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Mexican Gothic

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Start date: December 1, 2020

Finish date: December 31, 2020

Discussion: Book of the Month

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What Members Thought

Sep 22, 2020 Elle rated it really liked it

4.25 stars.

I LOVED the majority of this book. I'm a sucker for gothic style writing and the creep factor was strong in this one, both from the setting and the characters. The story unfolds in a slow and strange way that I found interesting and I loved the little infusions of folk lore, history, and science. The writing was very good, save a tendency toward a few repetitious word and phrase choices.

The characters are well-written, vibrant and, for the most part, highly disturbing. I liked that.. ...more

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Sep 07, 2020 Tanya Patrice rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, audiobook-is-better

This book is drama, suspense, and a little weirdness rolled up into one. It's not a fast paced story - the author takes time to set the atmospheric nature of the novel. It builds and builds to the climax. I felt like this was set in Mexico - but I felt that the period details were not exactly on point - didn't exactly get the 1930s vibe most of the time. But that did not detract from the novel. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 17, 2020 Kaleen rated it really liked it

Shelves: botm, horror, 2020, 4-star, july-2020

Well. I really don't know what to say about this. Mexican Gothic is spooky, and creepy, and weird. And I really liked it. I think.

The story starts out like your typical haunted house story, but then...It gets weird. Really weird. And a bit confusing. (I'm not going to discuss, because I feel like it would give some of it away.) I actually thought about giving it 3 stars, but the story definitely stuck with me through the night. Overall, a very good, interesting, 4 star read. ...more

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Feb 20, 2021 Stacey rated it it was ok

Shelves: audiobook

I think my expectations for this one sunk my actual ability to enjoy it. It was EVERYWHERE, so I figured it must be pretty spectacular, and plus, I love a good horror book. But its actually more gothic (I know, the name should have been a clue) than horror (despite the MPG) and I found it more ewww than scary. And it was kind of boring. That'll teach me to read GR choice award winners. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 26, 2021 Emejota rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, read-in-2021, favorites-2021

5⭐ because my mind has been blown.

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 10, 2020 Connie Anne Kikta rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020-halloween-season-reading-chall, hooked-on-books-swtwc, dec-2020-group-reads, jan-2021-group-reads, oct-2021-group-reads

I was pretty disappointed in this book. I figured out the why this is happening pretty fast. Also it goes pretty slow. I like the character of the healing lady. She fills in a lot of the back story. The other characters are ok but nothing too relatable about them.

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Dec 22, 2022 Zimbellina rated it really liked it

A creepy house, a mysterious illness, mushrooms.

I enjoyed this book, it was at times creepy which was good. The atmosphere was well done and i liked the ending

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Sep 17, 2020 Tbirdplanstoread rated it liked it

Shelves: library-audio, z-2020-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. More like 3.5🌟. I haven't read a horror story like this in a long time. It was kinda messed up. So, the MC goes to check on her cousin after she and her father receive a strange letter from her. No one ever leaves the family home and there are strict rules, i.e. no talking during dinner and no smoking in the house and no going into the town without a chaperone, etc. Turns out, several hundred years ago, Howard came across some magical fungi that practically made him immortal but it also required More like 3.5🌟. I haven't read a horror story like this in a long time. It was kinda messed up. So, the MC goes to check on her cousin after she and her father receive a strange letter from her. No one ever leaves the family home and there are strict rules, i.e. no talking during dinner and no smoking in the house and no going into the town without a chaperone, etc. Turns out, several hundred years ago, Howard came across some magical fungi that practically made him immortal but it also required him to transfer his essence to one of his offspring, which, in order to be viable, had to come from his bloodline, so it needed to stay as pure as possible, hence the incest...ugh. Grody.

Every now and again the offspring were allowed to go outside and find someone who was not directly related when it became apparent that incest wasn't working so well anymore, but they had to be sure that person was compatible with the evil fungi, if not then they died mysteriously. So, enter Noemi (sp? I listened to the audio, so...) and her cousin Caterina (sp?). Apparently the cousin was fighting it and was able to get word out to Noemi. But then the evil spores from the fungi tried to take over Noemi as well, causing crazy hallucinations and sickness.

They get away, with the help of the younger son, but not until after some really gross stuff. The old man, Howard, was getting ready to transfer his essence to the younger son, and was horribly disgusting. At one point, the older son (Virgil, husband to the cousin) had forced Noemi to kneel down and the old man tongue-kissed her, forcing black sludge down her throat. I was so grossed out. This reminded me of that scene from The Shining, when the old, decrepit naked lady comes out of the bathtub and kissed Jack. It was like that. It was gross and I wanted to hurl.

There were also some bathtub scenes with the older son that were a bit crazy. Not sure if she was hallucinating or not, but ummmmm....ok.

There was more stuff, but you get the idea.

Anyway, I was glad at the end, the good guys got away and they burned down the evil fungi house. Let's hope it stays that way and there isn't a part 2 later on like Doctor Sleep....

This book was okay. It wasn't bad, just a lot of similarities to The Shining for me, especially with the ghosts or the Gloom(? I think that's what it was called. I really didn't like not having a physical copy to go by.). ...more

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