Mexican Gothic

Well, this book hit the spot! I noticed this book has been hoovering up awards and nominations in the last couple of years or so and I was looking forward for the opportunity to read this one. Sometimes, books which get a lot of plaudits tend to fall a little flat with me, but I really enjoyed this one, and when it did grab me I couldn't let it go (honestly, the last half of the book I read in one sitting and just couldn't leave it!).

The basic premise of the story is we have Noemí Taboada, a young socialite who is asked by her father to visit her cousin who writes a strange letter suggesting that something is not right at her marital home. Noemí visits and we enter a delightfully creepy tale of gothic haunted mansion horror...

I guess that this book may polarise people in its treatment of 'gothic horror'. For some, there will be little 'new' here or it may seem a little trite and contrived. For me, I'd bought into the premise quite early and was quite happy to run with it throughout. 'High Place' which is the home of her cousin Catalina is an old mansion that feels like it has come out of some old Hammer film, it's in the mountains, it's shrouded in mist and is inaccessible in bad weather. It's dark and dusty and musty with old furnishings and ancient leather bound books waiting to crumble. The family are served by practically mute servants. There is a domineering, stoic, prudish 'housekeeper' figure.

It's got an iron railed cemetery in the grounds. Do you see where I am going with this? Everything you'd expect to find is here. I did read some commentary suggested that this novel could be set anywhere and Moreno-Garcia just put her house in Mexico. I don't think that's fair due to her exploration of colonialism and white supremacy in the novel BUT at the same time I get the perspective. That's because she has taken all those gothic haunted house tropes and lifted them all lock, stock and barrel. One could argue it's highly derivative but once I had bought into the premise I loved everything Moreno-Garcia gave me because I was having as much fun with the genre as she was.

Another area where this book divides opinion is on the pacing, with a suggestion that much of the book is slow and boring before picking up. I disagree, what we have with Noemí is a situation where she is immediately placed in a situation where she knows something is wrong and feels unsettled and in danger. Some readers may say, 'get out', but again we have the tropes of the genre where one is trying to solve the problem on their own before they realise they are in way to deep and by the time they reach the realisation escape is impossible. There is a gradual, escalating pervasive and claustrophobic feeling of dread throughout which just builds with the last third of the book just going into overdrive with all sorts of horrible stuff going on (fans of body horror will get a kick here).

A pet hate of mine in books is 'wonderful middle class characters who have their nice life turned upside down'. They are often hyper successful and generally awesome at everything. Noemí Taboada is a character I should HATE. She's a wealthy socialite living off her father's income, flitting between expensive interests and attending parties in glittering dresses. The kind of character I always push back against, and yet I found I LOVED her. What a brilliant character she is! There is a certain honesty which Moreno-Garcia gives her which gives her so much depth. Honestly, I really rooted for her. She's probably in her very early twenties in the novel and her age and place in the world is captured perfectly. This isn't a coming-of-age story, she's already a woman, but there is a certain awareness and understanding of her not being ready for marriage and children (set in the 1950's that's pretty much what is expected of her).

The capture of her sexual awareness and awakening is pretty much perfect! So for instance Noemí is presented as a beautiful, sensual and flirtatious woman, who knowingly uses her 'feminine charms' to get men to do what she wants. There is a certain sensuality for every playful jest, wicked barb, light touch on the arm and kiss on the cheek, as a reader I bought in 100% to the notion that men want her and would do anything for a smile. And yet, it's so perfectly done that I think in the hands of another writer it could easily slip into chastisement of the 'wanton woman' playing with men's emotions. Here, the honesty validates Noemí and I love her for it. As the novel progresses we see an awakening of lust and desire and it comes from a dark place but also isn't unwelcome for Noemí as she explores it. It culminates in something quite terrifying. None of this would work if Noemí was a chaste, shy virgin, rather than a flirtatious, gorgeous virgin.

I should probably stop talking about Noemí's sexuality to be fair, but the context it is presented is quite oppressive. So in gothic horror you may have beautiful women walking about old houses in flimsy nightdresses and we have a bunch of that here but the ever growing sense of sexuality, desire, domination and sexual violence grows and grows. It can be quite unsettling to read at times, but it never comes across as titillating or exploitative, with Noemí's view being the focus. Countering that, her cousin's husband Victor is a horrible abuser. This may be challenging for those who have experienced domestic abuse because for most of the novel Victor doesn't physically 'do' anything. But his control is through his words, his looks and the way he gaslights Noemí and presumably Catalina in the past.

Noemí is impulsive at times, rude, angry and refuses to follow the rules. At other times she is dogged in her focus to do the right thing, she's wilful and doesn't give up easily. At times the novel batters her down and she struggles, falling into compliance and the spell of the house. She flits in this because the oppressive nature of the house and the family who live there trap, cajole, bully her and this variation in her capability to respond to what is happening to her just works for me so well. She isn't a wealthy superhuman, she's a young woman with fears, vulnerabilities and frustrations that come out. All that said though, if someone had a problem she's exactly the person you'd want on your side.

This is also a novel about racism, colonialism and white supremacy. The Doyle's are an old English family who bought a nearby silver mine. They do not allow Spanish to be spoken in the house. What I think Moreno-Garcia is doing here is not only taking all the tropes from a genre and letting us have fun with them, but she is also showing the impact of White European culture just dropped into Mexican culture with no appreciation of the culture that it replaces. White supremacy doesn't assimilate with other cultures, it replaces it. Englishness is an imposition on the mountain, not part of it. Much of the novel revolves around the treatment of indigenous workers, the superiority of the white race and whilst this a surface level treatment it does go deeper. The 'science' of Eugenics is prevalent throughout the book and whilst it does give clues for what is to come it is horrible to read, but also I am minded that many today still follow this discredited racist shit and in the early 1950's, with the evils of the Holocaust just a few years earlier it isn't that surprising that a shitty English family of racists support it. One is never far from racism in the book, from Noemí's exoticism as a 'dark beauty' to the treatment of Mexican professionals to the exploitation of the working class one cannot escape the sense that this house, this anomaly is the thing that does not belong

So it's a big plus from me. Great characters, great setting, genuinely unsettling in places, understands the themes of the genre whilst exploring broader societal themes of racism and misogyny. A clever plot in how it approaches a ghost story with a brilliant ending that will satisfy all those who know the genre. Will make a great movie too!