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Mexican Gothic

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Start date: October 1, 2020

Finish date: October 31, 2020

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September-October 2025: The River Knows Your Name
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What Members Thought

Sep 29, 2020 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it liked it

Shelves: halloween-reads, horror-gothic-etc, library-book

UPDATE: $2.99 on Kindle US today 10/18/20

This book reminded me a bit of that movie, Skeleton Key!

I love the cover and I loved the end of the book. I’ll buy it in a kindle sale

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾 ...more

218 likes · Like · see review

Jul 13, 2025 Book Concierge rated it liked it

Shelves: latino-literature, mexico, audio, book-club, library, concierge, strong-women, horror

Digital audiobook performed by Frankie Corzo

1950s Mexico City. Noemi Taboada is a charming, witty, vivacious debutante occupied by parties and the latest fashions. Then her father receives a letter from her recently wed cousin, Catalina. It’s cryptic and odd and Catalina seems in danger or perhaps mentally unstable. So Noemi is dispatched to the mountainous area where Catalina lives with her English husband, Virgil Doyle, on his family’s estate, High Place.

This is not the kind of book I normall ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

May 07, 2021 Theresa rated it really liked it

Shelves: feminerdy, z-pop-sugar-2021-reading-challenge, historical-fiction, highly-recommended-by-me, classics-and-classic-redos, z-2021-top-10, myth-legend-fairytale, gothic

As I was drawn deeper into the story, after a certain point when the ending was coming at me head on, I realized that what I thought was going to be an average novel was in fact exceptional.

It is the early 1950s in Mexico, and Noemi is sent from Mexico City by her father, the family patriarch, off to a rural area on a mountain to find out what exactly was going on with her cousin Catalina and her new marriage. A year earlier, after a whirl-wind courtship, Catalina had married an older man, Virg As I was drawn deeper into the story, after a certain point when the ending was coming at me head on, I realized that what I thought was going to be an average novel was in fact exceptional.

It is the early 1950s in Mexico, and Noemi is sent from Mexico City by her father, the family patriarch, off to a rural area on a mountain to find out what exactly was going on with her cousin Catalina and her new marriage. A year earlier, after a whirl-wind courtship, Catalina had married an older man, Virgil Doyle, blond, blue-eyed, the heir in a family once rich from now-defunct silver mines. Little has been heard from her since, except for a very disturbing letter leading Noemi's father to question if an intervention was needed. Off Noemi goes and finds that all is not well. The family is creepy, the mansion is dark, dreary and deteriorating, mold and fungus and mushrooms are growing everywhere, and Catalina seems to be essentially a prisoner, weak, confused, far from the cousin Noemi knows so well. The entire scene is shrouded in darkness, neglect, and too many deaths in the Doyle family history. As the days pass, Noemi has increasingly terrifying nightmares that seem all too real. Then, like all good gothic novels, Noemi begins to understand the dark evil truth and the effort to escape begins.

This really has all the elements of the classic gothic: naive young woman on a mission arriving at a dark deteriorated isolated house filled with creepy people and dark secrets. There is candlelight, a nearby graveyard, too much decay and rot and stories of murder. The dying patriarch is gortesque, dominating, and obsessed with eugenics and breeding true to the pale, blond, blue-eyed features of the British ancestry, saying:

"And what a pretty face you have. Dark skin, dark eyes. Such a novelty."
Dark meat, she thought. Nothing but meat, she was the equivalent of a cut of beef inspected by the butcher and wrapped up in waxed paper. An exotic little something to stir the loins and make the mouth water."

It is also creepy with escalating evil that brings a touch of horror to the story. Yet it really is not a horror story but gothic taken up a few notches. Frankly, I found The Likeness by Tana French far creepier and disturbing. I don't like horror or books that set out to make one look under the bed. This did not bother me in the least.

Noemi is the center of the story, and just like with any classic gothic, she's a bit naive and overly confident that she can just waltz in and all will be merry. Silly girl. Noemi is not always likable. She's smart and capable but this being the early 1950s, Noemi seems content to float along as the spoiled wealthy daughter of a prominent family, but one who also chafes a bit at the expectation of marriage and conformity. There is rebellion there, if tamped down and disguised as a desire to get an advance degree even though she can't seem to settle on any particular subject to pursue. Noemi's character is central to the story, and at times you are impatient with her. That too is traditional to gothic. Fortunately, the author does not make Noemi too-stupid-to-live in the end, even if there are moments that you wonder.

Within this mash-up of gothic/horror/historical fiction, the author explores the corruption of humanity caused by white supremacy and desire for eternal life. There is also the perversion of religious, specifically Catholic, rituals by a man and his family to the survival and protection of one. These scenes are worthy of the Marquis de Sade. In fact, the gothic format is the perfect structure for such a work. I do think that the very ending is a little weak.

Which leads me to mentioning that there are echos of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, but it really is not a retelling or adaptation. While both revolve around a young woman who daydreams and believes in fairytales marrying an older man and being whisked off to a mansion haunted by past and overseen by someone creepy, with evil intent, (view spoiler), those are really just classic features of a gothic. Moreno-Garcia deftly takes gothic into new territory. ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Nov 02, 2020 Tasha rated it really liked it

I loved the first part of this book as the creepy vibes were building and the writing was fantastic. The horror genre is not one I gravitate towards so once it started to pick up with the horror stuff, it got a little less enjoyable. Overall though, a great creepy read and a perfect read for this time of year.

4 likes · Like · see review

Nov 09, 2020 Lory Sakay rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club-reads

After seeing mixed reviews for this one, I was hesitant going in but I have to say I really enjoyed it. The author's writing was so perfectly descriptive and fit the eeriness the book's theme portrayed. I did find that there were discrepancies in the character development - some I felt like I knew so well, and others remained one dimensional. As in The Dutch House, by Patchett, I strongly felt the House became the primary, influential character in this read. The storyline was creepy and intrigui ...more

1 like · Like · see review