Book Review: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia

Rating: 8.5/10

Hello lovely book people and dragons, 

Today we are discussing Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia.this was another buddy read as lately all I’ve been able to read have been buddy reads. Its the pressure of the other human (hi Rue) judging me for not doing my part.  As promised by the title, the book was a gift to my gothic loving heart. The atmosphere was perfect. The writing was beautiful. It would have gotten a perfect score for me if the characters were a little more developed and the horror element had just a little bit more of an explanation. Just a few more pages on each of these elements would have made a world of difference. This is not a long book, twenty pages more wouldn’t have hurt. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I still had a delightful time reading Mexican Gothic and it’s a very good book, it just needed a little push to get it to perfection status. 

What to tell you before I head into Spoiler Land? Well, it takes place in 1950s Mexico, which is not a time and place I knew a whole lot about so I researched before I got to reading. I suggest you do the same if you are not familiar, just so there is some context. I think some knowledge of the situation adds to the horror aspect of the book, but that’s my opinion. Our main character Noemi is a great character. She is young, smart, rich, and loves a good party. She also feels unfocused at the beginning of the novel and grows into herself as the story progresses. Her love for family motivates her, and I liked that about her. She is also spoiled, but that doesn’t take away from her appeal, she knows she is spoiled and laughs at herself. The isolated house is sufficiently creepy. There is a cemetery on the grounds. And the callbacks to The Yellow Wallpaper satisfy my inner nerd. 

We are off to Spoiler Land. Stay out of Spoiler Land. Seriously, stay out. Just read the book if you want to know the answers. Don’t look into Spoiler Land. 

I hated everyone in High Place pretty much immediately. Except for Francis who is a soft boy and I have a soft spot for soft boys who are still trying to find themselves and their strength. The immediate hatred was part of the problem I had with the characters. I instantly hated them. They oozed slime and dubious intentions. There was no depth to any of them. Virgil very obviously was a misogynist who resented his father’s power. Howard Doyle was very obviously a predator, at least he was a smart one, unlike his son. Roberta was a stereotype of a resentful spinster, even though she had been married to what sounded like a wonderful man and had a decent son. In only became clear at the end of the book that she was not happy that she didnt get to marry her creepy body stealing uncle. I mean: I’m sorry? She was so brainwashed she sacrificed her son to Creepy Howard. She did, the only reason he survived was because of Noemi and her general “nope to all of this” attitude.  So while the characters were shallow they at least did their job of being sinister and menacing and disturbing. 

I liked Francis, but he was not developed enough. We spent too much time with him being afraid and not enough time with him growing as a person. I understand that Creepy Howard wanted to assure Francis had as little confidence and self-worth as possible to make taking over his body easier, but the whole point of stories is to take us on a journey with the characters and I just did not feel like we went on a proper journey with Francis. That disappoints me. I don’t appreciate it. I had a feeling Francis was the chosen sacrificial host because in what universe would Howard chose his strong-willed son? The whole point is for Creepy Howard to take over and live on. If the soul you are kicking out/ squashing is too strong you do not get the desired effect. I did find it cute how much of a crush on Noemi Francis had. It was a nice contrast to the creepy predatory and condescending behavior displayed by Creepy Howard and Stupid Virgil. 

Let us talk about predatory behavior shown in this book. I do not want to talk about it, but it’s a large part of the horror. First, we have Catalina and her manipulation followed by prolonged abuse. Watching her try and fight her way out was painful. She was powerless in the situation and she never regained any power. She got to take revenge at least by stabbing Creepy Howard in the eye and also stabbing Stupid Virgil in the eye. The gIrl had some kind of bloodthirsty streak in her no one expected and I admire that. Go straight for the eye when they are trying to murder you I say. Next, we had Noemi and the sexual assault Virgil put her through. That scene in the bathtub still haunts my nightmares and it’s been over a month since I read the book. The fact that Virgil used mystical mushrooms as a date rape drug tells you quite a bit about him does it not? This entitlement the men feel to have women’s bodies is a sad problem at the center of the patriarchy and misogyny. When you add to the mix the fact that both Noemi and Catalina are Mexican and the Doyals are British creates an even more disturbing power dynamic. These parts of the book were done very well, but I wonder why it’s necessary to bring so much horror by making women be the victims. I recently listened to a podcast that analyzed the sexual assault parallels in horror and how it’s always the women who seem to be the victims. It’s just an observation to keep in mind. 

I was not entirely sure what happened to allow Creepy Howard to become what he is today. There was not much explanation as to how the rituals work, how the mushrooms work, how the power even came to be. This bothered me. I like knowing how things work at least a little bit. I was sufficiently creeped out by what I did know, but some explanation would have been nice. Maybe explain to me how mushrooms can control minds. That’s all I ask. I am a person who is already uncomfortable with plants and mushrooms so this book hit me right in the fear center just by using mushrooms as a tool, but I would have liked to have a bit more explanation. The human sacrifice and incest were scary but those things were a human evil so I understood it. I did not fully understand the mushrooms. I also didn’t understand how Creepy Howard could transfer his souls into other people. And what happens to the souls that he displaces? Do they just float about the collective mushroom consciousness? If so do they haunt Creepy Howard? Because they should. 

I was satisfied with the ending. I fully expected them to set the house on fire. I was counting on it since about page sixty or so if I’m honest. I would have also been satisfied if they all died in the fire, including our heroes. 

I am heading out of Spoiler Land now, feel free to rejoin if you couldn’t follow me here. 

I recommend this book, it has so many good things about it. The atmosphere is amazing. I felt like I was there. The horror was sufficient. The surprises too were sufficient to keep me satisfied. As many of you know, if you read this messy blog sufficiently, I am a difficult person to surprise because I suspect everyone and everything, so the fact that I was surprised a few times should be enough to tell you about the twists and turns this book takes. 

Thank you for joining me in yet another disorganized review, this was fun. I had fun reading the book at two am, and I had fun rumbling about it. I hope you enjoyed yourselves as well. See you next time. According to The Schedule of Doom, next time I see you on Tuesday. So see you all Tuesday!

With the hope of never running into a creepy house with magical mushrooms, 

Anna