I realize it's kind of universally beloved at this point, but I still don't really understand why. Everything was going along swimmingly (and creepily) until they jump the shark by way of fungus. Yep. Fungus.

Pretty darn creepy, and I think it kicked off a whole bunch of neo-gothic books that all highlight how creepy fungus is. No way did that fire fully eradicate that shit.

This book was so eerie and gut-wrenching, but so beautifully written that I couldn't put it down! The unabashed look into Mexico's history, the way the author doesn't shy away from the bad and ugly, made this such a spine-tingling read.

I will start off by saying that the cover is GORGEOUS. Holy eye catcher! As for the actual story...it fell a bit short for me and I felt like something was missing. I am not sure what in particular was missing for me, but while reading I almost expected more? Overall glad I read it, I just wish there was more of punch.

I think I was in a slump when I read this a few days ago, but I was just not feeling it.

I loved the gothic and eerie vibes and I love horror, so I was really shocked that I just wasn't feeling a connection or very interested in the plot or characters. I think the slow burn was just a little too slow for what I was feeling, and I had a hard time following what was happening here.

I'm really disappointed, but I will likely look to try this one again in a few months or years when I'm feeling these vibes.

I think this is a case of it's me, not you. I don't love gothic fiction to begin with so it was already going to be an uphill battle with this book. But it was boring. Nothing happened in the first two thirds of the book. I found it excruciating to get through. Then when something did happen it was repulsive. I know that's the point with horror but this was too much for me. I did appreciate the themes of colonization.

Will definitely read more from this author after Mexican Gothic! I’ve been trying to dip my toes into the genre and this was very approachable. I truly was on the edge of my seat and felt so creeped out reading this.

This is one of my favorite books. Silvia's writing is so atmospheric and unlike most who are writing today. I believe her books will be a classic in the future!

For whatever reason, this book did not grab me and hook me the way I expected it to. It took me way too long to actually become invested in the story, but once I did I enjoyed it much more. I enjoyed trying to figure out the mystery (and failing). I think if I had read it when it was first published I would have liked it more.

I absolutely adored this book. I think Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a brilliant writer, and the amount of research that went into this midcentury gothic horror book blew me away! Mexican Gothic is a truly creepy book. It's perfect for fall reading. In fact, I shared it in my fall books roundup blog post (linked below). I don't read many horrors or thrillers that actually give me shivers, but this one was just so strange and, honestly? Sickening. It was. SO. Good.

I loved how this book flirted with the supernatural, and the decaying mansion was a character in and of itself. I have to say, my favorite part of this book was the main character, Noemí. She was cocky, ambitious, and she knew her worth. As Silvia Moreno-Garcia points out in my author interview on my blog (also linked below), if she were a male character, those would all be positive attributes. But Noemí is a woman in the 1950s, and she knows she's playing a social game. I really loved how she navigated people's expectations for her. And OMG do you root for her the whole way through... definitely a new favorite for me.

I absolutely loved the way Moreno-Garcia captured the essence of a Gothic novel in this book. I know this book wasn’t for everyone, but I think expectations of this book were more skewed towards traditional ideas of horror. THe ending was wild, but really good.

MEXICAN GOTHIC is an historical fantasy take on the gothic novel tradition. That tradition is fairly formulaic: A (usually) young (almost always) woman travels to an old creepy house with an old creepy family and gradually presses against the boundaries placed on her there. As she strives to assert her agency, she slowly but surely uncovers the darkness lurking at the heart of the house, and family, and world that she found.

Whoaaaaa this was wild! And not at all what I expected! But wow! What a journey! Deliciously dark and gothic and creepy-crawly and utterly captivating!

Such a delicious slow burn of a book. Morena-Garcia is an excellent writer and with every book she proves it again.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s mid-century Mexican twist on a Gothic haunted house tale is superb. Noemí, the sparkling socialite protagonist, is sent to check on her recently married and seemingly ill cousin at a aging manor far in the countryside. All sorts of deliciously disturbing and creepy events ensue. Moreno-Garcia has a knack for writing complex and interesting women and Noemí’s story is her best work so far.

This book was incredible! Gothic, creepy, weird—everything you’d love in book. This was so much different than anything I’ve read and gave dark shadows vibes, LOVED IT

With this book, I hardly know where to begin. From the beginning to the end, it was an exciting trip, but I started to get suspicious of every narrative development. Even at the very end, there were at least a half-dozen possible outcomes, and at each turn, I was sure it would take a different course. The resolution we were given was far more satisfying to me than I had anticipated.

It was such a wild ride that I forward rereading my copy once it arrives in the mail.

If you give it a few chapters beyond the sluggish first one, you'll find yourself completely immersed in this strange home and all that's happening in it. The characters are all frightening, and in each new chapter, they seem to be on the brink of treachery or death. The final 30% was the most stressful I've ever read, and now I'm afraid the adversary may appear in my nightmares. Additionally, there is a common aspect that keeps cropping up, and it's making me quite uneasy. This is most certainly a terrifying novel.

i really loved this one and i even picked it for a book club pick in 20222 - i am very thankful for this author and for you!

The book was slow to start, with dragging details and the character introductions, along with their relationships to each other, and the house. The house was practically a character in its own right. The family secrets are held close while things become stranger and stranger. Mushrooms can be creepy.

This is exactly what it says on the tin. It is Gothic, right down to the creepy mist-shrouded English manor that has physically been transported to the mountains of a Mexican silver mining town. There is an imperiled young woman in the manor, a darkly seductive man with an air of danger, an overly strict and superior housekeeper, a cemetery, legends in the town about the aristocratic family which is genteelly decaying in the manor.

And there's Noemi, a no-nonsense young woman who's been sent to sort out what exactly is going on with her gentle cousin who's recently married into the family. Noemi smokes in her room even though she's not supposed to, flirts to get her way if she needs to, and hopes to earn a master's degree in anthropology some day. She's the modern world barging into this insular system and disrupting its equilibrium.

But all living systems have a way of restoring equilibrium, and Noemi is drawn further and further into this fairy kingdom before she realizes it.

Moreno-Garcia seems to get better with every book by her that I've tried. She loves playing with tropes, and I've seen her do a great vampire telenovela, a regency fantasy that wasn't my bag, and a gorgeous quest fantasy set in early twentieth century Mexico. She takes each trope and makes it her own, and transposes it into a culture that I'm not as familiar with, but which adds richly to each book in each genre. Noemi loves certain Mexican film stars- I had to look them up, but it gave me a great visual of each character. She didn't dumb it down, whiten it up, but assumed that I would either know what she was talking about or could figure it out on my own.

This gothic is a slow burn. What starts out faintly ridiculous ends up being really creepy and delves into body horror of the eternal fungal kind. Have fun with this one!