Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I read this for my bookclub and we had our discussion last night where I found myself going to bat for it in a way I didn’t expect. I was both surprised that the other women weren’t on board with it and surprised at how invested in it I had turned out to be. This review might have been a little different if I’d written it yesterday, but context is everything. I find horror as a genre fascinating but I hate being scared which means […]
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Maybe she was not a hero with a shield and a divine provenance, but it’s the symbolism that matters. Casiopea Tun and her mother work as servants in her grandfather’s house in a small town in the Yucatan Peninsula after Casiopea’s father died. 18-year-old Casiopea dreams of escape and is captivated by the wonders of the world outside of her small town. But in 1927 her avenues to freedom are limited and so Casiopea and her mother serve her wealthier family members with the hope […]
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I was on hold for this book for months at my local library, and after having read it, I get it. I had a co-worker who said there was a difference between books and literature. At the time, I thought she was being snooty, but every now and then I read a book that makes me go, “Oh, so that’s what she meant.” Gods of Jade and Shadow is literature. Casiopea Tun lives with her family in a small village in the Yucatán peninsula. Casiopea […]
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I realized, when it came time to do my best-of lists, that I hadn’t actually written reviews for two of my favourite books this year. Mexican Gothic is one of these. I read it a few weeks after Halloween, when everything in Denmark can best be described as ‘grey’ and I was in the perfect mood for Gothic. (Plus, look at that AMAZING and GORGEOUS cover; how can you resist?) Boy, did Silvia Moreno-Garcia deliver. Mexican Gothic is the story of Noemi, a young woman […]
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Counter-intuitively, this Gothic horror novel was an absolute joy to read. My attention span in 2020 is limited at best, but I could not put down Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic. Her main character, the impetuous and steel-spited Mexico City socialite Noemí Taboada, is truly alive. The rural Mexican setting is a delight, and the creepiness level is appropriate for those of us less versed in horror. Noemí Taboada is a Mexico City mover and shaker. She lives in the 1940s-50s era, and has expansive ideas […]
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Gods of Jade and Shadow is a book where fairy tales and myths collide. The book begins in a 1920’s version of “Cinderella,” but in Mexico. Casiopea is a poor cousin of the richest family in their town, and she is given the role of maidservant while her mother is the cook. Casiopea does as she’s told, but not necessarily as subserviently as her cousin Martín would wish. One day while the family is away, she gets a chance to open up the forbidden chest […]
