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A review by hollowspine
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This novel stuck very close to the gothic literature genre, but also used it to explore issues of colonialism, racism, misogyny and family. I really enjoyed the book, hanging on every word and invested in Noemi and the fate of that dreadful place. It was exactly as gothic lit. should be, dark, atmospheric with tangible dread hanging over each scene. Propriety and 'good breeding' masking true evil and a rot that goes beyond just the mildewed and fungeous wallpaper of the manse. The true horror is knowing that Eugenics is not as easy to burn down as one mansion.
I've heard from other readers that they weren't expecting the level of horror, bloodshed/gore of the book, thinking it would be more along the lines of other gothics, just brooding, angst and tragedy. In a way I don't understand that, I thought that the book really was akin to gothics I've read, a young woman finding herself trapped in a large estate with a man who is obviously lying to her, other family members who berate her at every turn and dismiss every thought as either crazy or not the way they do things at this house. It's Rebecca, it the Yellow Wallpaper, it's the Picture of Dorian Gray, but remade into a new shape, one that I would say enhances and celebrates the genre, while at the same time also forcing readers to ask more questions and opens the genre to a deeper and wider cultural history.
Perhaps Moreno-Garcia put slightly more detail into the macabre scenes in Mexican Gothic than you'd read in The Turn of the Screw or The Fall of the House of Usher, but the horror is the same. Plus if readers are not horrified by the implied murders in either of those books, or the child abuse, or the implied incest...?
I've heard from other readers that they weren't expecting the level of horror, bloodshed/gore of the book, thinking it would be more along the lines of other gothics, just brooding, angst and tragedy. In a way I don't understand that, I thought that the book really was akin to gothics I've read, a young woman finding herself trapped in a large estate with a man who is obviously lying to her, other family members who berate her at every turn and dismiss every thought as either crazy or not the way they do things at this house. It's Rebecca, it the Yellow Wallpaper, it's the Picture of Dorian Gray, but remade into a new shape, one that I would say enhances and celebrates the genre, while at the same time also forcing readers to ask more questions and opens the genre to a deeper and wider cultural history.
Perhaps Moreno-Garcia put slightly more detail into the macabre scenes in Mexican Gothic than you'd read in The Turn of the Screw or The Fall of the House of Usher, but the horror is the same. Plus if readers are not horrified by the implied murders in either of those books, or the child abuse, or the implied incest...?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Racism, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Confinement and Colonisation