Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Gótico

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Gótico by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

1021 reviews

skyzein's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

4.0

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rensuzugamori's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I was already enjoying the creepy gothic atmosphere of this book, and I fully expected it to go in a more classically gothic direction of a haunting – the plot twist left me gobsmacked, and full of horror and revulsion, and yet at many points, I found it a struggle to put this book down. The descriptive writing can switch from beautiful and whimsical to grotesque and chill-inducing at the drop of a hat, and I really do feel like something unique in premise was achieved here. I think there are probably many more nods to other famous texts within this genre that I, unfortunately, was not able to pick up on. Maybe in the future, when I am more well-read than I am today, I will return to this novel and it will have even more to offer me.

The only reason that I am not giving this novel a full 5 stars, is that I felt like the descriptions of sexual violence (personally) were unnecessary, and there was already a major overarching plot & theme to represent the growing loss of control and autonomy that Noemí was feeling.

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chulandonmarcum's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

I’m giving this book a solid four stars I’m so happy that Francis lived and got out of the house. While i wish the author would have given us more of a closed ending to the book I could definitely see how the author could easily write a second book based off of this one.

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elg1105's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

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hann17's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This story had a slow build to the creepy/scary parts. I don’t normally read a lot of horror but I really enjoyed this. It explored themes of familial/generational curses. I really appreciated the character Noemí and her independence as a woman in this time period and her willingness to stand up for herself despite society’s expectations while still recognizing a commitment and responsibility to her family as well.

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thenoboshow's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

I enjoyed getting wrapped in this dark (moist?) world. The diolgue really helped with the time and place. I could easily imagine the scenes playing out in a black & white film with romantic actors. Definatly one of my fastest reads this year and one I could recommend to most my friends.

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abbys's review against another edition

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5.0

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ajrai91's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

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amyvl93's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have been meaning to read some Moreno-Garcia for ages as I feel like her books come up all the time so I was so excited to read Mexican Gothic and was so delighted that this really hit for me.

Mexican Gothic is a delightfully creepy gothic read which follows society girl Noemi who is instructed by her father to visit her cousin Catalina at the house of her husband's family High Tower after they recieve a worrying note from her which is dismissed by her husband, Virgil. Noemi soon finds that High Tower is not at all what it seems. She comes across Catalina's mother-in-law Florence, Virgil's brother Francis and their terrifying, eugenics-obsessed father Howard. They are a family of English people with Spanish banned from within the walls and English soil imported for the garden.

Whilst this is a slow burn at first, I thought that Moreno-Garcia did a great job at slowly building up tension and peeling back the truth of the Doyle's time in their home and what really was behind the success and then failure of their failed silver mine. There were some passages in particular that reminded me of The Yellow Wallpaper in its creepiness and the exploration of Noemi and Catalina being women trapped in this deeply patriachal environment. What is extra interesting is the way that Moreno-Garcia explores colonialism through the Doyle family and what really keeps them all in line - which I definitely don't want to spoil - it is very effective and adds another layer of creepiness to the story of the family.

I really recommend this and can't wait to get stuck into more Moreno-Garcia.

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jtredd05's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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