Review: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Originally published on Ideally Inspired Reviews.

Book Info & Summary

I finished this book two weeks ago and I still cannot stop thinking about it. I wasn't a fan of Gods of Jade and Shadow by the same author so I almost didn't pick up this book but DANG AM I GLAD I DID! The first 60 or so pages are a little slow, but once we get past world-building and into the bulk of the plot I couldn't put it down.

If you like classic gothic novels like Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights then this is the book for you. Historical Fiction set in 1950s Mexico, Mexican Gothic follows fabulous debutante and university student Noemí Taboada as she travels to the old English estate/bankrupt silver mine owned by her cousin Catalina's husband and his family after she receives a desperate plea for help. Catalina's husband Virgil claims she is sick, but is she really sick, or has she lost her mind? Or even worse- is she perfectly well and are the strange things she claims to have seen and heard absolutely 100% real?

A proud old family who thinks they are amazing just because they are white and used to have money, Catalina's husband Virgil, his aunt Florence and his father Howard do everything in their power to block Noemí's attempts to discover the secrets of High Place, a rotted and crumbling monument to their former glory. Obsessed with the purity of their bloodline and their perceived superiority over the local people, they do whatever they can to put stubborn Noemí "in her place." This family has more than one secret hidden in their overgrown gardens and mushroom covered walls - the ending was a wild ride that seriously left me spinning. In the vein of Crimson Peak, this book left me feeling as scared and paranoid as the characters themselves, jumping each time they turned a corner or heard a voice speak to them from nowhere at all. Equal parts spine-tingling and heart-pounding, I gagged and prayed and shouted from the first page to the last.

Also I. Loved. Noemí. So many of the other characters dismiss her as silly and vain, and while she definitely can be she was also a character of such intense grit and determination that you couldn't help but root for her. She and Catalina are amazing examples of the effects of trauma on a person and the intense bonds of family. This whole novel was an excellent examination of the power family holds over us. If your family does terrible things do you still support them? Leave them? Fight against them even if it kills you? I loved this book and I honestly can't wait to read it again.

Some trigger warnings: sexual assault, blood, hallucinations, racism and drug use.