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Recent Reading: Mexican Gothic
Mexican Gothic is a 300-page novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. This book made a bit of a fuss perhaps a year or two back, but I have no faith in the NPR or NYT book recommendations after the heaps of uncritical praise piled on Madeline Miller's Circe. Nevertheless, Mexican Gothic remained in my head as something to check out when I had the chance, and in a rare W for my neighborhood free book library, I triumphantly snatched a slightly waterlogged copy of it a few weeks back.
First, Moreno-Garcia is clearly a fan of the gothic genre in general, and that shows in the book. You can tell while reading this is someone who loves this genre and is eager to work within that space. Few things are more disappointing than an allegedly "groundbreaking" genre novel written by someone with no respect or care for the genre itself. Moreno-Garcia's prose so lovingly paints those elements we adore about this genre: the unsettling isolation, the muddling fog, the strangers with sinister motives, the weight of a family legacy hanging over one's head. I absolutely loved picking this up at the end of the day to sink into the atmosphere.
Second, I just loved the protagonist, Noemi. Novel protagonists often trend towards introverted, bookish, slightly standoffish types (sometimes writers DO write what they know...) so Noemi in that sense feels like a breath of fresh air as an unapologetically extroverted socialite, who, in her own words "wished for eternal youth and endless merriment." A spoiled debutante Noemi may be, but she is also quick-witted, determined, and courageous. And her honed ability to read the room and manipulate social situations to her benefit becomes another weapon in her arsenal when she faces up against the Doyle family.
I was also delighted with Francis Doyle. Can a piece of gothic lit be complete without a sickly waif preyed upon by the forces of evil? This role unfailingly falls to a woman, who is often love interest-adjacent, if not an outright love interest, and her delicate, ill beauty inspires feelings of protectiveness in the protagonist which help spur him to escaping the dark forces at play. I love genderbending stock characters, so to see Francis fulfilling this role in a masculine way tickled me. Apparently the book has taken some flak for the relationship between Francis and Noemi, but I thought it was delightful.
Moreno-Garcia also shows us how well traditional gothic lit themes work intertwined with commentary about colonialism, classism, and racism. The House in this gothic lit story belongs to a family of wealthy English immigrants in Mexico, and the horror of it stems not only from the supernatural forces at play, but the cruelty and abuse of the Doyle family, their family silver mines a veritable graveyard of local impoverished Mexican workers used up and cast off to fuel their extravagant lifestyle.
The one real criticism I could cite is that the book is quite predictable if you're familiar with gothic lit or film. There are no huge surprises here, and the plot twists are likely to all be familiar to you. However, as someone who usually detests predictability in my stories, even I'll say that Moreno-Garcia's story was engaging enough that I was still keen to read on and find out just how these things came about, if I wasn't surprised by the plot points themselves. And I found all the concluding elements quite satisfying.
My final thought is that I will definitely be hanging onto this one! I think Mexican Gothic deserved the praise it got and I hope the appreciation of it continues.
Crossposted from my main.
First, Moreno-Garcia is clearly a fan of the gothic genre in general, and that shows in the book. You can tell while reading this is someone who loves this genre and is eager to work within that space. Few things are more disappointing than an allegedly "groundbreaking" genre novel written by someone with no respect or care for the genre itself. Moreno-Garcia's prose so lovingly paints those elements we adore about this genre: the unsettling isolation, the muddling fog, the strangers with sinister motives, the weight of a family legacy hanging over one's head. I absolutely loved picking this up at the end of the day to sink into the atmosphere.
Second, I just loved the protagonist, Noemi. Novel protagonists often trend towards introverted, bookish, slightly standoffish types (sometimes writers DO write what they know...) so Noemi in that sense feels like a breath of fresh air as an unapologetically extroverted socialite, who, in her own words "wished for eternal youth and endless merriment." A spoiled debutante Noemi may be, but she is also quick-witted, determined, and courageous. And her honed ability to read the room and manipulate social situations to her benefit becomes another weapon in her arsenal when she faces up against the Doyle family.
I was also delighted with Francis Doyle. Can a piece of gothic lit be complete without a sickly waif preyed upon by the forces of evil? This role unfailingly falls to a woman, who is often love interest-adjacent, if not an outright love interest, and her delicate, ill beauty inspires feelings of protectiveness in the protagonist which help spur him to escaping the dark forces at play. I love genderbending stock characters, so to see Francis fulfilling this role in a masculine way tickled me. Apparently the book has taken some flak for the relationship between Francis and Noemi, but I thought it was delightful.
Moreno-Garcia also shows us how well traditional gothic lit themes work intertwined with commentary about colonialism, classism, and racism. The House in this gothic lit story belongs to a family of wealthy English immigrants in Mexico, and the horror of it stems not only from the supernatural forces at play, but the cruelty and abuse of the Doyle family, their family silver mines a veritable graveyard of local impoverished Mexican workers used up and cast off to fuel their extravagant lifestyle.
The one real criticism I could cite is that the book is quite predictable if you're familiar with gothic lit or film. There are no huge surprises here, and the plot twists are likely to all be familiar to you. However, as someone who usually detests predictability in my stories, even I'll say that Moreno-Garcia's story was engaging enough that I was still keen to read on and find out just how these things came about, if I wasn't surprised by the plot points themselves. And I found all the concluding elements quite satisfying.
My final thought is that I will definitely be hanging onto this one! I think Mexican Gothic deserved the praise it got and I hope the appreciation of it continues.
Crossposted from my main.
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