Review by eviecate - Mexican Gothic

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eviecate 's review for:

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

4.5

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I really enjoyed the grounded horror that this book provides. Mexican Gothic heavily reminded me of The Haunting of Hill House in the way that it traps readers in its web. Personally, I like horror books that don't fully resolve everything and this book sort of delivered on that. I liked the first half although it was slow. I found myself fascinated by the way the story unraveled unbelievably slowly and then all at once. I found myself immersed in Noemí's story and I enjoyed watching her haunting unfold. The prose was beautiful and I enjoyed the subtle way it disturbed my senses. My only problem (before I get into spoiler territory) is that I feel like the realism and fantasy were not fully blended at times and I am not sure if the last third fully fit in with the rest of the story.

The real horror of Mexican Gothic is white supremacy and colonialism. It succeeds in setting up the reality of Mexican exploitation and blending it with fantastical and horror elements. In that way I think it's a very important story and succeeds as a deeper horror and is oftentimes more scary then if it was just the fantastical haunting. The entitlement of the Doyle's and their treatment of women and Mexican people is where this book succeeds as a horror because it reflects reality. Because of that I feel like the introduction of The Gloom kind of pulled me out of it. It felt too finite and had more of an optimistic ending then I felt like it was leading up to. I still really enjoyed the world and the book as whole but there were moments of fantasy that pulled me out of the true thematic horror and I'm not entirely happy with the ending.

Content Warnings