Mexican Gothic
An isolated mansion. A chillingly charismatic aristocrat. And a brave socialite drawn to expose their treacherous secrets.... From the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow comes “a terrifying twist on classic gothic horror” (Kirkus Reviews) set in glamorous 1950s Mexico. 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 is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom. Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
5mentions
5people
2021–2026years
60% recommend40% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Late here. I read tons of fiction, some standounts:
Piranesi - Susanna Clark
This feels like a lightweight version of House of Leaves, which is probably a double complement. It's got gorgeous prose, and a completely ethereal, mysterious feel the whole way. Themes of memory, life and death, reality, mental illness, etc.
Notes From the Burning Age - Claire North
Solarpunk thriller set upon a backdrop of Overstory-like prose that praises and exalts natural beauty. Its a neat concept, though slow and very tense. Some content warnings.
Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno Garcia
A modern approach to gothic horror, where gaslighting is part of the horror, but the character knows that some of the gaslighting isn't gaslighting, it's mysterious things happening. Really tense also.
The Night Watchman - Louise Erdrich
This year's Pulizer, historical fiction based on the Turtle Mountain Native American tribe's attempt to maintain their status as an independent nation in the 1950s, magical realism and a story of community and persistence.
Black Sun - Rebecca Roanhorse
Medium fantasy set in a really neat mixed Native Central/North American setting. The characters are fantastic, and this book was tense enough that I had to put it down because I was worried about two of the characters I really liked.
Middlegame - Seanan McGuire
This was really fantastic sort of situational horror. It very clearly horror, but mostly not gore-y. There's bits of implied stuff, but its mostly just like the horror of controlling the lives of a pair of magical soulmates in cruel ways, and also their journey of discovery of what they are and what they can do (which is also horrifying!). I also felt that this book had perhaps the best use of pre-chapter quotes that I've ever seen in a novel, and it invents a whole fake early 20th century childrens book as part of the worldbuilding. That book, "Over the Woodward Wall" has also been published, although I haven't read it.
I also read tons of Octavia Butler and N.K. Jemisin, and I can't recommend them enough (especially reading Butler and then Jemisin, as their writings are thematically similar, but approach similar topics from different directions). As well as tons of stuff by Anne Leckie, Becky Chambers, and Martha Wells, which are all great if you want space operas.
- Here they are for easier reference:
* Worlds To Get Lost In
- The Imperial Radch Trilogy https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/ann-leckie/the-impe...
- The Dead Djinn Universe (series) https://publishing.tor.com/amasterofdjinn-dbtmp1230658/97812...
- The Age of Madness Trilogy https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/joe-abercrombie/a-l...
- The Green Bone Saga https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/fonda-lee/jade-city...
- The Expanse (series) https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/james-s-a-corey/lev...
- The Daevabad Trilogy https://www.harpervoyagerbooks.com/book/9780062678126/the-ci...
- Teixcalaan (series) https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250186430
- The Thessaly Trilogy https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250811837
- Shades of Magic Trilogy https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765376466
- The Divine Cities Trilogy https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/228171/city-of-stai...
- The Wormwood Trilogy https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/tade-thompson/rosew...
- Black Sun (series) https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Black-Sun/Rebecca-Roa...
* Words To Get Lost In
- Piranesi https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/piranesi-9781635575637
- Circe https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/madeline-miller/circe/978...
- Mexican Gothic https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/577068/mexican-goth...
- The Paper Menagerie And Other Stories https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Paper-Menagerie-a...
- Spinning Silver https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/554775/spinning-sil...
- Exhalation: Stories https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/538034/exhalation-b...
- Olondria (series) https://smallbeerpress.com/books/2013/04/30/a-stranger-in-ol...
- Her Body And Other Parties: Stories https://graywolfpress.org/books/her-body-and-other-parties
- The Buried Giant https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/85613/the-buried-gi...
- Radiance https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765335302
* Will Take You On A Journey
- The Changeling https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/234343/the-changeli...
- Wayfarers (series) https://www.harpervoyagerbooks.com/book/9780062444134/the-lo...
- Binti (series) https://publishing.tor.com/binti-nnediokorafor/9781250203427...
- Lady Astronaut (series) https://us.macmillan.com/series/ladyastronaut/
- Children of Time (duology) https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/adrian-tchaikovsky/chil...
- Wayward Children (series) https://us.macmillan.com/series/waywardchildren/
- The Space Between Worlds https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/610612/the-space-be...
* Will Mess With Your Head
- Black Leopard, Red Wolf https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/561305/black-leopar...
- Southern Reach (series) https://us.macmillan.com/series/thesouthernreachtrilogy/
- The Echo Wife https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250174666
- The Locked Tomb (series) https://publishing.tor.com/gideontheninth-dbtmp1127517/97812...
- Remembrance of Earth's Past (series) https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765382030
- Machineries of Empire (series) https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Ninefox-Gambit/Yoon-H...
* Will Mess With Your Heart
- The Broken Earth (series) https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/n-k-jemisin/the-fif...
- Station Eleven https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/239452/station-elev...
- This Is How You Lose the Time War https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/This-Is-How-You-Lose-...
- The Poppy War Trilogy https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-poppy-war-r-f-kua...
- The Masquerade (series) https://us.macmillan.com/series/themasquerade
- An Unkindness of Ghosts http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/an-unkindness-of-ghosts/
- The Bird King https://groveatlantic.com/book/the-bird-king/
- American War https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/543957/american-war...
- Riot Baby https://publishing.tor.com/riotbaby-dbtmp1144773/97812502147...
- On Fragile Waves https://www.workman.com/products/on-fragile-waves#:~:text=On...
* Will Make You Feel Good
- The Goblin Emperor https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765365682
- Murderbot (series) https://publishing.tor.com/themurderbotdiaries-marthawells/9...
- The Interdependency (series) https://us.macmillan.com/series/theinterdependency/
- The Martian https://www.broadwaybooks.net/book/9780553418026
- Sorcerer to the Crown/The True Queen https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/761/a-sorcerer-to-...
- Read Silvia Moreno-Garcia's _Mexican Gothic_ and you'll never think of fungi the same way again.
- Like half the people here I'm in the middle of Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Finished Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia yesterday, and also have been reading Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee mysteries - currently on The Haunted Monastery.
- > But I just think it's getting ridiculous that we're expecting new and upcoming writers to be able to do all of these things in order to fit into possible niche genres that generate little to no profit.
Who, pray tell, is "expecting" writers to do this? We're living in the digital content-driven death of monoculture, there's a Cambrian explosion of subgenres and niches out there in the literary world. Writers can write what they want to. There's room for both niche sci-fi such as these works, and a title with more mass appeal, such as Mexican Gothic. Book websites such as this are just as happy to populate SEO listicles full of affiliate links to advertise these works. Not to mention, it would appear that the YA market is bigger than ever, and there's much overlap with ethnic writers. And then there's the infinite demand (now with higher interest rates, perhaps less so) from streaming services for new works to adapt. There's been multiple times I've looked up something from a list of, say, AAPI sci-fi/fantasy novels that I've never heard of, only to find out adaptations are being worked on for them. (examples include Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, The Poppy War by R.F. Huang, and Jade City by Fonda Lee).
Who are you to suggest that the authors behind these works are doing it out of some misprioritization of what the market is looking for? As far as the literary world is concerned, it would seem like it's looking for everything.
