at 3 stars. I can see why many are loving it, it certainly has a bizarre gothic atmosphere but it’s simply not my type. I kind of regret reading it because it's one of those books that you wouldn't have read -and sometimes harshly reviewed- if you knew what they were actually about.
--- update:
I decided to lower my rating to two stars because after thinking about it and regardless of whether this particular trope appeal to me or not, the book was boring, the characters weren't interesting (let alone lovable), and the final revelation was meh.
I decided 2 years ago to wait before reading newly released books of authors unknown to me until we have more ratings and reviews. This book reminded me of why I chose to stop that habit: the average rating dramatic decrease and the rise of new opinions.
So back to the book, we have Naomi, a rich party girl being sent to investigate her cousin's bizarre letters.
I would not consider this book a mystery as much as horror. I love horror movies but I can’t seem to be able to enjoy this genre in writing. I recognized times where I should’ve been scared but I was mostly underwhelmed instead. Whenever there is a supernatural element added to a mystery… I become unimpressed but the issue here, is me, I simply do not like this trope? Which is legit in novels.
Other than that, the characters were not memorable at all, I felt like the author was trying too hard to make Naomi the liberal, open-minded, feminist of her time. There’s also a hint of romance that wasn’t done well and made me question several things about that relationship.
I gave this book the extra star because I don’t think it’s at fault here. Nonetheless, it dragged. Oh, how it dragged in the first half, barely any progress was being made, lots of boring scenes, and too many descriptions for my taste. The pace was off since basically nothing was happening–a painfully slow build-up- in the first 60%. A bit later everything starts happening at the same time. Without making much sense. I didn't like nor enjoy the ending, it was a mess and too much? Well, might be because I'm not a fan of the PNR in mysteries (unless we're talking about UF).
If Mexican Gothic was shorter it could’ve been more engaging and fun to read. I did consider dnfing it because I was not invested in the story but I was too curious about “the horrifying end”… This book in no means can be called long in normal standards, it’s less than 400 pages. But still, authors should not force themselves to prolong the story for the sake of writing more pages. Readers never like that.
Briefly, I did not enjoy this book. I might lower my rating later but for now, I’m keeping it at 3 stars. I can see why many are loving it, it certainly has a bizarre gothic atmosphere but it’s simply not my type. I kind of regret reading it because it's one of those books that you wouldn't have read -and sometimes harshly reviewed- if you knew what they were actually about.
--- update:
I decided to lower my rating to two stars because after thinking about it and regardless of whether this particular trope appeal to me or not, the book was boring, the characters weren't interesting (let alone lovable), and the final revelation was meh.