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Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

172 reviews

sherigan's review against another edition

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

3.75

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shamaramill's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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liesthemoontells'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? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I adored Gods of Jade and Shadow and was excited to read this, especially considering the level of buzz it received. I also love Gothic literature and was curious to see how Moreno-Garcia approached the genre and adapted it into a Mexican context.

Overall I think this is an accomplished entry into the Gothic literary canon. It takes many of the tropes of the genre (e.g. young female protagonist who wonders if she's going mad, scary house, mean old lady who hates protagonist) and weaves them into a new story.

I was surprised at first at how much the setting is literally a transplanted English Gothic setting into the Mexican countryside, however as I kept reading I was very impressed at how this was used to explore themes of colonisation, misogyny, and the subjugation of poor and female bodies.

The atmosphere in the book begins with low level, constant dread which slowly ratchets up the tension into full panic, and the body horror is incredibly visceral and stomach-turning.

I did however find it dragged in some moments, and the plot became a bit convoluted towards the end. I felt like the book was trying to fence sit on whether or not the cause was supernatural, and having it end up being
semi-sentient, consciousness-trapping mushrooms pushed my suspension of disbelief by not leaning hard enough into either.


I also found
the romance plot weak and the ending very unearned, however I also found it funny how often she took care to mention how uggo the love interest was.


Overall I think this is is a more polished book than Gods of Jade and Shadow, but I found that to be a more enjoyable and emotionally engaging read, hence it receiving a higher rating.

I also think this is a book that would benefit from a second reading once all of the plot twists are revealed.
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ghostsversion's review against another edition

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

5.0

What a wonderful book to start the new year with. Not only did this book make me appreciate Gothic novels a tad more, the inclusion of fungi horror was something I didn’t realise I was craving for. And how gross and disgusting it was. But I do love
women killing bitches.
I also like it in a way that
there is still uncertainty on whether the gloom is really gone, leaving it to the beliefs of the reader. I personally like to think they did it, if only for my own peace of mind.
I also find it funny how I misconstrued the Doyles‘ plan before the reveal, as I thought
they were merely planning to slowly kill Catalina and have Virgil marry Noemí for whatever reason. I was kind of right I guess but still.
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desiderium_incarnate's review against another edition

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

3.0

What a weird(?) little story. This is absolutely a book for fall, where all the leaves are dying and you're sitting inside reading dark mystery novels, eating mushroom risotto. "Welcome to the Church of the Holy Incestuous Mycelium" (or something along those lines) 

Personally, I've had issues with the more historical genre so this wasn't off to a great start with me. The dark ambiance and the masterium that doesn't get revealed at all until you're in over your head was well crafted, but it just didn't get me, so I'm sorry about that. Gods of jade and shadow, which I've already read  before just felt so much more vibrant (and of course, everything here is foggy and gloomy and muted). Anyways, interesting work ; you kind of leave this story with a still uncertain feeling. 
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rsb12's review against another edition

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

5.0

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honeybeewitched87's review against another edition

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

3.5

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nahret's review against another edition

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

3.5

I really enjoyed the atmosphere in the book. The house in question was very oppressive, and the eerie things very disconcerting, I found. I also enjoyed the whole colonialism aspect that underlies the story. The foreshadowing was well done; if one were to consider the culprit in that particular direction, it would be quite obvious from the start. I didn't, so I had my "aha!" moment.

See, the unseen horrors can usually be one of two: natural phenomena, often orchestrated by a very human villain, or supernatural entities of some sort. I think my gripe with the book is that it went in one direction when I would have preferred the other, which is obviously a me problem. I also found the solution - once we knew what we were dealing with - very obvious, but it took the characters a whole two chapters to figure it out. 

The pacing was a bit odd; it durdles in the middle, when the setup could probably have been swifter, only to rush through to the end. I can say that I did find the resolution very satisfying, especially since the characters finally did what I had been telling them to do for some 70 pages or so. 
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mdwsn27's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No

2.5

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my_book_trolley'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? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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