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svengalithagawd 's review for:
Mexican Gothic
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
So many thoughts and feelings about this.
Firstly, I think this is a good book. I always think that Moreno-Garcia has a really beautiful way of writing. I don't even mind when things get a little too repetitive because it's typically still fun reading. That said, I can't rate this higher for myself because I have hang-ups I just can't get over.
1. I hated Francis. Francis only cares to do something about his v messed up family when Noemi comes and part of that is because Noemi is the first woman who's ever been available to him. He even hedges on helping Catalina until Noemi insists on it. Sure, he feels bad about what his family has done and the part he'll have to play in it, but not that bad. Not bad enough to help Catalina when she first gets there. There are plenty of concessions he makes for Noemi and they're all because he wants to smash. WACK. Also Noemi falling in love with this generally unattractive and uninteresting white man whose lack of action directly leads to her and her cousin being in grave danger was such a let down.
2. I didn't really like Noemi either. Noemi is incredibly passive when it comes to spending time with or finding out anything that's going on with her cousin. Florence is constantly denying her access, yes, but Noemi doesn't push against that almost at all. The narrative tells us that her and Catalina were always very close, but we don't ever actually see that because Noemi is almost never even thinking about Catalina. Even when they're trying to escape, she's more concerned with Francis than with her cousin. BORING. Noemi is quickly shown to be just as fickle and feckless as her family believes her to be. With that in mind, it's a wonder why her father even sends her on this errand when, honestly, anyone else would be better suited.
3. Catalina is... there. She exists more like a potted plant than a person. Everyone is pretty unkind to her and that includes her single ally, Noemi. When Virgil kind of comes out the gate being very dismissive and kind of disgustingly crass about her and her condition, Noemi also doesn't push back on that and doesn't ever think to herself "man, maybe my cousin is being abused?" which, to the reader, is pretty clear out the gate. She treats Catalina as frivolously as everyone else, which sucks because I was really rooting for the two of them to join hands and wreck this crackpot family.
4. Virgil. UGH. There's a bit of victim blamey stuff that comes out with him and his creeping up on Noemi that I don't feel like gets well addressed in the title.
5. I sometimes feel that there's a message or messages that Moreno-Garcia is trying to send or something important she wants to explore that she ends up just kind of dropping partway through the story, or she writes something nice to read that doesn't say much at all. I think this one is one of the former than the latter. Especially surrounding the issue of the romance.
I have always hated the redeemed through love trope when it comes to white supremacists.
Francis benefits from the bad behaviors of his family and that they would cannibalize him is, of course, pretty poetic and exemplary of white supremacy as a system. However, just because the system would also victimize him doesn't make him different or deserving of Noemi which, I obviously don't think he is, but no one deserves anyone so whatever. My issue is more with Noemi's belief that his victimhood supersedes his previous cowardice. His lack of action, his lack of pushback against the system he was born into, when it concerned her cousin's very real life is kind of handwaved away. That doesn't send the message I think she's going for. I think it undercuts it pretty pointedly. It also puts the issue of eugenics into an even funnier light.
I don't think it's enough that Noemi makes the choice for Francis when she's undergone virtually no character growth from when we first meet her til the end. And that's fine, I guess. But the narrative doesn't push back on the larger implication that she's played right into the hand of Howard's eugenicist thinking. And that is ultimately incredibly disappointing.
Also, as an aside, it's once again, an incredibly callous choice when we consider her cousin's suffering which has happened without ANY intervention by this man.
I also think the issue of exploitation (worker's, land, etc.) by way of colonialism was pretty undercooked for the aforementioned reasons.
The gloom stuff was very cool though. And the mold. I would have loved more of that. I also was really interested in the explanation of Agnes being the tether for the gloom and the use of her body and consciousness being the ultimate source of power for Howard and the family. The way she's discarded and tortured was incredibly sad, but also, I think a really good portrayal of what white supremacist patriarchy (and all patriarchy) believes is the role of women and mothers in society.
Firstly, I think this is a good book. I always think that Moreno-Garcia has a really beautiful way of writing. I don't even mind when things get a little too repetitive because it's typically still fun reading. That said, I can't rate this higher for myself because I have hang-ups I just can't get over.
2. I didn't really like Noemi either. Noemi is incredibly passive when it comes to spending time with or finding out anything that's going on with her cousin. Florence is constantly denying her access, yes, but Noemi doesn't push against that almost at all. The narrative tells us that her and Catalina were always very close, but we don't ever actually see that because Noemi is almost never even thinking about Catalina. Even when they're trying to escape, she's more concerned with Francis than with her cousin. BORING. Noemi is quickly shown to be just as fickle and feckless as her family believes her to be. With that in mind, it's a wonder why her father even sends her on this errand when, honestly, anyone else would be better suited.
3. Catalina is... there. She exists more like a potted plant than a person. Everyone is pretty unkind to her and that includes her single ally, Noemi. When Virgil kind of comes out the gate being very dismissive and kind of disgustingly crass about her and her condition, Noemi also doesn't push back on that and doesn't ever think to herself "man, maybe my cousin is being abused?" which, to the reader, is pretty clear out the gate. She treats Catalina as frivolously as everyone else, which sucks because I was really rooting for the two of them to join hands and wreck this crackpot family.
4. Virgil. UGH. There's a bit of victim blamey stuff that comes out with him and his creeping up on Noemi that I don't feel like gets well addressed in the title.
5. I sometimes feel that there's a message or messages that Moreno-Garcia is trying to send or something important she wants to explore that she ends up just kind of dropping partway through the story, or she writes something nice to read that doesn't say much at all. I think this one is one of the former than the latter. Especially surrounding the issue of the romance.
I have always hated the redeemed through love trope when it comes to white supremacists.
Francis benefits from the bad behaviors of his family and that they would cannibalize him is, of course, pretty poetic and exemplary of white supremacy as a system. However, just because the system would also victimize him doesn't make him different or deserving of Noemi which, I obviously don't think he is, but no one deserves anyone so whatever. My issue is more with Noemi's belief that his victimhood supersedes his previous cowardice. His lack of action, his lack of pushback against the system he was born into, when it concerned her cousin's very real life is kind of handwaved away. That doesn't send the message I think she's going for. I think it undercuts it pretty pointedly. It also puts the issue of eugenics into an even funnier light.
I don't think it's enough that Noemi makes the choice for Francis when she's undergone virtually no character growth from when we first meet her til the end. And that's fine, I guess. But the narrative doesn't push back on the larger implication that she's played right into the hand of Howard's eugenicist thinking. And that is ultimately incredibly disappointing.
Also, as an aside, it's once again, an incredibly callous choice when we consider her cousin's suffering which has happened without ANY intervention by this man.
I also think the issue of exploitation (worker's, land, etc.) by way of colonialism was pretty undercooked for the aforementioned reasons.
The gloom stuff was very cool though. And the mold. I would have loved more of that. I also was really interested in the explanation of Agnes being the tether for the gloom and the use of her body and consciousness being the ultimate source of power for Howard and the family. The way she's discarded and tortured was incredibly sad, but also, I think a really good portrayal of what white supremacist patriarchy (and all patriarchy) believes is the role of women and mothers in society.