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A review by embersbooknook
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Alright, so I’m not a big horror/thriller reader, but I’m trying to branch out a bit this year and I’d always heard that Silvia Moreno Garcia was one of THE thriller authors, so this book was a natural choice.
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. 😅😅 Noemí not breaking down even with the attempted rapes and not being able to do literally anything without being fussed at even things got weird - she was a badass woman, I would’ve been more like Catalina I think
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.
I was so scared that either Catalina or Francis were going to die😣
The only thing I think I would change about this book is to give a bit more closure with the ending. I mean they just dropped poor Agnes’ CORPSE and all the child cannibalism in there in the last 20% and then there was one chapter of relative peace and that was it - I am still having anxiety of whether they ever truly get away and whether Francis can truly stay away even from the ashes of the house.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
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