Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Length: 301 Pages
Genres: Gothic Horror, Historical Fiction, Mystery
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Trigger Warnings in this book for Racism (Including Many Conversations about Eugenics), Body Horror, Incest, Suicide, Murder, Gaslighting and Sexual Assault
“It was not a haunting. It was possession and not even that, but something she couldn’t even begin to describe. The creation of an afterlife, furnished with the marrow and the bones and the neurons of a woman, made of stems and spores.”
Hello everyone! I'm back with another amazing Gothic read! I've had my eye on this book ever since it came out in 2020, but just haven't been able to get around to it yet. I figured there was no better time than the present, since we're now well into October.
Noemí Taboada likes to drive fast cars, go to parties, and flirt with boys, but don't let that fool you into thinking she's just a pretty face. She's smart with a backbone of steel, and has plans to study anthropology at a mixed gender University -- if only she can get her father to agree. When her beloved cousin, Catalina, writes a disturbing letter, claiming that her husband is poisoning her and her new home, the mysterious High Place, is haunted, Noemí's father agrees to a bargain: bring Catalina home and avoid any scandal, and Noemí can attend any University she wants.
Arriving at El Triunfo, the little village at the foot of High Place, Noemí finds a place that is shrouded in mystery and fear. The house itself is dark and covered with mold, the inhabitants cold and borderline hostile. The only one who shows her any friendship is Francis, Catalina's husband's young cousin. Soon, Noemí starts experiencing strange things herself: vivid dreams, a lack of appetite, and visions. Is there more to High Place and the unsettling family Catalina has married into? Or is madness catching?
This book reminded me so much of a classic Gothic. It has the mad woman, the isolated manor, the large and insidious family dynamic, all with the added plus of a witty heroine who does more bantering than fainting. Mexican Gothic will leave you wanting more, some might even say...infected. (*wink*)
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