Hi there!
Welcome to our September Finale for Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic.
Trigger Warning: Rape, Drugs, Medical Gore, Mummy Gore, Dead Body Gore, Violence, Nudity, Sexual Assault, Fire, Eugenics, Cannibalism, Infanticide, Forced Arranged Marriage, Mind Control
Overall
We loved this DAMN BOOK. It has been our favorite read from this year so far. We were impressed with the writing and story arc, as well as the characters and creativity of it all. We were thoroughly spooked and grossed out several times, and highly recommend this book to others. Sometimes we thought the main character was rather helpless, but otherwise, we loved the story.
Noemí & Francis
We loved this light romantic love story between these two youngins. When Francis began speaking to her in Spanish, we loved it. But we were happy that he chose her side instead of the family's side. Ceraya's Spider-Senses were tingling and she was afraid that Francis would flip in the end. He kept things secret for so long, but then finally filled Noemí in with all of the information she needed. We appreciated this but wondered what made him wait.
We had moments where we were bothered about Francis helping Noemí out too much, it was almost too White-Boy-Savior-y in the second half of the novel. This kind of happens when Virgil is harassing Noemí the second time, and Francis shows up, but only enough to distract Virgil, not enough to actually help Noemí. Noemí could have saved herself perfectly fine, instead, Francis shows up to save her, and then doesn't really help as much as he could have. What was the point?
We are convinced that Francis should have died at the end, after killing the Fungus and setting Agnes on fire with Noemí. The fact that he lived felt like a Deus Ex Machina. He was fully ingrained into the fungus and born from it, so it doesn't make any sense that he lived. That must mean someone else must have survived the fire too, or the fungus still lives in the ground somewhere. Francis even mentions this in the last chapter, fearing for the future.
Virgil & Catalina
Virgil is SO NASTY in so many ways, not only is he vile towards Noemí, but he acts and speaks with an entitlement that only the worst can produce—well done Silvia for a great Villain. He also discusses how Catalina is going to invest in the mines and then reveals that they plan to re-open it. We were upset to hear this too.
The "dreams" that Noemí was having, worried us, especially the sex-dream with Virgil. We are still conflicted that this really happened to her. We kind of believe that it did, and then he brought her to his room after mind-controlling her. We thought Virgil acted very suspicious after the dream too, when she "woke up" in his room and he was trying to make her drink wine. Suspicious.
Virgil then harasses Noemí again, which is nasty AGAIN.
And then after the wedding, Virgil shows up and starts trying to rape Noemí finally, and the fungus was trying to make Noemí go with it. We knew that she didn't want to, but it was still really an unsettling scene.
Catalina is such an underdog in this story. Knowing that she has been through it so thoroughly, and in a moment of clarity destroys this whole master plot against her and Noemí. We want to know more about Catalina. She was at High Place for a year, and we know almost nothing. And then after she stabs Howard, she fades back into the background again. Seeing Catalina stab Howard in the eye was wicked. What's the deal with that? Can we get a Catalina spin-off? We don't think she will ever become normal or fully healthy again, and even if she did, we still don't know what she went through.
In the end, Catalina also kills Virgil. #slay
Others in The House
Howard is now extra disgusting. The body gore in Howard's moment with Noemí is vividly gross and well-crafted. The image of a nude physically ill, and boil-covered body on a bed is so incredibly striking. When Howard spit into Noemí's mouth, we yaked. Extra nasty. We thought that this moment started the real drama. This kicked it off. It set in motion the chain of events that led to the finale.
They mentioned a few times that Howard's ailments were accelerating. We were a little shocked by how fast this happened. We thought it was cool that he was immortal, but was inhabiting his children's bodies to keep living -that's a clever way to invent this form of immortality. It is more believable this way.
Florence is honestly the worst too. The fact that she treated Noemí like shit after the attempted rape was vile. We wonder if Florence had no pity for her. Perhaps because Howard had raped Florence too? Noemí didn't kill Florence when she had a good opportunity, and we think she avoided that because she knows that Francis loves his mother. Simultaneously, Francis cuts ties with the fungus when he kills his mother. He made the choice for himself, which in the end, feels right.
The Fungus & High Place
The way that the fungus is described is gorgeous and extremely detailed - magical. We loved that the fungus & mold were such large components of the environment and character struggles in the story. We thought that mushroom zombies were going to show up and be a major part of the finale, but instead, we got a mushroom mummy, which was equally cool.
There are rumors that a Hulu Original will be produced based on this novel, Brieanna is a hoe for a great series based on books so she is really looking forward to the special effects and set design and how the producers will capture the artistic look of this story. Especially in the Mausoleum.
The Finale
When they got into the crypt, there were some tools that Howard used to kill children. "Casual cannibalism" as Noemí says. Gross. The mummified corpse of Agnes was shocking to us and was quite striking to Brieanna. Virgil showing up last minute to give more trouble is exactly what we expected though. Always confirm the kill, per Ceraya. It was dumb of her to not kill him, and when he showed up we rolled our eyes.
When Virgil explains that he had control over them the whole time and that they needed Noemí to kill Howard, but then Virgil turns around and says that he wanted to be the one in power to live forever, we were BOTHERED! We got excited because we thought Virgil was going to flip and be good, but then it turned out he was still a piece of shit. He didn't want Noemí to kill Howard so that they could be free, Virgil wanted Noemí to kill Howard so that Virgil could take over instead. Bastard.
We were proud to see the house go up in flames after Noemí sets Agnes on fire, and happy to end the story with the moldy house burning down.
The Last Chapter was a little confusing for us. We understand Noemí wants to comfort Francis, but it felt like there were still some questions left unanswered. Like how is Francis still alive? Why? How far did the Fungus mycelium network spread? To the town? What would it mean for them to have children while they have the fungus inside of them? Is Francis going to live forever? Do we smell a sequel?
Conclusion
Please please please go read this book for spooky szn. It is so wild and gave us several of the hee-bee-jee-bees.
With love, see you soon!
Ceraya & Brieanna
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