Mexican Gothic
After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region. Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.
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Community Reviews
5/5
When young socialite Noemà receives a troubling letter from her newlywed cousin Catalina, she has no choice but to go visit and figure out what seems to be the problem. Everything appears suspicious at the old cumbling estate that belongs to Catalina's new English husband and his family. From the family's insistence on relying only on their own English doctor, to their obsession with eugenics, and general shifty behavior, something is clearly wrong. Whatever secrets they're keeping are affecting Catalina and soon Noemà will have to unravel them to free both cousins from the tangled web they've found themselves in.
Zero notes on this book, it was excellent. The gothic ambiance was masterfully crafted, you could feel the tension from the very first appearance of the house. The beginning was a bit slow but a perfect set up for the events to come. I found the plot to be quite original, but the narration had enough clues that allowed me to put it together in a very satisfying way. Lovely atmosphere and descriptions, I did feel like I was in the story.
Noemà is the perfect heroine. She's educated, she's spunky, she is wordly but still young and willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. Her bond with her cousin Catalina, and the one she builds with Francis, was quite heartwarming. The Doyles were horrendous without coming across as a caricature, sadly those of us from "third world" countries have probably come across people like this in our own land. The juxtaposition of the two, very different, ways of living and beliefs was well executed. And of course, the central mystery of the plot was amazing, well narrated, and handled. I could not put the book down for the last 40% or so.
I will say this: do carefully check the trigger warnings. This book handles a lot of difficult subjects and nobody should put themselves through it if they know they cannot handle it. Besides horror tropes this book deals with attempted sexual assault, murder, gore, miscarriage, racism, eugenics, suicide, emotional abuse, abuse in every way to be honest, gaslighting, cannibalism, and so much incest, like SO MUCH INCEST.
"The walls speak to me. They tell me secrets. Don't listen to them, press your hands against your ears, NoemÃ. There are ghosts. They're real. You'll see them eventually."
When young socialite Noemà receives a troubling letter from her newlywed cousin Catalina, she has no choice but to go visit and figure out what seems to be the problem. Everything appears suspicious at the old cumbling estate that belongs to Catalina's new English husband and his family. From the family's insistence on relying only on their own English doctor, to their obsession with eugenics, and general shifty behavior, something is clearly wrong. Whatever secrets they're keeping are affecting Catalina and soon Noemà will have to unravel them to free both cousins from the tangled web they've found themselves in.
Zero notes on this book, it was excellent. The gothic ambiance was masterfully crafted, you could feel the tension from the very first appearance of the house. The beginning was a bit slow but a perfect set up for the events to come. I found the plot to be quite original, but the narration had enough clues that allowed me to put it together in a very satisfying way. Lovely atmosphere and descriptions, I did feel like I was in the story.
Noemà is the perfect heroine. She's educated, she's spunky, she is wordly but still young and willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. Her bond with her cousin Catalina, and the one she builds with Francis, was quite heartwarming. The Doyles were horrendous without coming across as a caricature, sadly those of us from "third world" countries have probably come across people like this in our own land. The juxtaposition of the two, very different, ways of living and beliefs was well executed. And of course, the central mystery of the plot was amazing, well narrated, and handled. I could not put the book down for the last 40% or so.
I will say this: do carefully check the trigger warnings. This book handles a lot of difficult subjects and nobody should put themselves through it if they know they cannot handle it. Besides horror tropes this book deals with attempted sexual assault, murder, gore, miscarriage, racism, eugenics, suicide, emotional abuse, abuse in every way to be honest, gaslighting, cannibalism, and so much incest, like SO MUCH INCEST.
*major spoilers*
Giving this one star because the writing was good in parts. I read this in book club because the young librarian said it was like Jane Eyre and other Gothic novels. My face as I read the last third of this book was held in an almost permanent grimace with the occasional gag.
I did like the initial premise of the book: a Latinx take on the Gothic novel where the Barbie girl Socialite Naomi is sent to the creepy Mexican Mountain Mansion to rescue her newlywed cousin who has written a mysterious and troubling letter that her new husband and family are poisoning her. The forlorn cousin may also be seeing ghosts and is going crazy.
The book slogs through the first 2/3 of 300 pages to introduce the weird British Doyle family who are truly awful and into eugenics and control. (And this is the good part of the book.)
Then in the last third it gets truly bizarre and disgusting. The house is a mold mind hive that is controlled by a cannibalistic, misogynistic, incestuous, baby killing being that is 400+ years old. Controls and kills and hears all that people within its walls hear, see and do. Magic mold can create a bond within time so that long dead sister wives and relatives can talk and commune with those in the mold mind meld. There's also the 400+ year-old patriarch of this crazy fungus family -- who kisses and pukes moldly black putrid fungus into the beautiful, strong-willed Naomi's mouth (*gag*) -- while plotting to transmorph into his own son to continue this wretched stench of a (book) family line. Forced marriage, attempted rape and matricide are the gateway to the end of this wretched gothic saga.
Luckily, she, cousin and new forced husband managed to kill or maime the mushroom head mamma, 400-year-old boil infested patriarch and several of their mold zombie servants. They escape through a mold-slime tunnel covered with phosphorescent glowing mushrooms
Giving this one star because the writing was good in parts. I read this in book club because the young librarian said it was like Jane Eyre and other Gothic novels. My face as I read the last third of this book was held in an almost permanent grimace with the occasional gag.
I did like the initial premise of the book: a Latinx take on the Gothic novel where the Barbie girl Socialite Naomi is sent to the creepy Mexican Mountain Mansion to rescue her newlywed cousin who has written a mysterious and troubling letter that her new husband and family are poisoning her. The forlorn cousin may also be seeing ghosts and is going crazy.
The book slogs through the first 2/3 of 300 pages to introduce the weird British Doyle family who are truly awful and into eugenics and control. (And this is the good part of the book.)
Then in the last third it gets truly bizarre and disgusting. The house is a mold mind hive that is controlled by a cannibalistic, misogynistic, incestuous, baby killing being that is 400+ years old. Controls and kills and hears all that people within its walls hear, see and do. Magic mold can create a bond within time so that long dead sister wives and relatives can talk and commune with those in the mold mind meld. There's also the 400+ year-old patriarch of this crazy fungus family -- who kisses and pukes moldly black putrid fungus into the beautiful, strong-willed Naomi's mouth (*gag*) -- while plotting to transmorph into his own son to continue this wretched stench of a (book) family line. Forced marriage, attempted rape and matricide are the gateway to the end of this wretched gothic saga.
Luckily, she, cousin and new forced husband managed to kill or maime the mushroom head mamma, 400-year-old boil infested patriarch and several of their mold zombie servants. They escape through a mold-slime tunnel covered with phosphorescent glowing mushrooms
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