From the Bookshelf of The Perks Of Being A Book Addict…

Mexican Gothic

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Start date: September 1, 2020

Finish date: September 30, 2020

Discussion: Group Books of the Month (BotM)

Why we're reading this: Chosen as our historical fiction themed group BotM for September 2020.
[close] Chosen as our historical fiction themed group BotM for September 2020.

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What Members Thought

Mar 02, 2021 Kelli V Spann rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-other, audio, magical-realism, historical-fiction, good-choice-awards

Okay, I didn’t hate it, but for a book that beat out King’s It Bleeds, for Goodreads Horror Book of the Year, it is a let down. I kept waiting for it to get better, yet knowing that it had already set up the premise, and it was not going to live up to the hype. I’m not sorry I read it, and the cover is great! Just was expecting more.

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Feb 07, 2021 Bruin Mccon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: library-ebook, library-audiobook, feminism, pub-2020

“Why won’t you listen to me? Really listen. Leave today. Leave right this instant. This is no place for you.”

Mexican Gothic is a horror book about the suffocating nature of the white patriarchy.

Noemi is a socialite with a secret passion for anthropology and piano; her father bribes her to check in on her orphaned cousin by promising to let her attend university. In case you were unclear that the book is about women’s limitations in a world run by men.

Her cousin, Catalina, she comes to learn, is “Why won’t you listen to me? Really listen. Leave today. Leave right this instant. This is no place for you.”

Mexican Gothic is a horror book about the suffocating nature of the white patriarchy.

Noemi is a socialite with a secret passion for anthropology and piano; her father bribes her to check in on her orphaned cousin by promising to let her attend university. In case you were unclear that the book is about women’s limitations in a world run by men.

Her cousin, Catalina, she comes to learn, is in some deep shit. She sends a letter to Noemi’s dad that is a thinly veiled critique of how much a woman stands to lose when she marries. She claims she is being held against her will in her marital residence. Catalina’s husband, who receives a strongly worded missive from Noemi’s father, is a snake in the grass from the jump. We all know what Noemi will find at his house.

High Place is a formerly grand mansion now rotten to its core (again, not subtle) where the extended Doyle family live under the stewardship of the patriarch, Howard. He’s absolutely ancient and clearly in bad health when Noemi meets him. He’s also an obvious racist who has a library full of books about eugenics and tries to convince Noemi that it’s akin to her field of anthropology. She’s not playing.

Catalina is drugged up when Noemi finds her and it’s hard to make heads or tails of the nuggets of info she’s able to give Noemi. Aside from Francis, a cousin to Virgil (Noemi’s husband), most of the other residents of the manse are cold to hostile toward Noemi. Her visits with Catalina are short and infrequent, chaperoned by a lady’s maid who reorganizes Catalina’s room while Noemi tries to pump her cuz for information.

“It was easy to kiss someone when it didn’t matter; it was more difficult when it might be meaningful.”

Despite Francis being described as a living apparition, he and Noemi strike up a friendship and she even starts to want to kiss him. She has her pick of men at home in Mexico City so she tries to be thoughtful about how she approaches anything with him. Soon, she’s talking him into driving her into town and finds out he’s gotten in trouble because of it. Francis’s mom then tries to warn Noemi off.

This book goes from creepy to scary fairly quickly; I was sailing through the book on audio and had to switch back to print to deal with the horror aspects. I’ve heard many say this novel isn’t too scary. It is but more in a thriller way. And it is gory AF.

As I said at the top, the theme of this book is women who don’t fit into a 1950s idea of what an upperclass woman should be. It’s set in the 50s, for one thing. But the men are literally scary, one covered in boils, the other looking Noemi up and down lecherously even though she’s his wife’s cousin. I found it interesting that the white psycho who wanted to be treated as a god was also a racist; misogyny and racism often come as a pair. There’s a real Gaslight element to the book; Noemi knows the house is all wrong but those who live there keep telling her she’s being rude and misunderstanding the situation. Or overstepping. This was the true horror of the novel for me. ...more

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Feb 10, 2023 Gwen rated it really liked it

Shelves: uno-game-2023

3.5 stars (I wish GR had half stars!)

I really struggled through the first two-thirds of this book. While interesting and well-written, it was quite slow and a little repetitive. I wish I knew a little more about what was going on (the twist?) earlier in the story. The late introduction of the true nature of the house made the ending seem rushed. But what an ending!

Noemi is summoned to check in on her recently married older cousin Catalina in an eerie old secluded mansion in rural Mexico. But of ...more

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Jul 25, 2021 Julie rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, 2021-reading-challenge-completed

Part of the Popsugar 2021 Reading Challenge: A genre hybrid

I definitely went into this book with higher expectations based on the amazing reviews and recommendations it had when released. I struggled through all but the last quarter of the book. Once more horror elements became apparent it picked up in pace.

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