We read Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s 2020 novel, Mexican Gothic, to challenge our group with genre fiction and to give us a Mexican perspective from a Hispanic author. “She has an MA in Science and Technology Studies from the University of British Columbia. Her thesis … is titled  ‘Magna Mater: Women and Eugenic Thought in the Work of H.P. Lovecraft.’”[i]

Our first responder said it certainly was “different.” Not bad, not unlikeable. Way too detailed. Another member found that it started out believable, but then it became too wild, reminding her of a B-Flick horror film. Fun to read, though different. One of us was listening to the audio book and only got part way through, uncertain about whether she wanted to finish it. We should have asked her how the narration held up – did that make a difference in why she might not be interested? She hadn’t yet gotten to the really creepy sequences! Still another member had been afraid that it might have won some awards.[ii] He often couldn’t tell whether the narrator was dreaming and it was comforting to get back to people and reality.

We liked Francis. We liked how Noemi stands up for herself. She stayed resolved. The setting was cold, gloomy, moldy. One of us wondered if Catalina took too much of the tonic because she wanted to kill herself – or was it just an accident? Was Virgil or Francis the actual intended vessel for Howard Doyle? We discussed only slightly the fairytale connections, gothic romance conventions, and eugenics.

One of us has been to Mexico City and found the setting highly relatable. He recognized people and places the author mentions, such as Katy Jurado, known in the United States for her performance in the film, High Noon. He was not surprised that author Silvia Moreno-Garcia says that she is “Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination.” He said that in Mexico, people with money send their children to school in Canada or Boston. He reminded us that Mexico is a melting pot of cultures. He shared information that I can’t quite explain here. Sometimes you just have to be there!

I was particularly impressed by the author’s knowledge of fungus, of the history of the gothic genre, and her accuracy regarding period details. The kindle version offered a book club guide that included an interview in which the author discusses more, including that the villain’s name, Howard Doyle, came from Howard (H.P.) Lovecraft and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Another tidbit:  “Hysteria wasn’t declassified as a mental health disorder by the American Psychiatric Association until the 1950s.”[iii] I definitely recommend looking up some interviews with the author, as well as some of the amazing places she mentions:

• Parque Nacional Desierto de los Leones (National Park near Mexico City)[iv]
• Las Pozas (Surrealistic garden created by Edward James)[v]
• Real de Monte (the town and cemetery that inspired the story)[vi]

One of us wore a colorful shirt with Día de los Muertos skulls and we added tamarind fruit ice bars and conchas to our snacks to mix things up. We talked about how the Anniversary of the Battle of Puebla (Cinco de Mayo) is celebrated more in the United States than in Mexico.

I believe everyone agreed that Mexican Gothic is a worthwhile read. It is difficult to recommend without a caveat – it will get creepy. Sometimes our expectations can make or break the experience.

• Other works discussed:
• American Dirt (2020) Jeanine Cummins
• Encanto (2021) Film – Academy Award for best Animated Feature
• Frankenstein (1818) Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
• Fruit of the Drunken Tree (2019) Ingrid Rojas Contreras
• High Noon (1952) Film
• Jane the Virgin (2014) Television Series
• Poetry by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
• Rebecca (1938) by Daphne Du Maurier
• Three’s Company (1976-1984) Television Series used to learn English
• Books by Ken Follett
• The Boys in the Boat (2013) by Daniel James Brown
• Caravans (1963) by James Michener

General recommendations discussed at the meeting!

Books by Ken Follett

Robert Mitchum’s Caravans

[i] https://silviamoreno-garcia.com/about-2020/

[ii] It has won mostly genre awards: “Horror novel prize, Locus Awards, August Derleth Award for best horror novel, British Fantasy Awards, and best novel prize, Aurora Awards, all 2021, all for Mexican Gothic.” “Silvia Moreno-Garcia.” Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors, Gale, 2021. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1000316141/GLS?u=lvccld_main&sid=bookmark-GLS&xid=0c0ea765. Accessed 12 May 2022.

[iii] I have not found this interview anywhere other than the kindle version of Mexcian Gothic, which references a Book Club Guide copyright © 2021, although this book club kit from Random House does NOT include it. http://www.randomhousebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Mexican-Gothic.pdf

[iv] “A short, hour drive west from Mexico City takes you to the fresh air and the dense pine and oak forests of Desierto de los Leones, Mexico’s first national park.” https://www.planeta.com/desierto-de-los-leones/

[v] “Las Pozas (“the Pools”) is a surrealistic group of structures created by Edward James, more than 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level, in a subtropical rainforest in the Sierra Gorda mountains of Mexico. It includes more than 80 acres (32 ha) of natural waterfalls and pools interlaced with towering surrealist sculptures in concrete . . . . Las Pozas is near the village of Xilitla, San Luis Potosí, a seven-hour drive north of Mexico City.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Pozas

[vi] The author talks about this town in the book club kit referenced above, but if you just do an image search of Real del Monte Mexico you’ll see some inspiring pictures. If you add the word cemetery to your search, you’ll get a feeling for the High Place cemetery in the novel.