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Dec. 13th, 2020 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI do really dig The Gothic as a genre so I did take it as more or less a given that I was going to enjoy the most blockbuster Gothic novel of recent years, Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic, and about this I was correct! I don't really have a ton to say about it because it pretty much did what I expected it to do: take the base Gothic plot of "girl meets sinister house populated by sinister men keeping a WILD secret" and commit to it enthusiastically, while also pulling firmly on the threads of racism and sexism that run through the genre to ensure that the reader doesn't forget about them while enjoying the wild ride of the book.
The premise: glamorous Mexico City socialite Noemi Taboada's beloved cousin Catalina has married into a weird and reclusive British family that built themselves a very British manor in a remote Mexican mining town. Now the beloved cousin has more or less disappeared except for one very unnerving letter, so Noemi's father has sent plucky Noemi to investigate what's going on.
What's going on: the family is very weird and very creepy and definitely kind of eugenicist! Catalina is definitely not okay! There were some very dramatic murders in the past? Everyone in the village is scared?? There might be something kind of gross in the walls??? Noemi is determined to stick it out and not be intimidated away until she's achieved some kind of concrete results wrt Catalina; this may be a mistake! Run, Noemi!
If you clicked on this cut I assume that either a.) you read the book and want to talk about it or b.) you haven't yet read the book yet but want to know what the eventual dramatic reveal is about what makes the house so sinister. And you are right to, because it's phenomenal. The answer is: MIND CONTROL MUSHROOMS GROWN IN THE LIVING CORPSE OF THE FAMILY PATRIARCH'S FIRST WIFE WHO LIVES IN THE BASEMENT. God, I love the Gothic.
I do wish that Catalina had had an opportunity to be a little more of a person with a present personality that we cared about rather than a dazed cipher that Noemi needs to rescue, but I do understand that there was a lot going on elsewise with the MIND CONTROL MUSHROOMS.
I also have to admit that my extensive Gothic reading misled me a little here because I was CONVINCED that sweet gormless Francis was going to turn out to be the worst of the horrible lot, because the boring but perfectly nice love interest in a Gothic always turns out to be the worst of the lot. Anyway, it is a terrible idea for Noemi to continue dating Francis after they've all escaped but I'm fairly sure the book also does think it's a terrible idea from that 'can we ever really escape' last dialogue so I'm mollified somewhat.
The premise: glamorous Mexico City socialite Noemi Taboada's beloved cousin Catalina has married into a weird and reclusive British family that built themselves a very British manor in a remote Mexican mining town. Now the beloved cousin has more or less disappeared except for one very unnerving letter, so Noemi's father has sent plucky Noemi to investigate what's going on.
What's going on: the family is very weird and very creepy and definitely kind of eugenicist! Catalina is definitely not okay! There were some very dramatic murders in the past? Everyone in the village is scared?? There might be something kind of gross in the walls??? Noemi is determined to stick it out and not be intimidated away until she's achieved some kind of concrete results wrt Catalina; this may be a mistake! Run, Noemi!
If you clicked on this cut I assume that either a.) you read the book and want to talk about it or b.) you haven't yet read the book yet but want to know what the eventual dramatic reveal is about what makes the house so sinister. And you are right to, because it's phenomenal. The answer is: MIND CONTROL MUSHROOMS GROWN IN THE LIVING CORPSE OF THE FAMILY PATRIARCH'S FIRST WIFE WHO LIVES IN THE BASEMENT. God, I love the Gothic.
I do wish that Catalina had had an opportunity to be a little more of a person with a present personality that we cared about rather than a dazed cipher that Noemi needs to rescue, but I do understand that there was a lot going on elsewise with the MIND CONTROL MUSHROOMS.
I also have to admit that my extensive Gothic reading misled me a little here because I was CONVINCED that sweet gormless Francis was going to turn out to be the worst of the horrible lot, because the boring but perfectly nice love interest in a Gothic always turns out to be the worst of the lot. Anyway, it is a terrible idea for Noemi to continue dating Francis after they've all escaped but I'm fairly sure the book also does think it's a terrible idea from that 'can we ever really escape' last dialogue so I'm mollified somewhat.
