Mexican Gothic Review (Spoiler-Free)
When I first heard of Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, all I knew about it was its title and a depiction of a dark-skinned woman against a gorgeous damask cover. Honestly, that’s all it took for me to take interest in the book itself. But when I was told that it was a story with a Lovecraftian storyline, I had to devour it within days. As many of you know or don’t know, I’m a rabid H.P. Lovecraft fan. Yes, he was a raging racist piece of shit during his life. But even he had standards. Even he refused to associate with actual Nazis and he told them to fuck right off. So, that has to count for something, I suppose. On top of that, the man died alone, young, unfulfilled and with nobody but his old biddy aunts to mourn him. He never got to enjoy his legacy. And on top of that, even, young people of color are defying his racism and enjoying his works, anyways. Garcia-Moreno’s novel is an example of this reclamation, in which she satirizes and criticizes elements that Lovecr...