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A review by rmperezpadilla
Piñata by Leopoldo Gout
Did not finish book. Stopped at 17%.
Pushed myself to make it to 50 pages.
The writing is low quality -- a lot of unnecessary phrases, repetition, indirect language about important things and overly direct language about random details, such as over a page spent discussing the absence of a dishwasher (without much metaphorical or figurative meaning behind it). For example chapter 2 ends with the sentence: "She closed her eyes and fell asleep for a while." This has no punch to it! There is no tension in her falling asleep; she's just had a mild and pleasant interaction with her daughter. Does she sleep soundly? Is she especially exhausted or just resting? Is she having dreams or nightmares about the evil in the city / stress about work & her daughters /etc. ? There are opportunities for more interesting and detailed work here but instead we talk about the dishes.
The characters similarly feel flat. Carmen is a single mother with 2 daughters; the teen daughter is sort of bratty and always on her phone, and the younger daughter is chipper and adventurous with some sort of ~old soul~ situation, which I assume to meanshe will be possessed later ; marking as a spoiler just in case but this is only a prediction. At times the characters feel a bit "man writing woman"-esque. The narration seems aware of sexism in again a flat way that lacks nuance. For example, Carmen watches her daughter at a party standing a short distance away from other teens: "A mild unease came over Carmen as she remembered those feelings of otherness instilled in young women by their peers, the clear lines of in-group and out-group her daughter was very visibly attempting to navigate in the sun-drenched backyard. ... Yes. That's how it so often felt." To me this read as "cliques exist"; there is no more detailed mention of Carmen's own adolescence; what is this repetition of "that's how it felt"?
Overall the writing and character work made it feel slow and uninteresting. After 50 pages we still haven't returned to the actual architectural/church renovation raises spirits/ancient gods/?? to cause any more horror! I considered skimming through to get places quicker but there are really a lot of sections where a single topic is circled for several pages with no depth. I read online that the author had considered making this a graphic novel, and that he is a filmmaker as well; I wonder if a visual format might prevent the distraction of the dry, lengthy interiority.
I don't like DNF-ing and I was really looking forward to this book - hence why I've written out this whole response. Personally, I would rec anything by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Gus Moreno (no relation to my knowledge, lol) for Latin American / Latinx horror.
The writing is low quality -- a lot of unnecessary phrases, repetition, indirect language about important things and overly direct language about random details, such as over a page spent discussing the absence of a dishwasher (without much metaphorical or figurative meaning behind it). For example chapter 2 ends with the sentence: "She closed her eyes and fell asleep for a while." This has no punch to it! There is no tension in her falling asleep; she's just had a mild and pleasant interaction with her daughter. Does she sleep soundly? Is she especially exhausted or just resting? Is she having dreams or nightmares about the evil in the city / stress about work & her daughters /etc. ? There are opportunities for more interesting and detailed work here but instead we talk about the dishes.
The characters similarly feel flat. Carmen is a single mother with 2 daughters; the teen daughter is sort of bratty and always on her phone, and the younger daughter is chipper and adventurous with some sort of ~old soul~ situation, which I assume to mean
Overall the writing and character work made it feel slow and uninteresting. After 50 pages we still haven't returned to the actual architectural/church renovation raises spirits/ancient gods/?? to cause any more horror! I considered skimming through to get places quicker but there are really a lot of sections where a single topic is circled for several pages with no depth. I read online that the author had considered making this a graphic novel, and that he is a filmmaker as well; I wonder if a visual format might prevent the distraction of the dry, lengthy interiority.
I don't like DNF-ing and I was really looking forward to this book - hence why I've written out this whole response. Personally, I would rec anything by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Gus Moreno (no relation to my knowledge, lol) for Latin American / Latinx horror.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Minor: Kidnapping
Repeated discussion of kidnapping, femicides, and cartel activity in Mexico throughout.