Mexican Gothic

This is the fourth book from Silvia Moreno-Garcia I've read. The first, [b:The Beautiful Ones 55311334 The Beautiful Ones Silvia Moreno-Garcia https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1611470492l/55311334.SY75.jpg 54122902], remains one of my all time favorite books. After that was [b:Certain Dark Things 54785481 Certain Dark Things Silvia Moreno-Garcia https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1615238352l/54785481.SY75.jpg 48011064] and [b:Gods of Jade and Shadow 36510722 Gods of Jade and Shadow Silvia Moreno-Garcia https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1543268579l/36510722.SY75.jpg 58230232], both of which I was less excited for. Not that I didn't appreciate them, Certain Dark Things in particular I liked, I mostly just wanted it to be longer, but I just felt like there was something missing from both that meant I wasn't getting pulled in. And now there's this book, Mexican Gothic. The breakout star. And I'm sorry but I just don't get it.Noemi Toboada is a headstrong rich girl living an exciting socialite life in Mexico City (in I think the 1950s), when she is instructed by her father to visit her recently married cousin, Catalina. Catalina has been sending her uncle strange letters, causing her uncle to worry about her mental health and a possible scandal if her new marriage is falling apart. Noemi agrees on the condition that when she returns she will be able to go to graduate school, and so she embarks to find out what has happened to her cousin. What she finds is a gothic, decaying manor perched on a hill in a small town, and her cousin's new in-laws - the austere Doyles. The longer Noemi stays in the house, the weirder things get - but aside from a lot of disturbing dreams, not a whole lot actually happens until the end.I felt a little embarrassed reading this. The copy I have is one I bought for my mother for Christmas last year - my mom loves a good thriller, and I thought she would enjoy a new Latinx author. She is not, however, a fan of horror, but as many reviews and articles will tell you - gothic romance is not really horror. But it looks like my favorite pet peeve has struck again, because once again a popular book got the “it's not really horror” sell, when, in fact, it is. In particular, this book has a lot of goopy body horror, with a mix of eldritch psychological horror. Not exactly what I expected out of a so-called gothic romance. Sorry, Mom.Moreno-Garcia does a lot to establish the atmosphere. Yes, I want to hear all about the tarnished candelabra, the velvet seats and moldy, rose-colored wallpaper. A young handsome man with a mysterious darkness to him? Step right up. The fussy older woman who makes sure she's judging every step the heroine makes? You got it. You signed up or a mysterious, gothic manor, and you're gonna get it, goddammit. But I just couldn't get past the fact that once that atmosphere is established, and the stuffy, privileged Doyles are introduced, the story feels largely aimless. Noemi has come to High Place to see Catalina, but the Doyles only let her see her for a few minutes at a time, and each meeting is not particularly productive, so she doesn't have much to do with the rest of her time. She gets yelled at for disobeying rules, she develops a relationship with the skinny, unassuming cousin, Francis Doyle, and has a lot of unsettling dreams where the walls of the house are alive and her cousin's husband, Virgil, is assaulting her in some way.Ok, we need to talk about how many times Moreno-Garcia is going to have to use the evil entitled rich boy thing. Like, hon, we get it, you hate these boys. Virgil Doyle does have more texture and complexity than Nick Godoy or Martin Leyva, but he's also a lot more diabolical. Unlike Nick or Martin who remain one-note throughout their journeys and you will smirk happily when they get their comeuppance, you will absolutely loathe Virgil Doyle by the end of this book. Which brings me to an important point - if you are sensitive to portrayals of sexual assault and/or nonconsensual touching, this book is probably not for you. Moreno-Garcia puts in the work to make you angry about the stuff that happens in this book, and if it was difficult for me to read, then it will be painful for a lot of others.I think what never clicked for was Noemi. She is sold at the beginning of the story as an intelligent, independent woman who enjoys doing things her own way. She seems like the perfect character to come in and disrupt the lives of the long-established Doyles. But almost as soon as Noemi arrives at High Place, she basically hits an immediate wall. It doesn't matter how many witty remarks she has or what kind of reputation she had back in Mexico City - in High Place, she's just a girl in some nice dresses, stuck in a house with a bunch of white supremacists. None of the previously established character work really contributes at all to where Noemi ends up. She could have been written as timid or bookish instead and it would have made little difference. Unless it was Moreno-Garcia's intention to humble her heroine (she does have that thing about rich kids), but that's not a character arc I'm terribly interested in.Overall, this book is rich with atmosphere and has some great villains, but a less interesting heroine and not exactly a strong plot-driven core, despite its short page count. When the source of the creepy stuff is revealed, it should have been the type of stuff that is right up my alley, but I found myself just wanting to get through it as fast as possible.