Praise for 'Mexican Gothic' by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Image by Julio Gonzalez via Unsplash
Written by Holly Shipman
I have not read a book so enriched with a dark and chilling atmosphere quite like Mexican Gothic. Even after a couple of years, I still think about its eerie ambiance and mastery of descriptive storytelling. Silvia Moreno-Garcia truly crafted a new Gothic classic with this novel, harking back to the traditional conventions of the genre with a grandiose haunted mansion high on the mountains, engulfed by fog. Yet, even with the way she plays with tradition, she gives a new voice to the genre, plunging a decrepit Victorian stately home into the sunny climes of 50s Mexico.
Reminiscent of many of the genre’s hallmarks like Rebecca and The Fall of the House of Usher, Garcia explores the life of her own Gothic heroine, a Mexican socialite named Noemí Taboada and her determination to save her cousin from a unit of dubious in-laws - whom she believes to be poisoning her. This story is lacquered with a delicious mix of the uncanny and the grotesque, deepening the layers of the macabre as the story and its mysteries unravel. Although the story basks within tropes and re-engineering them, Garcia stays true to the critical nature of Gothic literature, commenting on the immorality of colonial imperialism, coupling it with a botanical spin on the Gothic to evoke the deep-rooted nature of its lethality and entrenchment within western civilisation.
For anyone belonging to the Gothic horror crowd, this piece is a must read. There is no negotiation. It is brimming with the best elements known to this class of literature: hooking action, unsettling description, high-stakes and high-tension romance. Silvia Moreno-Garcia has people coming back to re-read repeatedly ever since its release in 2020. It makes perfect sense how this book has remained a bestseller and constant prize-winner. It is truly a gripping and enthralling page turner, the sort that will leave you running late for work as it did with me.
Edited by Nico Horton