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A review by polaris_luci
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
4.0
.⋆｡⋆☂˚｡“A woman who is not liked is a bitch, and a bitch can hardly do anything: all avenues are closed to her.” ⋆｡˚☽˚⋆.
Trigger warnings: r@pe, murder,racism, eugenics,. oh and don't listen to the audiobook. The narrator had a very exaggerated accent that made me feel weird af.
Uterrly disgusting, horrifying and brilliant.
Mexican gothic blurs the line between reality, dreams and delusions confusing both the characters and readers alike. This was my first experience with the 'haunted house on the hill' trope and I have to say I'm disgusted and repulsed in the best way possible. I listened to the audiobook and found myself squeezing my eyes shut from time to time, nauseated almost. It was....certainly an experience. The writing fucks with your mind and makes you question things. I felt weird. in a nice (?) way
As brilliant as it was, this book had some frustrating issues. I was slapping my hand against my head from time to time because the 'problems' the mc faced had really obvious solutions. I confess I couldn't see the plot twists coming, but they were easily solvable, honestly.
Regardless, the focus of this book is on the atmosphere and the mystery of the house shrouded in mist, and it wasn't intent on answering these questions, nor am I on seeking the answers, but just as a warning. This is a very slow burn of a book and even if the answer was obvious from the beggining, it took the characters a long time to get there. Which can be frustrating for some but I enjoyed every second of the ride.
I would recommend this if:
☂ You like good, not poetic, but almost dreamy writing.
☂ You like feeling disgusted and repulsed
☂ You don't mind slow burn
☂ You enjoy being confused
☂ You enjoy mindfuckery
·˚ ༘₊·Quotes⁀➷
✎“What are your thoughts on the intermingling of superior and inferior types?”
✎“ 'Their impulsive temperament requires early restraint. Nevertheless, the mestizo possess many inherent splendid attributes, including a robustness of body…' She no longer wondered if Howard Doyle had a pair of calipers; now she wondered how many he kept.”
✎“The child approached her, pressed the cloth she had been holding against the woman’s face, as if veiling a bride, and held it tight. The woman convulsed, unable to breathe“ she tried to scratch the child, but the woman was exhausted and the child, her cheeks red, held on tight. As the woman quivered and suffocated, the man repeated the same words.
“Death, overcome,”
✎“They were afraid you were going to leave. They couldn’t let you do that. Now you won’t be able to go anywhere.”
✎ “But it’s been closed for a very long time. I thought your finances were strained,” Noemí protested.
“Catalina has decided to invest in it.”
“You didn’t mention that before.”
“It slipped my mind.”
✎ “remembering the cigarette burn on her hand, she looked at her fingers. But the red, raw mark was gone. There was no sign of it at all.”
Trigger warnings: r@pe, murder,racism, eugenics,
Spoiler
disturbing depiction of rottting corpses, drugging, imprisonment, cults, misogyny, gore, incest, cannibalism, child abuse, domestic abuse, etc.Uterrly disgusting, horrifying and brilliant.
Mexican gothic blurs the line between reality, dreams and delusions confusing both the characters and readers alike. This was my first experience with the 'haunted house on the hill' trope and I have to say I'm disgusted and repulsed in the best way possible. I listened to the audiobook and found myself squeezing my eyes shut from time to time, nauseated almost. It was....certainly an experience. The writing fucks with your mind and makes you question things. I felt weird. in a nice (?) way
As brilliant as it was, this book had some frustrating issues. I was slapping my hand against my head from time to time because the 'problems' the mc faced had really obvious solutions. I confess I couldn't see the plot twists coming, but they were easily solvable, honestly.
Spoiler
Worse still was the grim foreshadowing, the 'I can't tell you why but please leave' which was easily overcome by just switching languaages. Like you could've done it before. There were also a bit too many plotholes, like why couldn't Francis just tell Noemi in the cemetery or the town? Why was he so adamant on keeping her in the dark when he knew her life was in danger. What the fuck did the rotting corpse of a grandpa puke in her mouth?? What did the mushrooms do? Like what was the full extent of their powers??Regardless, the focus of this book is on the atmosphere and the mystery of the house shrouded in mist, and it wasn't intent on answering these questions, nor am I on seeking the answers, but just as a warning. This is a very slow burn of a book and even if the answer was obvious from the beggining, it took the characters a long time to get there. Which can be frustrating for some but I enjoyed every second of the ride.
I would recommend this if:
☂ You like good, not poetic, but almost dreamy writing.
☂ You like feeling disgusted and repulsed
☂ You don't mind slow burn
☂ You enjoy being confused
☂ You enjoy mindfuckery
·˚ ༘₊·Quotes⁀➷
Spoiler
✎“What are your thoughts on the intermingling of superior and inferior types?”
✎“ 'Their impulsive temperament requires early restraint. Nevertheless, the mestizo possess many inherent splendid attributes, including a robustness of body…' She no longer wondered if Howard Doyle had a pair of calipers; now she wondered how many he kept.”
✎“The child approached her, pressed the cloth she had been holding against the woman’s face, as if veiling a bride, and held it tight. The woman convulsed, unable to breathe“ she tried to scratch the child, but the woman was exhausted and the child, her cheeks red, held on tight. As the woman quivered and suffocated, the man repeated the same words.
“Death, overcome,”
✎“They were afraid you were going to leave. They couldn’t let you do that. Now you won’t be able to go anywhere.”
✎ “But it’s been closed for a very long time. I thought your finances were strained,” Noemí protested.
“Catalina has decided to invest in it.”
“You didn’t mention that before.”
“It slipped my mind.”
✎ “remembering the cigarette burn on her hand, she looked at her fingers. But the red, raw mark was gone. There was no sign of it at all.”