Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

242 reviews

andloveistoolong's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Violence, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Incest, Misogyny, Body horror, Death, Injury/injury detail, Gore, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Death of parent, Rape, and Gun violence

Minor: Miscarriage

kategorveatte's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Mexican Gothic has been on my TBR for awhile, but I finally picked it up for Canada Reads 2023. I wanted to love it, but I found it slow-going to grab my interest. Honestly, it put me in a bit of a slump. I put the book down around 40% and had trouble picking it back up, and I might have DNF-ed if it weren't part of Canada Reads. I rushed through the end because it was just so dark and fantastical and upsetting. I'm sure there's some intentionality to that, but it's not my cup of tea. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Incest, Murder, Sexual assault, Confinement, Colonisation, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Medical content, Child death, Rape, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Classism, Gaslighting, Murder, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Racism, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Cannibalism, Blood, Colonisation, Gore, Incest, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Body horror

Minor: Miscarriage, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, War, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Vomit, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical content, and Mental illness

professor_jango's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Rape, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, and Racism

stvalentine's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this novel falls into a very special category, alongside aciman's 'call me by your name' and de berniere's 'captain corelli's mandolin': books that changed me irrevocably. the language that silvia uses to describe the dread that noemí feels and the hopelessness and rot that consumes her is unparalleled among my (albeit narrow) literary experience, and the characters are (as suits each) perfectly lovable and detestable. if this novel can teach you anything, it is the importance and power of will and self-belief. noemí is able to endure the darkness of the doyle house only through her inner spark. such an excellent novel!!! so excited to see what hulu will do with it :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Body horror, Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Gore, Medical content, Sexual content, Violence, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Incest, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Blood, Drug use, and Vomit

Minor: Rape

kaymay29's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book starts a little slow but once you get into the mystery/plot it becomes a page turner. Also the main character is great. She is funny, relatable, and resilient.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Body horror, Suicide, Violence, Bullying, Murder, Racism, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/injury detail, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Vomit, Child death, Cannibalism, Cursing, Incest, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Torture

snowielazuli's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This book add me questioning why it was labeled as horror at first but it just gets worse and worse and worse the more you read it. But like, in a good way, for a book of the genre. 

I feel like the author did an amazing good job to make us feel like the main character, finding out, bits by bits the things that were going on in that house, and how deep it went.

The more you read it, the harder it is to put down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Body horror, and Colonisation

Moderate: Murder, Sexual assault, Suicide, Gun violence, Confinement, Incest, and Cannibalism

Minor: Vomit

apollinares's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

This book had been hyped up for me and based on that, I expected to like it a lot more than I did. I feel like a lot more could have been done with the premise and setting, and many aspects of the story fell very flat for me. 

Noemi isn't as one dimensional as her cousin Catalina, but she doesn't feel as fleshed out as she could have been. She's not vapid or shallow per-se, but the way she reacts to the (batshit insane, and in theory - horrifying) things happening around her is... underwhelming. My love for pathetic sickly men kept me rooting for Francis, but otherwise - the antagonists were predictable, Noemi was predictable, and the ending was kind of rushed? Lots of telling (rather than showing) going on too, and the main conflict/villain/clues towards what was going on, was revealed to Noemi through dreams, which is cheap. 

I genuinely wish I liked that more than I did. It sounded so up my alley, I'm gutted. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Child death

cassie7e's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Vivid, evocative, spooky!
Audio narrator uses the same tone & rhythm for every sentence, which got old fast. I recommend reading this one physically if that's an option.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Classism, Incest, Gun violence, Colonisation, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Confinement, and Death

Minor: Miscarriage and Misogyny

jacquielantern's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Incest, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Rape, Torture, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, and Child death