From the Bookshelf of EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club…

Mexican Gothic

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Start date: October 1, 2021

Finish date: October 31, 2021

Discussion: MODERN / POPULAR READS

Why we're reading this: Group Modern/Popular Read - October 2021
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MODERN / POPULAR READS

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What Members Thought

Oct 07, 2020 Elya rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I put this book on hold because so many people were raving about it. Also, because I judged the book by its cover and it's a beautiful cover! I did not realize it was a horror novel.
Set in the 1950's, the main character, Noemi, is
characterized as a flighty socialite who is studying....anthropology? I never did figure that one out. She goes to check on her cousin who married a weirdo and sent a letter with all kinds of bizarre things in it. So, Noemi, goes to check it out and save her....except ...more

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Jun 14, 2023 Kathy Jo rated it liked it

Shelves: the-wanna-read-book-club

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The start of Mexican Gothic reminded me a great deal of the original Dark Shadows television series. In the series, we followed Victoria Winters, the kind and innocent protagonist who was largely naive of the mysteries and evils lurking unseen around every corner. As a young person watching, I remember being perpetually on edge awaiting either a jump-scare or some revelation in the mysteries. The series storytellers were masterful in holding us on a precarious and delicious edge without releasin The start of Mexican Gothic reminded me a great deal of the original Dark Shadows television series. In the series, we followed Victoria Winters, the kind and innocent protagonist who was largely naive of the mysteries and evils lurking unseen around every corner. As a young person watching, I remember being perpetually on edge awaiting either a jump-scare or some revelation in the mysteries. The series storytellers were masterful in holding us on a precarious and delicious edge without releasing us or satisfying our determined desire to ferret out the as-yet untold secrets. Silvia Moreno-Garcia achieved this same feat early in Mexican Gothic. I was enraptured.

Rather than satisfying my desire to "know" or holding me further on that lovely gothic edge of tension, the story took an unexpected and, to me at least, an unfortunate turn. The latter half of the story revealed the mystery alright. And it turned out to be some blend of The Last of Us and Stranger Things. There were some obvious allusions to Poe too, though even this fell more flat than flattering. Where the book's first part kept me engaged and wanting more, the latter left me wishing it was over with. Character development yielded to the grotesque in an apparent albeit failed effort to shock the reader. Rather than shock and awe, I felt boredom and disgust. The only reason I pushed through instead of relegating it to my DNF list was to honor my commitment to be prepared for our upcoming book club discussion.

In trying to fathom the author's motivation in this type of shift, it seems she didn't quite know how to navigate the latter part of her story. Or perhaps she had a lot of seed ideas without knowing what to do with them, so dumped them all at the end. More likely, perhaps, is that she simply didn't know how to end it and wanted to get the dang thing over with as much as I did.

The book held such promise. What a grand rise and fall. For what it's worth, I sincerely wanted to tell you something more flattering. ...more

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May 31, 2021 Kim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: finished-in-2021

This sort of story isn't usually my cup of tea, and it wasn't this time either. I found this to be quite slow. It's 1951 and main character, Noemí, is sent by her father from Mexico City to check on her cousin, Carolina, who was recently married and whisked off to live in her husband's mansion in rural Mexico. Carolina has sent Noemí's father a letter in which she sounds completely unhinged and instead of going to check on her himself (after receiving no adequate response from Carolina's husband ...more

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Apr 09, 2021 Mary Cronk rated it liked it · review of another edition

Fun book but at times a bit gross... but it is horror story! It does not feel Mexican to me... could be anywhere really as story is just a horror story waiting for a movie or netflix series script. But nice they made it international but maybe Mexico would not want to claim it!

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