I’m a huge fan of horror, lovecraft, and all things weird and creepy. Knowing this, my girlfriend gave me her copy of mexican gothic as a gift. I had never heard of this book before this but i read through the whole thing in a week, I couldn’t put it down. I absolutely loved it
But apparently people don’t like this book very much? I looked it up online after finishing it and the general consensus seems to be “it’s over-rated”
From what I’ve read I think people had too high expectations based on how much the book had been talked up beforehand. For someone like me, who had literally never heard of it before my girlfriend gave it to me, I loved it. What do you guys think?
by shrewmeister123
19 Comments
I really enjoyed it too. The pacing was bang on, cool characters and pretty unpredictable until it went batshit crazy!
I personally loved the book. I’d read two of Silvia Moreno Garcia’s books before, so I was already somewhat familiar with her work before I read it in early 2021, but it was reading this book that made her become one of my favorite current writers.
You’ve touched upon it already: it’s the curse of booktubers and booktok, even here as well. The internet can’t just like something- when it latches on it latches ON. So even if something is good it gets blown so out of proportion that it can never live up.
I just felt it was quite below average. Can barely recall what happened. But I guess it must do something right since a lot of people like it.
Those who loved it, got any fave quotes?
I loved it. I loved the world she created. I gift that one and Daughter of Doctor Moreau all the time.
I was convinced I was going to love it and felt a bit disappointed with it, it didn’t meet my expectations. But this might very well have happened due to how hyped it was *before* I read it. When people hype something a lot people create really high expectations and then things feel flat to you.
This happened to me with Corpse Bride (the film lol). A lot of people would tell me “omg, you haven’t watched it? You must! You’ll love it!” And when I did I was like “meh, it was alright”. Years later I watched it again and loved it. I’ve personally learned to try to steer away from books/films/wtv when the hype is huge until I “forget” about them, just to make sure it’s not influencing me – but it’s difficult sometimes.
I dare say the book is not overrated as much as it is over-hyped.
I didnt enjoy it. I was particularly disappointed in the lack of any real insight into Mexican society and the love interest(s) were predictable and dull. I was expecting to enjoy it as Im also a weird fiction fan, so felt a bit let down. And the ending was ridiculous!
I hope I enjoy it, I am planning on reading it for Halloween reading this October (along with Frankenstein because I like to read all my horrors in October).
I generally liked it but I was expecting a book called Mexican Gothic to have more elements that were, well, Mexican, as in based on Mexican cultural horror tropes. It was good for what it was but I thought the title was a bit misleading.
I loved it
I am not the target audience for this book. However, I was trying to read outside my comfort zone and picked this up at the urgings of a co-worker. It’s not a horror -in your face- creepy, Stephen King-type book and anyone who expects that will be disappointed. The tension and unease build very gradually to the climactic ending which I found very unsatisfying. I still think about this book and how weird it was.
I loved it. I immediately went and read everything else Silvia Moreno Garcia wrote. She is an author I follow because her characters and the worlds she builds around them are always so interesting.
I liked the atmosphere of the book and found it compelling. Also loved Daughter of Doctor Moreau by her. Sometimes you enjoy a book more for the vibes than the plot or characters. These fell into that category for me. 🤷♀️
I also thought **Mexican Gothic** was overrated. Take my opinion with a grain of salt- I don’t usually read horror- but the 1950’s Mexican setting intrigued me. None of that flavor really came through in the book though. That being said, I liked Noemí as a character, and I liked it enough to seek out other (non-horror) books by the author. Since then I’ve read **Velvet Was The Night** and **Signal To Noise**, both of which earned a rare 5/5 stars from me. So I think some of the criticism comes from people who just aren’t into horror. Plus it was praised to the skies, which is an impossible reputation to live up to.
It was a really good read imo. I liked the atmosphere.
I really liked it but wished it didn’t have the magical ending. I really liked the idea of the wallpaper and whatever other toxins from the mine were just messing with everyone’s minds. But I didn’t see anything to hate, it’s just very weird at the end.
I didn’t like it at all. I thought it was boring and disgusting. In my opinion a horror book should make you feel scared, not disgusted, since it’s easier to arouse disgust by just writing the grossest thing you can think of, as opposed to actually inducing fear.
It’s been a few years since I read it, but my thoughts while reading were “the protagonist was good, the atmosphere was unsettling, I liked how the setting of the house kind of represented a microcosm of Mexico’s experience with colonialism/racism/eugenics. The main thing I disliked was the ending, but I think that’s going to be subjective to everyone”
I wasn’t aware of how much this book was hyped when it came out. I heard about it and filed it away to read eventually. Just read it and I enjoyed it! I liked being immersed in that world for a while.
I think inevitably anything that is super hyped is going to have loud detractors, just to show they go against the grain. Not that criticisms aren’t valid, but this happens all the time. It’s so predictable.