Mexican Gothic

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Having read several of my mother's old copies of gothic romance back in the day, I wasn't sure what to expect with this book, especially after reading Gods of Jade and Shadow. But I was drawn in from the beginning pages, and the author did a wonderful job of creating interesting and intriguing characters and putting them in a strange and yet familiarly gothic type of story. Noemi was a great protagonist and it was fun to see her character grow and develop. The other characters in the book were suitably creepy and disconcerting. The setting, a decaying old isolated mansion filled with a very standoffish British family was unsettling and yet mesmerizing. That is how I might describe the whole book: unsettling yet mesmerizing.
The author left enough clues about what was going on in the house that I had the mechanics of what was "wrong" fairly soon. But when the motives behind what was going on were revealed just after the midway point, I was a bit disappointed--not with what was happening, but with how the author chose to fill in Noemi and the reader. I was a little unhappy for a chapter or so, but then the story drew me right back in, and kept me entranced. As the book moved to its conclusion, I really had no idea what was going to happen, or whether or not Noemi would end up safe and sound or corrupted by the strange house and its occupants. I was reading breathlessly until the very last page.
This book combines traditional Gothic tropes with ideas of Darwinism, indigenous traditions, and even some slightly Lovecraftian horror. It was just the right amount of creepy and unsettling without being truly frightening. There were some descriptions that were pretty gory that might bother some readers, but to me they really added to the themes of the story.
I would absolutely recommend this book!


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