Mexican Gothic

 

Image credit: Los Angeles Times

I sometimes wonder/admire/contemplate what it’s like to be a modern writer publishing in this day and age. Consider that your readership has consumed and continues to consume so much content on the daily (as well as yourself); it must be so hard to come up with ideas. Different ideas. Right now I’m of the belief that it’s a real challenge for modern writers to be groundbreaking and show us something new because there’s a lack of complete originality that comes with living in such a media-heavy consumer society. This is a thought I had as I closed the cover on my book club’s third venture: Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic.

Described as a cross between the Bronte sisters and Lovecraft, the book tells the story of Mexican beauty and socialite Noemi Taboada, who’s father sends her to the decaying and gloomy High Place when he receives a concerning letter from her newly married cousin Catalina. Determined to discover what’s troubling her beloved cousin, Noemi goes without complaint, but soon discovers that there is something really wrong with High Place. The house is gloomy and crumbling around the inhabitants and the family is not much better. Catalina’s husband is charming, but menacing, his decrepit father is foreboding, and his tyrannical sister has no time for Noemi’s questions and concerns. Soon Catalina’s unease about the house and the family become Noemi’s, as she begins to have horrific nightmares and some dramatic stories come to light about skeletons in the Doyle family’s closet. 

This is a very easy read. A return to the true gothic aesthetic complete with stiff and eerie characters, wealth gone to seed, and a crumbling mansion haunted by goodness knows what. The central horror is rather Lovecraftian, treading a fine line between the scientific and the supernatural. An interesting excursion into the idea of ‘traumascapes’ (locations ‘haunted’ by horrible events of violence, scandal, etc…) Mexican Gothic does live up to the Guardian’s statement of “Lovecraft meets the Brontes in Latin America” with its engaging heroine out to uncover a mystery and the unsubtle racism of the supporting characters. 

Image credit: Literary Hub

While the story itself is rather interesting, the prose is very blunt, sometimes the action, dialogue, and scenes of horror feel a little ham-fisted, and – as I mentioned earlier – there is nothing particularly different or shocking in the drama/horror because it’s reminiscent of a whole bunch of other authors and content creators. Lovecraft, Crimson Peak, The Last of Us, these are just a few things I was put in mind of when reading this book. 

But the pace of the story is good, there isn’t ever really a dull moment, the characters are compelling enough, and the imagery is pretty gorgeous. If you’re a fan of the gothic, then I would recommend you give this a go.

Author: Silvia Morena-Garcia, 2020

Published: Del Ray, an imprint of Random House, New York, 2020.  Pictured edition published by Jo Fletcher Books, London, 2021.