#RIPXVII Mexican Gothic
OCTOBER
Finish date: 01 October 2022
Genre: novel
Rating: A
Review: Mexican Gothic (ISBN: 978-1529402681)
- It’s time once again for National Hispanic Heritage Month,
- which runs annually from September 15 through October 15.
- #HispanicHeritageMonth
Quick scan: Set in 1950-1952, Noemi lives in Mexico City, enjoying the parties, games and the flirting with handsome heirs to vast companies. When her cousin Catalina sends a telegram saying her new husband is trying to poison her, Noemi sets off to investigate her cousin’s strange claim
Good news: Mexican Gothic contains some excellent “gothic” characteristics: environment of fear, discovery of obscured family ties and nightmares, dreams or frightening visions.
Good news: I’m learning more about “spooky” books. Writers use the “dream scene” quite frequently to let the horror/supernatural explode in the narrative and scare the bejesus out of the reader!
1st dream – ch 5 wallpaper in bedroom
2nd dream- ch 8 intruder in the bedroom
3rd dream – ch 11 the house is really haunted!
4th dream – ch 14…very strange
5th dream – ch 18….sleepwalking
Good news: Excellent use of a cemetery to create a super suspenseful 9th chapter. Noemi is searching for something her cousin Catalina told her: “It lives in the cemetery.” Now, Ms Moreno-Garcia really has my attention.
Bad news: What is Ms Moreno-Garcoia’s biggest challenge? Try to keep supernatural (gothic) tales within the realm of the probable. Did Silvia do this?…does she let the book veer towards the absurd. Well, I must admit the book does go beyond reality…but in a good “scary” way! When you hear the expression. “the walls have ears”…well, believe it!
Good news: The house plays an important role as a setting, a symbol and a semi-character. This is one of the best part of the book…my imagination can run wild: house leaps out of the mist
…looms over them like a giant gargoyle
…the ebony porch groans and a
…silver knocker shaped like a fist dangling from a circle.
You can just see it!
Good news: Ch 6 -We learn the family at “High Place” (where Catalina is being held by her husband….) is cursed! The book just keeps getting better!
Good news: Buckle up…the last 5 chapters is a rollercoaster ride!!
Personal: This book is the epitome of the feeling and atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread. IMO this is the key to dark fiction…this is how you get under the reader’s skin!
“I’ve told you about the bloodline. We’re special.” ( pg 212)
If you like a good spine-chilling psychological thriller that will keep you turning the pages…this is THE book!
PS…I knew there was something spooky about those mushrooms!
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