Mexican Gothic

I wanted so bad to like this. I heard really good things about it but, I did not enjoy it. It was slow and boring! No climax at all.

This book seemed super popular when I bought it, and I generally like gothic horror so it seemed like a safe bet, and ultimately I don't regret reading it. I like that while the story does have a lot of traditional gothic horror elements, the setting and main character felt fresh. The heroine is bold, confident, and smart. I read What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher around the same time and they both have similar plot elements based on the Fall of the House of Usher. I think they are each unique enough to stand on their own. Mexican Gothic deals more with the horrors of misogyny and colonialism blended with the actual horror elements. This won't be a top favorite for me because there were some scenes that felt too gross and disquieting for me to want to re-read, but it's nothing too gratuitous or horrific.

3.5, this book was so wack lmao but I was mostly entertained and happy with the ending!

Heck YES. This book actually live up to my expectations. To be fair, I didn't know much about this book other than the title, but boy howdy did it deliver on pure gothic magic. This book was tremendously atmospheric, stunningly lush, and grotesquely enthralling. I literally got to a "no-turning-back" point and had to just finish it in one go. I've seen a lot of people comparing it to other modern(ish) gothic novels like Rebecca and while I think it has all the hallmarks of a gothic novel like Rebecca, yes, I think it's truer gothic to the really old-school, original gothic works. There's a beautiful sense of the mysterious and the supernatural in addition to the sort of restless, overshadowing gloom. It really was hypnotically fascinating. I couldn't look away. I didn't want to look away!

Also, I am not ashamed to say that I waited to start the book for too long, and so I was only on like chapter 9 when my library ebook loan expired...so I went and bought a physical copy later that day because I was so wound up in the plot. On the upside, now I have it and now I'm going to lend it out (safely, COVID is still raging) to all my friends!

I loved this book! The writing is beautiful. So descriptive, almost lyrical. The was the second time I’ve read it and I think I loved it even more the second time.