Mexican Gothic Full Book Review

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Book Review 

*Warning: This review contains spoilers* 









Introduction 

This book is an ideal read for spooky season, and is a good modern take on the gothic genre. It’s also a good read if you’re looking for something spooky, but that also still feels like it has a deeper thematic concern. 

Review

Mexican Gothic starts out very strong. It has an interesting protagonist, really immaculate “haunted mansion” type vibes, and there’s a really strong anti-colonial theme to the plot. It fringes the borders of dark fantasy, horror, and science fiction all with a gothic undertone to give the novel crossover appeal to a lot of different readers’ tastes. 

We follow Naomí as she travels to her cousin Catalina’s husband’s family home after learning that Catalina is (supposedly) gravely ill, however Catalina believes that her husband is trying to murder her. 

Now, as the story goes on, the spooky vibes do start to grow a bit more… convoluted. If you’re expecting a traditional horror story—ghosts, monsters, etc.—that is absolutely not what you’re going to get in Mexican Gothic. I’ll give Garcia props for this, she really uses an original idea to be the big plot reveal of her story. I have never read anything quite like this before. 

The big plot reveal is that a radioactive (of sorts) mushroom with unique biological spores is the weapon of choice of Catalina’s in-laws, that they’ve been using it to prolong their lives and wage biological chemical warfare as the mushroom is only compatible with some people’s genetics. I know it sounds far-fetched, but it’s actually interesting. The flaw with the book isn’t with the reveal but rather the way the pacing of the book falls apart at the end. 

As Naomí and her love interest, Francis Doyle a member of the family, are trying to flee the mansion after discovering the truth, it really starts to feel like ScoobyDoo. I don’t mean that as an exaggerated metaphor. I mean it literally feels like ScoobyDoo. It reads as if they are just running from room to room and in each room there’s a different type of chaos going on. 

The book could have stood to be longer just to have the climax feel less chaotic and rushed. 

The romantic subplot between Naomí and Francis isn’t that well developed either. I like the open-endedness of them being left to wonder if the legacy of his family’s mushroom spores still might live on inside him. It’s a perfect unsettling ending to a book of this genre, but the actually quote-unquote romance between the two was pretty bland. 

Final Thoughts 

Overall, I would give Mexican Gothic 3 out of 5 stars. It’s a unique and interesting premise, but it starts to fall apart too much at the end. I’d have liked it better if some of it were paced out a little more. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Station Eleven Book Review

Image
  Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel  *Warning: This review contains spoilers* Introduction If there were an award for the book with the most unique plot, I would cast my vote for Station Elven. I had truly never read anything like this book before, but that wasn't what really impressed me about it. What really got to me about this book and stayed with me for a really long time after I finished was that I don't know how much this book would have resonated with me if I hadn't read it during the Pandemic.  Station Eleven is about a contagion that spreads across the whole world and eventually leads to an apocalyptic-like situation as so much of the population died off, and because of the ensuing panic that led to the breakdown of society as we know it? Sound eerie?  Now, the world we live in obviously didn't quite reach this point during Covid. However, despite the fact that this novel was published way back in 2014 before anyone had ever heard the word "Covid&qu
Read more

The Daevabad Trilogy Review Part One: The City of Brass

Image
The Daevabad Trilogy Book One:  The City of Brass  by S.A. Chakraborty  *Warning: This review contains spoilers* *Content Warning* This review mentions genocide. Summary & Review   I was not expecting to end up loving this book as much as I did. Towards the beginning of the book, I was quite underwhelmed by it, despite my high expectations. Nahri was a great protagonist right from the start (and remained so the whole trilogy), but there was just so much going on at the start of The City of Brass. It felt like a lot of info-dumping in places, with Dara's constant explaining about the history and lore of Daevabad and the key differences between Daevas and Djinn and Shafit to Nahri. Keeping track of the lore when it was only being told to me and not actually shown thus far in the story felt exhausting at times. On top of that, a lot of these early chapters were about Nahri and Dara journeying to Daevabad, and I'm not a huge fan of exclusive travel chapters in books, especially
Read more

A Song of Ice and Fire Series Review Part 3: The Seven Kingdoms Have Exploded into a Storm of Swords

Image
  A Song of Ice and Fire Book 3: A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin Spoiler Warning This review contains spoilers for both the novel and the HBO television adaptation  Game of Thrones.  Content Warning This review contains mentions of slavery, extreme violence, child marriage, and sexual assault.  Introduction  To most, this is the true masterpiece of George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. To many other fans, they have decided that this novel will suffice as their makeshift ending to the story if Martin never finishes the series. Others consider this the last truly great novel in the series, with some fans being disappointed by books four and five. One thing that I think most Ice and Fire fans can agree on is that A Storm of Swords, from start to finish, is one hell of a ride. The third Ice and Fire installment picks up after the events of the War of the Five Kings in book two, with Renly Baratheon dead, Joffrey's hold on the Iron Throne secured
Read more