Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

272 reviews

alyssasaurus's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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chalkletters's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Horror must be the fiction genre I have the least experience with. I’ve never gone out of my way to watch a horror film, there are no recognised horror novels reviewed here on my blog. Perhaps that’s why it took me a good 50 per cent of Mexican Gothic to realise that it was as much horror as fantasy — and maybe more so.

To begin with, the title more-or-less sums up what you can expect: this is a Gothic novel set in Mexico. Silvia Moreno-Garcia explicitly describes High Place, her haunted house, as ill-fitting the landscape because the owners wanted it to look like English. Apart from that, Mexican Gothic’s early chapters play the tropes relatively straight. Noemí might be slightly more worldly than Emily St Aubert or Catherine Morland, but not much.

Where Mexican Gothic really picks up steam is around halfway, when it becomes obvious Silvia Moreno-Garcia is actually subverting character archetypes from the damsel in distress to the virginal first victim in a horror movie. Even the villains, though straight-forwardly villainous throughout, have a fantasy twist.

The more agency Noemí is given, the more she comes alive. The latter half of Mexican Gothic had more than one moment of genuine tension and excitement, as well as revulsion and horror. Even if you’re not a fan of haunted houses, it’s worth reading through the first half just to get there.

And if you love a haunted house, especially if you’re a fan of the movie Crimson Peak, then this will definitely scratch that itch!
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ericadawson's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I was a bit let down by Mexican Gothic--partly for petty reasons, like expecting something a bit scarier than what I got. The voice was beautiful when it came to describing the visceral, the revolting, and the awful. But when it came time for other things, I found it a bit annoying, and at times I found Nomei, our protagonist, a bit annoying too. She wasn't awful, but every once in a while you get too many "she's so small" and "she's very stubborn"-esque descriptions and you start to lose patience. But again, most of my issues with the book amount to ultimately small/less-consequential things (i.e., I do not like protagonists that lack common sense while fighting. Go for the eyes for once).

Concept wise, I love it. I love hauntings that live in houses, I love ruin and rot through generations, and I love what the reveal was in this book--I only wish it had happened a bit sooner, as I started to feel we were getting more descriptions of clothing and furniture than anything that would push the plot forward. The pacing wasn't something that I was fond of, and this is why I didn't start really enjoying the book until we got to the center of the issue with High House. 

Before that, there's a lot of talk of eugenics. A lot.

Narratively, I understand what the point of its inclusion was, but I would have preferred either less references to superior races or more pushback from Noemi and Francis. Florence was frustrating. However, I will say the ending was satisfying.
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becksusername's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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wispwill's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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piratefan2a's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No

1.0

While I thought that the
mushrooms being the explanation for what was happening
was very cool, there were huge sections of this book that I really did not enjoy reading. Maybe this just isn’t the genre for me, but the villains were so hateful and repulsive that reading about them made me dislike the book as a whole. I haven’t read a lot of gothic fantasy so I’ll try another at some point to see if it’s just the genre or the book itself that I didn’t like.
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audreylee's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

An oppressive atmosphere and incoherent ramblings greet Noemi when she arrives at the home of her cousin's husband. Dangerous dreams and sickening illusions have her questioning her own sanity. Will she and Catalina escape? Do they need to? Noemi becomes strong, not just stubborn, in her plight to assist her cousin back to health. 
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emmalouisereads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I wanted a spooky read for Halloween and I wasn’t disappointed. Incredibly atmospheric… and genuinely revolting at times. 

It’s a really strange story (that I enjoyed mostly for reasons that would be spoilers and I can’t mention). It certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

I’d love to see this made into a gothic film. 
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ashnm98's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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franceselsie's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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