So I’ve been going back and forth on my thoughts with this one because I’m not entirely sure if I read this book to fast, rather than basking in it a bit, or if I’m just not really the target audience for this one, but I find this book to be really middle of the road for me. “Just kinda meh,” was the phrase I used when discussing it with a friend.
Noemi receives a startling, desperate letter from her cousin Catalina in which Catalina implies she is trapped and needs rescuing. Without hesitation, Noemi travels to the estate where her cousin lives with her husband and multiple generations of his family, and soon discovers that things are more nefarious than they appeared at first glance. The husband’s family has a secretive legacy that they’ll stop at almost nothing to maintain and now that Catalina doesn’t want to be part of that plan, things are (proverbially) starting to hit the fan.
I picked up Mexican Gothic because of the impressive amount of accolades it received upon it’s debut in 2020. It was a Goodreads Choice Award winner for Horror, and it was nominated for Shirley Jackson, Bram Stoker, and Locus awards the same year. I enjoy both horror and knowing what all the hype is about, so I couldn’t help but pick this one up.
And I’ll admit, I thought that it started out promisingly. The first few chapters had a tone that reminded me a bit of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, if the woman in that story had reached out to someone for help. Between the tone and the interesting setting (early-mid 1900s Mexico), I was buckled up for the ride.
However, once things started to get revealed and Noemi started to get more involved with one of the family members, my interest started to fade. While some interesting parts felt like a straight up allegory for overthrowing the patriarchy and the abusive power of old, rich, white men, other parts took a left turn from the main plot and dove right into a kind of awkward, romantic subplot that didn’t really feel interesting to me. From there, the horror plotline that felt like it was going to be the core of the story, started to get pretty muddy and lost. (And going in with the expectation that this was a horror story, made all of this feel like a bit of a let-down.)
Don’t get me wrong, I think there’s a lot of things here to unpack. I could definitely see this being used in academic curriculum as a study in modern gothics as it touches on the tones and themes. There were also some interesting subversions from typical horror tropes that I think could be interesting to explore outside the bounds of the book. (I actually enjoyed the parts with the mold, despite how odd that sounds out of context.) But I think it didn’t really dive deeply enough into any of those themes to make the story rich and interesting when reading from a casual perspective (rather than a critical one.) The switch from more horror tones to a more romance-based plot didn’t help either, in my opinion.
The last bit I wrestled with regarding Mexican Gothic was the writing style. I acknowledge that this is entirely a personal preference and I make a conscious effort not to let it effect my rating system, but I don’t care for things written in a YA style. I’m sure because of the adult situations and subject matter involved at some points of the book that this book isn’t actually considered in the YA genre, [I should maybe add a content warning here that this book contains multiple instances of rape and incest] but the style of the storytelling definitely reads like a book aimed at a younger audience. I guess you might classify it as a New Adult style? I would put it right in line with the style of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (which I read last year and also didn’t love for a variety of other reasons.) Which is all to say, if that’s your thing, you might enjoy this.
So for me, Mexican Gothic gets added to the “Not for Me” shelf. I don’t think the book was necessarily bad or that it would be a waste of time to read. In fact, I could easily see this being someone else’s new favorite book. But for me, the hype was misleading and it wasn’t what I was looking for. I’d say, proceed at your own risk. Results may vary.
