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A review by amyvl93
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I have been meaning to read some Moreno-Garcia for ages as I feel like her books come up all the time so I was so excited to read Mexican Gothic and was so delighted that this really hit for me.
Mexican Gothic is a delightfully creepy gothic read which follows society girl Noemi who is instructed by her father to visit her cousin Catalina at the house of her husband's family High Tower after they recieve a worrying note from her which is dismissed by her husband, Virgil. Noemi soon finds that High Tower is not at all what it seems. She comes across Catalina's mother-in-law Florence, Virgil's brother Francis and their terrifying, eugenics-obsessed father Howard. They are a family of English people with Spanish banned from within the walls and English soil imported for the garden.
Whilst this is a slow burn at first, I thought that Moreno-Garcia did a great job at slowly building up tension and peeling back the truth of the Doyle's time in their home and what really was behind the success and then failure of their failed silver mine. There were some passages in particular that reminded me of The Yellow Wallpaper in its creepiness and the exploration of Noemi and Catalina being women trapped in this deeply patriachal environment. What is extra interesting is the way that Moreno-Garcia explores colonialism through the Doyle family and what really keeps them all in line - which I definitely don't want to spoil - it is very effective and adds another layer of creepiness to the story of the family.
I really recommend this and can't wait to get stuck into more Moreno-Garcia.
Mexican Gothic is a delightfully creepy gothic read which follows society girl Noemi who is instructed by her father to visit her cousin Catalina at the house of her husband's family High Tower after they recieve a worrying note from her which is dismissed by her husband, Virgil. Noemi soon finds that High Tower is not at all what it seems. She comes across Catalina's mother-in-law Florence, Virgil's brother Francis and their terrifying, eugenics-obsessed father Howard. They are a family of English people with Spanish banned from within the walls and English soil imported for the garden.
Whilst this is a slow burn at first, I thought that Moreno-Garcia did a great job at slowly building up tension and peeling back the truth of the Doyle's time in their home and what really was behind the success and then failure of their failed silver mine. There were some passages in particular that reminded me of The Yellow Wallpaper in its creepiness and the exploration of Noemi and Catalina being women trapped in this deeply patriachal environment. What is extra interesting is the way that Moreno-Garcia explores colonialism through the Doyle family and what really keeps them all in line - which I definitely don't want to spoil - it is very effective and adds another layer of creepiness to the story of the family.
I really recommend this and can't wait to get stuck into more Moreno-Garcia.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Racism
Moderate: Medical content