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A review by magicalghoul
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Must admit I read the first two chapters and wasn't too impressed but thankfully I kept reading and it held me and didn't let go, holy shit.
The sense of dread ramping up, the good good grotesque imagery, the atmosphere... It was a distressing read (in the best way) and managed to give me the creeps in more than one occasion.
It also hits for the most part that good point with exposition where you can guess where the story is going since it gives you the necessary elements to do some guesswork without dumping it on— and when the dumping did come at least it didn't feel so out of place, which I'm thankful for since I'm very pesky with that sort of thing.
Using the gothic genre as a conduit to portrait white supremacy and patriarchy (and all it entails— the racism, the misogyny, the colonization and commodification of people as mere bodies) was brilliant. I simply love it when horror is used to talk about and portray socially relevant themes. Absolutely enjoyed this.
The sense of dread ramping up, the good good grotesque imagery, the atmosphere... It was a distressing read (in the best way) and managed to give me the creeps in more than one occasion.
It also hits for the most part that good point with exposition where you can guess where the story is going since it gives you the necessary elements to do some guesswork without dumping it on— and when the dumping did come at least it didn't feel so out of place, which I'm thankful for since I'm very pesky with that sort of thing.
Using the gothic genre as a conduit to portrait white supremacy and patriarchy (and all it entails— the racism, the misogyny, the colonization and commodification of people as mere bodies) was brilliant. I simply love it when horror is used to talk about and portray socially relevant themes. Absolutely enjoyed this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Incest, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Miscarriage and Self harm
Additional warnings: Eugenics feature prominently as well. The main character and her cousin are gaslit. Pregnancy horror. And lots and lots of fungi.