From the Bookshelf of The Perks Of Being A Book Addict…

Mexican Gothic

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Start date: September 1, 2020

Finish date: September 30, 2020

Discussion: Group Books of the Month (BotM)

Why we're reading this: Chosen as our historical fiction themed group BotM for September 2020.
[close] Chosen as our historical fiction themed group BotM for September 2020.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 17 topics — 684 comments total

Group Books of the Month (BotM)

* Notes on an Execution
By Perks Moderat… , Know-it-all · 2 posts · 42 views

last updated Sep 16, 2025 02:11AM

* Blood Over Bright Haven
By Perks Moderat… , Know-it-all · 2 posts · 35 views

last updated Aug 29, 2025 12:23AM

showing 10 of 17 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jan 29, 2021 Dimas Rio rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I love gothic horror and Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a fun gothic horror book with a twist of its own. It has one of the most unique take on the "haunted house" trope. Spooky, gloomy, pulpy in a good way, and so much fun. For my full review, see it here: https://youtu.be/tCPbMFtAbJA ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 01, 2020 Jessica (BlogEared Books) rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was really well written but I think it was just not for me. Reminded me a little of that movie Mother, which disturbed me terribly. Well written

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 10, 2021 Karen D rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror, historical-fiction, family, suspense, 5-stars, domestic-problems, ambiguous-ending, paranormal, zzhorror, bipoc

I finally got this from the library, and seemed like everyone who read it last year either loved it or hated it. Well, I loved it! I do love horror though, so if that’s not your genre, this will not be for you.

CW: incest, rape

Quick synopsis: Noemi gets a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin, asking her to visit and help her, that crazy things are happening in her husband’s house. So Noemi goes, to figure out what’s going on and how to help her cousin.

First of all, Noemi is a badass protagonis ...more

Like · see review

Feb 07, 2021 Bruin Mccon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: library-audiobook, library-ebook, feminism, pub-2020

“Why won’t you listen to me? Really listen. Leave today. Leave right this instant. This is no place for you.”

Mexican Gothic is a horror book about the suffocating nature of the white patriarchy.

Noemi is a socialite with a secret passion for anthropology and piano; her father bribes her to check in on her orphaned cousin by promising to let her attend university. In case you were unclear that the book is about women’s limitations in a world run by men.

Her cousin, Catalina, she comes to learn, is “Why won’t you listen to me? Really listen. Leave today. Leave right this instant. This is no place for you.”

Mexican Gothic is a horror book about the suffocating nature of the white patriarchy.

Noemi is a socialite with a secret passion for anthropology and piano; her father bribes her to check in on her orphaned cousin by promising to let her attend university. In case you were unclear that the book is about women’s limitations in a world run by men.

Her cousin, Catalina, she comes to learn, is in some deep shit. She sends a letter to Noemi’s dad that is a thinly veiled critique of how much a woman stands to lose when she marries. She claims she is being held against her will in her marital residence. Catalina’s husband, who receives a strongly worded missive from Noemi’s father, is a snake in the grass from the jump. We all know what Noemi will find at his house.

High Place is a formerly grand mansion now rotten to its core (again, not subtle) where the extended Doyle family live under the stewardship of the patriarch, Howard. He’s absolutely ancient and clearly in bad health when Noemi meets him. He’s also an obvious racist who has a library full of books about eugenics and tries to convince Noemi that it’s akin to her field of anthropology. She’s not playing.

Catalina is drugged up when Noemi finds her and it’s hard to make heads or tails of the nuggets of info she’s able to give Noemi. Aside from Francis, a cousin to Virgil (Noemi’s husband), most of the other residents of the manse are cold to hostile toward Noemi. Her visits with Catalina are short and infrequent, chaperoned by a lady’s maid who reorganizes Catalina’s room while Noemi tries to pump her cuz for information.

“It was easy to kiss someone when it didn’t matter; it was more difficult when it might be meaningful.”

Despite Francis being described as a living apparition, he and Noemi strike up a friendship and she even starts to want to kiss him. She has her pick of men at home in Mexico City so she tries to be thoughtful about how she approaches anything with him. Soon, she’s talking him into driving her into town and finds out he’s gotten in trouble because of it. Francis’s mom then tries to warn Noemi off.

This book goes from creepy to scary fairly quickly; I was sailing through the book on audio and had to switch back to print to deal with the horror aspects. I’ve heard many say this novel isn’t too scary. It is but more in a thriller way. And it is gory AF.

As I said at the top, the theme of this book is women who don’t fit into a 1950s idea of what an upperclass woman should be. It’s set in the 50s, for one thing. But the men are literally scary, one covered in boils, the other looking Noemi up and down lecherously even though she’s his wife’s cousin. I found it interesting that the white psycho who wanted to be treated as a god was also a racist; misogyny and racism often come as a pair. There’s a real Gaslight element to the book; Noemi knows the house is all wrong but those who live there keep telling her she’s being rude and misunderstanding the situation. Or overstepping. This was the true horror of the novel for me. ...more

Like · see review

Jul 25, 2021 Julie rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, 2021-reading-challenge-completed

Part of the Popsugar 2021 Reading Challenge: A genre hybrid

I definitely went into this book with higher expectations based on the amazing reviews and recommendations it had when released. I struggled through all but the last quarter of the book. Once more horror elements became apparent it picked up in pace.

Like · see review