Michael Barnes
I had read Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Certain Dark Things with its meso-American take on vampires, and I had initially thought Mexican Gothic was vampires - the discussions of how the head of the house had brought soil from England, how things should be calm as the head of the house hold would hear even though he was floors aware, the isolated mansion in the hills, the enthralled servants had all pointed me to vampires, so I was pleasantly surprised when the villain turned out to be Capitalism, no Botanical Horror a genre I delight in (see C.G. Drews' "Don't let the forest in"). The protagonist was a "challenging young woman" of the 1950s and by challenging society takes that to mean socialite Noemí Taboada isn't prepared to be treated like shit.
My chemical heart was also tickled by the references to various dye used in her families paint works and her observations based on science and reason.
I had read Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Certain Dark Things with its meso-American take on vampires, and I had initially thought Mexican Gothic was vampires - the discussions of how the head of the house had brought soil from England, how things should be calm as the head of the house hold would hear even though he was floors aware, the isolated mansion in the hills, the enthralled servants had all pointed me to vampires, so I was pleasantly surprised when the villain turned out to be Capitalism, no Botanical Horror a genre I delight in (see C.G. Drews' "Don't let the forest in"). The protagonist was a "challenging young woman" of the 1950s and by challenging society takes that to mean socialite Noemí Taboada isn't prepared to be treated like shit.
My chemical heart was also tickled by the references to various dye used in her families paint works and her observations based on science and reason.