Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-GarciaMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is quite the ride. Noemí Taboada is a wonderful heroine -- smart, sassy, and unbelievably resourceful, able to summon both grit and wiles to navigate the horrific landscape of High Place. She is a rescuer--as well as a victim--so it makes for a complex character whose spunk introduces moments of levity when one least expects. While it is a "gothic" novel, it also dips a toe in magic realism.
Occasionally the rhythm seemed off, so what would normally be a page-turner turns into a "set-it-down and rest-for-a-bit"-er. This was particularly present in the climactic escape scene, wherein a bizarre discussion on the luminescence of mushrooms seemed out of place and pulled the brakes on the up-til-then warp speed of the action. There are other places, however, where Moreno-Garcia's fascination with fungus works well. As she mentions in the book club guide, she calls upon the natural phenomenon of the mycorrhizal network to create a landscape that is both nightmarish and enthralling.
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