Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Episode 114

The Buddies unearth the horror section this week with Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s, Mexican Gothic. The Buddies didn’t… love this one per say. They got to talking about the Get Out similarities, Eminem’s lyric connection, and “atmospheric writing”. So light yourself a cigarette, we needed a few whilst reading this one. And Join us as we discuss/attack Mexican Gothic. 

Intro/Book Report(0:00-3:03)
Stock Up/Down (3:04-22:33)
Favorite Scene/Character (22:34-27:12)
Love/Hate (27:13-37:20)
Conclusion (37:21-39:05)

 

NEXT BOOK: Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

 

Transcript for SEO purposes 🙂

Alright. Welcome to Book Club. I’m Dylan here with the Fungus Among Us. Keith, what’s up, buddy? Oh, I was gonna say we’re gonna have a lot of fungus today.

Yeah. Anyways You are a mushroom, aren’t you? Fun guy. Oh, a here’s my book called Burberry and Epic Sellers, and this week, we’re discussing Mexican Gothic, I think it’s 2020, by Silvia Moreno Garcia. If you like to recommend recommend a book for us to read or reach out during the past episodes, you can visit our website, buy a book club dot com, or send us a message on Twitter or Instagram, buy a book club podcast.

You can listen to us, iTunes, Spotify, Warrior, podcast. Please download. Give us a 5 star review. If nothing else, just give us a follow on social channels, please. And thanks.

And if you give us a 5 star review and you don’t like us, that’s fine. Just say you don’t like us in the comments. We’re okay with that. This book, Mexican Gothic, 3.6 on Goodreads. So we’re coming off our Harry Potter quest, I guess, or or reQuest.

Mhmm. Or Yeah. And Religious experience. What’s that called? A religious pilgrimage.

Okay. Is that where you’re going for? So we’re coming off of that, and we figured we’ll, at least here and there, we’ll go into, like, some TikTok books. And this, we’re probably late. I know we’re late to the party on this one, but whatever.

It was, like, fairly hip on the on the TikTok at one point. And like I said, I think it’s 2020. So yeah. So let’s open up with the with the book report. Yeah.

This might go a little hard in the paint to start. Well, this might set the set the stage, at least from my perspective. Mexican Gothic is a horror fiction novel that takes place in a small Mexican town at the top of a hill in a creepy old house. Do you know the movie Get Out? I am familiar with that.

That movie but added mushrooms. Get Out was actually one of my favorite movies, and I say was because like fungus, this book is so bad that its terribleness spread all and also ruined Get Out for Me. In what should have been a 40 minute Black Mirror episode, we get a story with no real surprises, likable characters, or rational decision making. Nothing seems realistic in this book. But the least realistic part of this whole book is that the pale, shy, ugly kid at the end gets the girl.

Yeah. I’ve lived that life 37 years, and I didn’t have a sadistic family made of mushrooms. Do yourself a favor. Take some psychedelic mushrooms and listen to some Pink Floyd. You’ll be a lot happier and skip this book.

Yeah. You came back with a bang. I think your your average your grade point average at this point has been, like, a b minus maybe, and I’m gonna give that a Yeah. I’m gonna give that an a minus. A minus.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Okay. Wow. That’s I’m proud of that.

And I don’t know if you like it. Most of the words. So I’m you’re right. That’s me reading. So It’s it’s interesting you said get out because I also as I was reading it or listening to excels to the audiobook, we’re seeing a lot of get out parallels.

I I wrote that as my note in, like, within the first two hours. Yeah. Like I think so. When they got to the house, I wrote that. So I was like, oh, this kinda seems like get out.

And I was like, oh, it’s just it’s just Get Out. That’s what it is. It’s not there’s no difference. I love Get I need to rewatch that movie. It’s such a good movie.

Dead serious. I was thinking about Get Out. I’m, like, maybe that movie wasn’t good. That’s my favorite horror movie because I don’t really like a lot of horror movies. And so now it’s worse.

Somehow that movie is worse now in my mind because of this book. Let’s, follow that up with some stock up stock down. What do you have for stock up? Stock up warning signs. Mhmm.

Okay. The thing about warning signs when they occur, in relationships or, like, situations is they’re usually subtle. They’re, like, oh, I should have picked up on that warning sign. Yeah. In this book, they’re actual warning signs.

They’re not they’re not subtle. There’s nothing subtle about them. They get to the top of the hill, there’s actual signs that say, danger. Do not come in here. I don’t know how it’s more else you can get hit over the face with it.

But if we’re not counting that, let’s talk about the 100 of people that have been literally killed at the house from, quote, unquote, an illness or the different times that they’ve said that they all started seeing visions and seeing having nightmares. And then she starts having the nightmares. And then her cousin has the nightmares and is going crazy. And, all the bad luck and everything that’s happened at this house and all the bad things. At what point do you say, maybe this house isn’t that good?

I I don’t I just didn’t understand it, Dimon. It made no sense how we’re at this point where there’s literally every possible warning thing ever and there’s not one thing thought of, like, maybe there’s something going on here. Yeah. It seemed like Noemi was pretty chill with the situation for a while when it seemed clear that it wasn’t so chill. Yeah.

That’s the best way that I can think to put it. Obviously, that that helps with the suspense factor. You know? And Suspense? Was there?

What suspense? When you watch scary movies or whatever, you you’re always saying, get out of there. Get out of there. What are you doing? What are you doing?

So I understand that there’s a bit of that in there, and I’ll look the other way for for some of it. But the I guess, my concern was she wasn’t really trying to leave or thinking about leaving until it got kinda too far. Like, she was in too deep for her to actually get out of high place. Very early on, and this is my just because it’s takes place in, like, an older day, which took me a while. At first, when I first started reading, I was, like, Mexico’s kinda rugged, Like, I can’t play I didn’t realize it was, like, this was supposed to be, like, 19 fifties.

Right? Yeah. You thought it was, like, Cuba where they just haven’t had any imports, so they all drive old cars? I was, like, they’re really talking down to women in here in this beginning part. This is kinda crazy that Mexico is like this.

Yeah. Set in the fifties. You’re, like, no electricity? What? She gets there and she’s, like, well, I can’t do anything because I’m a woman.

I can’t be a decision maker. And my cousin can’t do anything because her husband kind of, like, owns her. Okay. So then what what are you doing there? Okay.

If that you’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t really do anything, why are you still there then? Mhmm. It doesn’t make any sense. Like, what’s the purpose for you being there? No.

I have no idea. I don’t know. I I honestly yeah. I don’t know. Like, her dad’s her dad sent her there with a promise that she could go to a university that she wanted to go to, I think, was the deal.

But it seems like you could you show up and you say, like, my cousin’s kinda fucked up. Hey, dad. Can you come in and grab her? Yeah. And at no point when she was going into town at the beginning was she sending a letter or a telegram or anything along those lines just to give her dad an update that, yeah, it seems as sketchy as it looks.

I don’t exactly know what’s happening, with, cousin Catalina. But at the same time, we we need someone to to come here and, like, physically extract her because she’s growing into that bed with fungus. Yeah. And she knows how to drive her car, so just take her out of her room and bring her to the car and drive away. Like, that’s it.

And then if you’re not gonna do that, go back to Mexico and have your dad do it. Because if if you’re not empowered to do anything, then someone’s gotta do it. That’s it. Those are the 2 options. My first stock up is Eminem’s not so hit song, My Fault.

I’m not sure if you’re familiar with this particular tune. No. I couldn’t enlighten me. It it could’ve been written for Francis, honestly. It goes like this.

It goes, I never meant to give you mushrooms, girl. I never meant to bring you to my world, but now you’re sitting in the corner crying, and it’s my fault. My fault. Yeah. It’s a great It’s a lot of fun.

Yeah. It’s it’s one of those, deep cuts, but, I don’t know if the song was ever relevant to anyone but but myself. Sometimes, the song just comes back in my head, and for obviously, when I was reading this book, it came right back into my head. But when this sear when this book eventually becomes an HBO Max miniseries because we all know it will, Eminem’s about to get some royalties. So, stock stock up to that song because if you’re not playing that as it’s going down and Francis is in the corner crying, because even though it will be no Emmy, corner crying, he will also be.

Just remember, Eminem, my fault. Oh, deep cut there. Well done. Yeah. Well done.

Thanks. What else do you have for stock up? Flirting? Stock up? Oh, big stock up, of course.

I don’t know how to flirt, but, I mean, this book made me think I’m pretty good at it. You’re a great flirt. This this is kinda when I knew this book didn’t have much of a chance. With you? Yeah.

At one point, Virgil is, like, why don’t you come explore the greenhouse with me? Mhmm. To you know what I mean? And like they’re kind of having this like little flirtatious thing, I guess. I I I don’t really understand what was going on there.

But she’s like, oh cool, like so she just starts looking around. She’s like, oh, like, oh and so they’re like a snake’s eating that snake. That’s kinda interesting. Why is it here? She starts asking just like benign questions about the greenhouse, which he’s showing her and he’s like, you know it’s rude to ask questions.

Now why the fuck are you showing me the greenhouse? What what am I doing here if I can’t ask questions? It was mind blowing. It, it just upset me so much, d man. I don’t know what why would you be like, hey.

Come check out the my yard, and you’re like, man, that’s really nice. Your grass is great. How’d you get this, like like, the grass so good? It’s like, hey. It’s kinda rude to ask me about that stuff.

What? Why why you why you showing it to me then? Yeah. I and I agree with you, but at the same time, I think the point is there’s probably a large larger point that is too smart for the 2 of us just about misogyny and especially, like, the male dominated culture that, you know, persists and was also even more relevant at the time. But he just has owner he just, like, feels like he has ownership over her and also every experience they have together.

So it’s like he’s not interested in what she has to say and total misogynist. Oh, so he just wants to be, like, look at my cool things, and he wants her to be, like, it’s amazing. Yeah. And then Exactly. Okay.

But Noemi is that’s her whole character. She, like, pushes back on it right there. Yeah. Yeah. No.

I and I I agree with you a 100% there, which was there was this odd confusion with Noemi. And, sure, everyone is a flawed character, which I think makes sense because they’re human beings, so, you know, no one could be perfect at all times. But she’s strong willed and will kind of dance the beat of her own drum and is an empowered woman. Yet, at no point, is she pretty much just say, fuck you. You know, she kinda goes along with it the whole time.

It seemed like her character should have been more forceful. But I also understand, like, okay, the societal pressures of the time, maybe you don’t allow that. But at the same time, we saw her at the beginning when they’re at the holiday party dictate the whole situation. So why can’t she do that now unless she’s already getting the fungus among us? Yeah.

Just never seemed like the stakes were high enough or that, she was helpless enough. I I have to stay here because x y z. There was never that and there was never I would do something, but I can’t drive. I don’t know how to drive a they don’t have a car here. Yeah.

You know, like Yeah. There’s nothing that was preventing her for doing any of these things or that she’s like it would make a lot more sense if she wasn’t an outgoing and strong willed person. She was just like, well, I’ve always been taught like just to listen and don’t like, fight back. So I have to do that. And now that she eventually puts out on that or something.

Right? Yeah. It’s, like, this character is already pretty strong. Why is she doing all this stuff then? Yeah.

She was she’s not the damsel in distress, and she’s not Ripley from Alien. She’s somewhere in between, but never really flexes the muscle, I guess, until the end, potentially, which even then, it’s like Frances who kind of helps them get out of there. Like, leads them out of there. So my next stock up and and this is a short one, but, I my my next 2 are short one. But, stock up, o’Doyle’s rule.

So although these are the Doyles and not the o’Doyles, they do indeed rule. That was my stock. On the book report, the, pale, shy, ugly kid getting the girl? That that didn’t really make sense to me, honestly. You’re talking about Francis?

Yeah. Well, she’s like, Francis is really shy. He’s ugly as sin, and he’s as pale as the fucking ghost. He’s disgust me, frankly. But there’s something about him.

I’m like, wait, what? Yeah. What’s going on? Yeah. Didn’t make any sense.

But Well, I mean, I think the thing that makes sense is that he’s he’s an interesting guy. You know what I mean? He he gives hope for all of us who, I guess so. Who might have some weird, interesting hobbies, like doing podcasts about books we don’t like. You don’t fall into the pale category, sir.

How dare you? Oh, I don’t know. How dare you? I’m back on Zoom now, like, because I have meetings and whatnot. And Yeah.

I I have, like, raccoon eyes now, and I feel like I haven’t left this house. It’s I I I’m I’m there. I’m there. I’m back. What what I’m one of the clients I have, I’ll get her on Zoom, asked me, so do you ever leave your room, Keith?

And I said, why don’t you respond to that? I was like, I well, really the answer is no. But still, like, what does it say there? Just to masturbate. And that she really has no idea.

Then she’s like, wait, what? That makes no sense. Anyways. Last one I have is, over the counter fungicide. The you know, this this whole thing could have been stopped right there at the beginning if doctor Camarillo just passes out some Tufactin Tinactin.

Really as simple as that. I just want her walking around the house, Tufactin Tinactin in the in the gatling gun, just spraying everything. That would have been that would have been the move. Harold, shoot throw the can, shoot it, explodes in his mouth. I’ve also been playing Last of Us, which is or I played Last of Us during my paternity break, which is kinda like you know, it’s pretty much a fungus that takes over people.

So, there’s there’s some parallels there as well. It’s like Get Out meets Last of Us. What about Stock Down? Stock Down, Mi casas tu casa? I thought this was a saying that came from Mexico or Spain.

I thought this was a and for those non Espanol speakers, that’s my house is your house. Mhmm. It’s a common phrase, I think. I might be butchering that what it actually means. But anyways, but she shows up.

Usually, they’re like, hey, what can we do to, like, you know, welcome to the house? Oh, let’s give you a tour. Or here’s your room. You know, we heard you like x y z. You know, you’re trying to make the guest feel well welcome.

She shows up. They’re like, yeah, listen here, bitch. Like, this is our house rules. You’re gonna do exactly what we say. There’s no all this stuff.

And I’m, like, man, this is not a great way to, like, treat someone. That’s what you’re thinking. It’s like the opposite of Beauty and the Beast be our guest. It’s pretty much what you got. Instead of the candelabras singing you a song, it’s this old thin lady saying, shh, no talking in the house.

Yeah. And I just I guess, goes back to my point of, like, if you’re being treated like this, just pack your shit up and like, I don’t really you know, there’s nothing that’s that’s keeping you there. And they’re if they wanna keep you there, wouldn’t they try to change their tune? I don’t know. Yeah.

I would’ve been out of there. I would’ve been out of there immediately. Especially because she likes to rip the cigs, which should’ve been a a stock up as as just ripping cigs. And she’s gotta be sneaking her cigs left and right. On top of that, she finds out the cigs are bad for the fungus.

So go to town, get a carton of smokes, and just start chain smoking. Like, what do we do what are we doing here? Yeah. For sure. Cigarettes stock up.

Good point. Yeah. I know. I’m filtered too back in the day. Oh, 100%.

Roll them yourself. Hey. You can if you want them thicker or thinner, whatever you like. I’m watching this, because I got Paramount Plus to watch the show. And then there’s this other one that’s, like, I think it’s called like Oil Man or Land Man or something.

Yeah. It’s about the oil business. And I think it’s a lot. Billy Bob is hilarious at it. He just goes on this rant about how cigarettes are actually good for you.

And I was like, this is kind of a great hot I mean, it’s I I hate cigarettes, but, like, now I’m like, that’s a good hot take to be on the opposite side of something, you know. He actually has really good points. Okay. I don’t know if you’ve heard if you’ve seen that, but It’s a good show. Someone’s eating a Pop Tart and the guy’s like he’s like, yeah, you stop eating that fucking shit.

It’s gonna kill you. And the guy’s like, you’re smoking cigarettes. And he’s like, you know who smokes the most cigarettes? Like Japan. They have the longest live like the longest age people there.

China is the 2nd highest rate of smoking and they know that the top 10, killers there, like none of it is lung cancer. It’s actually this shit that kills you. And I was like, woah. That’s a pretty good that’s a pretty good flex there. Yeah.

That’s a great flex. Don’t smoke, kids. No. He’s saying smoke. What, what was the other show that you’re watching on Paramount?

Like, why did you get Paramount Plus? Lone Wolf or Lone Woman something. Lioness. Oh. Lioness.

Okay. Have you heard of that? No. It’s like Homeland kind of Fucking hate that show. It’s the worst show I’ve ever seen.

Oh, well, it’s way better than Homeland. The fur at least the first season was pretty good. It’s kinda like a Homeland meets, Vince Vinny Flynn, but not Okay. Not that level, obviously. Yeah.

And it’s with is it with Rebecca Ferguson? Or am I thinking of something? No. Oh, okay. It’s, Zoey Zell so so Salazar Melo.

Right? Yeah. Yeah. Salazar Slytherin. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Exactly.

Alright. My first stock down is heroin stock down. Okay. Yeah. Well, yeah.

Stock selling. I really feel like after our Harry Potter pilgrimage, we’re just chasing the dragon. You know? We’re just looking looking for that high or even something close to it. Like, I don’t need that Afghan bang bang, but just a little something close would be would be great.

And reading this book, to me, felt like I just shot up some baking soda and molasses. So yeah. If I never had tried heroin, I wouldn’t be chasing it. Yeah. So yeah.

That’s that’s that’s where I’m at with heroin. I do like you used heroin. You could’ve used anything there as something that’s great, and you’re like, no. Let’s go heroin. Yeah.

Well, you know, it’s also maybe I was thinking chasing the dragon, and there’s dragons in Harry Potter. You know, it’s it’s and I just kinda forgot that in our quest to read so many different books and different genres and really explore the literary world of fun, it’s taken us in so many different directions, but I think we have, like, a 60% hit rate and, like, a 40% total miss rate. And I know a lot of people do like this book, and I understand the points that they may have, just not not Not to be not. Okay. Maybe I don’t.

I’m just being nice also. Like, I don’t really know which I’ll get into later. Did you know the start downs? That last one was being way too cool about being kidnapped. Start down.

I think this is a a problem too. It’s like every one of these books is, I think, when when it starts out like this bad, I think they can turn things if it turns just into Red Rising, the second half of it. Okay. But they never do. They never do.

Right? But she’s kinda has like the Stockholm syndrome a little bit going on which is kinda weird. But that creepy weird kiss scene happens which is repulsive where, like, the old dude kisses her and black stuff, like, goes in her I don’t know what that was. That was my favorite scene. Gross.

Yeah. You sick. You sicko. He burns a tumor? Awesome.

Yeah. She wakes up after that and Florence is, like, now you’re part of the family. Like, you’re like ours now or whatever. And she leads her out of the room, like, walking in front of her. I’m taking Florence’s head and I am slamming it through a fucking wall.

Like, she is getting absolutely mashed into the wall and I’m killing her. Then I’m lighting 3 to 4 cigarettes, couple marble red, throwing them on the ground and burning the house down. Like, that’s it. Yeah. That’s the only thing I’m doing.

The fact that she’s, like, I’m gonna escape now. I was, like, what are you what are you doing? Take her head and slam it into a fucking metal, like, wall piece and kill her. Am I am I crazy? No.

There was a and granted, I understand that part of the house is that it infects you, and you can’t do things or whatever. But at the same time, she’s able to free herself at some point. Like, it seemed like there wasn’t enough interest in getting the fuck out of there. Yeah. She was way too chill about everything that was going on in the house.

Just way too chill. Yeah. Stock up Stockholm syndrome. My next stock down is co pays. We were talking before we started recording, we were talking about health care and how we needed to survive.

But, yeah, I guess not really in this wonderful Mexican village because doctor Camarillo is out here giving free appointments left and right. Noemi showing up. Oh, I got this. I got that. He’s like, oh, come on in.

No problem. Where’s your card? Where’s your Tufts Tufts Health Plan card? You know, the no no charges. You just go in.

He treats you, and you get out of there. That’s this is the kind of society I wanna be a part of. So, yes. Co pays. Get out of here.

Yeah. Great point. She just shows up in the morning, and he’s like, no. I’m I’m not I’m not busy. I’m good.

Chilling. It’s like, pardon me? This is not a this must not be a medical facility. Are you sure? Yeah.

He was also just, like, chilling, I think, in, like, jeans and a polo or something like that, and so she wasn’t even sure he was a doctor. So what she might not have even been. You can’t even walk and get haircuts like that anymore. Like, there’s no place that you can just walk in and sit down and be like, can you take me? Like, no.

Absolutely not. So, like, a dental office, that’s like a month, you know. There’s nothing you could do that. I don’t know. That’s the Mexican systems, maybe they got it down.

Yeah. At least in the fifties. My last one is the idea of, like, family over everything, which which is how I like to live my life. But at the beginning, Noemi obviously goes to see Catalina, and granted, she’s not really going out of the goodness of her own heart. It’s kinda because her dad give makes her a promise that that she can go to college she wants to.

Either way, when she shows up there, she’s like, alright. Cool. Where’s Catalina? And they’re like, oh, she’s in her room. She’s not feeling well.

And she’s like, alright. Cool. I’m a hit the town. If and then it feels like a few days pass where she’s just chatting with Frances, walking the grounds, and doesn’t see what’s going on with with her cousin. She’s just kinda hanging out.

And you feel like at some point, you’d be like, hold on. I’ve made a long journey. I’m here to see my cousin and check on her welfare because she’s obviously not well. Can you let me in there? Why can’t I go in there?

Instead, she’s just like, I’m gonna go to town. I’m gonna see if they have smokes. I’m gonna talk to this doctor, get a free checkup, and, walk the grounds. So yeah. I I don’t know if no Noemi was really, invested in her family.

That’s a good point. And the one time that she, like, is able to ask her for something is she’s not, like her cousin that says she isn’t, like, get me out of here. Like, I’m like, there’s something going on in this house. She’s like, can you give me some medicine? I need to, you know Yeah.

She’s like, what? I need my tincture. Did you have a a favorite character? We got Noemi, obviously, cousin Catalina, the Doyles, Francis, Virgil, Florence, Howard, and Ruth, RIP. Maybe Marta, the local healer or doctor Camarillo.

Yeah. That’s it. Marta? They all sucked in the house. Marta, at least a witch doctor.

I kinda like the idea of that and I liked the fact that she was asking the the local doctor. She’s like, oh, it’s like Martha really given some con concoctions that are like fuck people up. And she’s like, no. She’s amazing. She’s a great it’s like, really?

I don’t think a doctor would be into like the whole A holistic approach? Yeah. I feel like their egos wise would be like, well, I went to medical school and I studied for 8 years, and then this person’s in the backyard pulling up some weeds and has put it in a concoction, and they’re, like, yeah. Yeah. I trust that person.

Don’t worry about it. Like, you’re you’re good to go with her. Yeah. Okay. I always I always respect a doctor like that who’s, you know, pretty much the ideas.

I don’t know. All of our medicine comes from the environment anyway. So this person’s got something that works, you know, go for it. Yeah. So Yeah.

So, yeah, doctor Camarillo and Marta really worked well together. And she was, she’s Basilak’s physician also, which was nice. She was she was explaining the whole thing? Yeah. She’s like, I just need a cigarette.

Now let me tell you a story. Let me tell you about the Doha. It’s like, fine. Like, what’s going on at Hybex? Also in, like, chapter 3 that she was explaining all these terrible things.

Not like the last chapter where she’s like, oh, maybe there is something going on here. Yeah. No. I mean, he’s like, hold on. I actually have to go back there.

I’ll come back at a different time. Yeah. So I guess I’ll burn a hate here, but I guess Marta and doctor Camarillo would make my short list of favorite characters. But my hate is all of the characters. Yeah.

Yeah. Make sense. Yeah. And it’s not even that I dislike them. It’s just that I did not care.

I did not care about one character in this book. I know Amy is obviously our lead here, our protagonist, but they just didn’t build her up enough throughout or or, like, fill out her character to make me really interested in her plight. If she didn’t survive, I’ll be like, oh, that that that’s unfortunate her. And when she survived, I wasn’t like, oh, hooray. At no point did I care.

Well, you didn’t really know the motivations of any of the characters at all. Besides keeping the family lineage alive and which is, like, whatever. I don’t know. None none of it made sense. I don’t fucking get into it.

Did you have a favorite part of the book? Because mine was obviously the tumor birth scene. Oh, okay. Mine was, the very, very beginning when they’re in the house, and I was like, oh, cool. I had no I had no idea what this book is about.

I thought it was a murder mystery. Mhmm. So and then it then they she left the house and it never she was at the party. Remember? Yeah.

Yeah. I thought that’s where I was gonna go down. He said that’s where the murder was gonna happen? Yeah. I was like murder mystery that’s gonna happen in this house.

It’s gonna be, like, a party, and they’re gonna have to do I was, like, thinking all these things, and then then she just left the house. And I was like, oh. Yeah. Alright. Well, let’s see what happens now.

And then after that, it was pretty bad. After that, you were in your, derby car, your soapbox derby just going downhill. Yeah. So, I mean, and the reason why I’d liked the tumor birth scene was it was out there, which I appreciate. It was the one part of this book that I was, like, wait.

What the fuck is happening? Like, this is wild. It was sold to me as a gothic horror book, which I understand isn’t, like, your typical kind of horror, whatever the case is, but this was actually, like, disturbing and horrific. So I was, like, I get the word. I understand the word horror.

I might not understand the word gothic, but I do understand the word horror, and this is what I’m getting in this scene. So, yeah, it it felt like the the stakes were raised there, and then there was that was after when she then got Stockholm Syndrome and, like, nothing happens for a while until something does happen. So yeah. So is is gothic horror because there was that scene was very similar to the other horror novel we read there. Yeah.

What was that book? The fire or something? I like that one a lot. That I mean, I’d never read anything like that, but this one was kind of that some of the scenes were like that. Is that what that just means?

Where, like, you you have, like, dreams about you’re either having sex or, like, eating people or, like, things are eating you or, like, that’s what Yeah. Both of them have for some reasons. I would think Gotham I don’t I I don’t I really don’t know. I don’t know. I’m not I should’ve looked it up or something, but I don’t I didn’t care enough.

I just thought Mexican Gothic was like, I thought it was gonna be explained what that meant in the book. It never got explained. I have no idea why it’s called that. I I need something I need it, like, when you’re watching a movie and they say, like, we need to be gone in 60 seconds. I’m like, oh, I get it.

That’s the title of the movie. I get it now. So I I needed Yeah. I needed that. Well, what did you love about My Skin Gothic?

So my love is that I’m rewrite I’m gonna replay author and rewrite the book. Oh, okay. Alright. Stay with me here at DMA. Yeah.

I’ll hang. This is just very obviously cliche, but this is how horror books should go every time. Mhmm. Baker show up, and it’s great. Their family is so nice.

They’re super welcoming. They have their own doctor just for her cousin. They’ve hired a private doctor. They’re taking great care of her, it seems like. Mhmm.

She’s just having a good time. She starts developing a little chemistry with Virgil, but that she seems at night, like, she just notices, like, there’s this weird sexual thing that comes out of her at night, which never was explained in the book why that happens or what’s going on. Didn’t make any sense. We’ll keep that in there. And then she starts sleeping with Virgil.

Oh. And she wakes up the next morning and is like, why did I do that? I feel like I didn’t have control of myself. We start the guilt starts creeping in. She knows she slept with her cousin’s husband.

She starts kind of doubting certain things. We start getting little breadcrumbs of what’s going on. Then we have the big turn and reveal it just would make it much better because then she’s not a perfect character, 1. 2, we know she’s getting influenced by the house, which we don’t understand initially and but now we start to see that unfold. Instead, right when we get there, we’re like, the house is a bad guy, all these people are bad guys.

No one’s good here. There’s no change. So like you just read for 8 hours a book where the characters are all the same, no one changes and the reveal at the end is that the characters you thought were bad or bad and then she escapes from it. I mean, it’s just like, okay, that’s not a story. That’s just that’s why I said it was like a 40 minute Black Mirror episode.

Like, that’s what they made it. The only reveal, I guess, was just, like, the house itself was, like, a character, which I I’m okay with. I I actually I guess that’s a love, quote, unquote, is, like, high place itself being a character. I always like when inanimate objects or things like that are characters, and some of my favorite ghost stories or whatnot include, like, a haunted house or stuff like that. So so I do enjoy that, and I Or like that train movie?

Unstoppable. Yeah. The train is the bad guy. The train. The train, it can’t be stopped.

Buddy. Buddy. Don’t even don’t even I can’t believe you like that movie. How dare you? Tony Scott rolling over in his grave right now.

Can you imagine, how bad a movie has to be that I think a Denzel movie is bad? It has to be fun. Well, you you haven’t seen that Denzel movie that got a 0. Oh, you told me that. Yeah.

Yeah. Vivarious or something like that. I don’t know. I’ve seen 500 movies in the last few years, and that is the worst one I’ve ever seen. But but, yeah, I guess the only other, obviously, the reveal about the fungus and just that that Harold has lived many lives throughout that thing, which I was just like, okay.

It’s it’s a fine idea, but the the setup wasn’t there and the payoff wasn’t that cool either. And even at the end, it’s like, oh, we burned the house down. And Francis is just like, oh, I don’t know. Like, the spores might might survive because they’re spores, and it’s like the end. Yeah.

I’m sure there’s lots of smart allegories and stuff in it. Dreams in it, so you know it’s good. My first love was actually Keith. Do you love the dream sequences? Because I know how to do the sequences.

Absolutely hated it. Yeah. I guess, my only love is that there is a decent level of, like, what the heck is going on here suspense where you just didn’t know what was going on. Was that I thought so. I really did not was not surprised at all.

What exactly? You knew everything was fucked up. That’s for sure. But you didn’t know exactly what’s happening. The surprise is that this the the the snake eating the snake thing was just representative of the main guy taking over the bodies of their people which is just get out.

So I mean there wasn’t that surprising. Mhmm. They reference fungus and mushrooms a thousand times and she evens like, is there a possibility that the house itself is you know, has something painted on the walls or there’s something or some reason that they’re, you know, people are going crazy? Mhmm. It’s like, yeah.

That’s like pretty rational. Let me let me And they’re like, no, that’s actually what’s exactly what’s happening. It’s like Yeah. Okay. Well, great.

So that’s not a surprise either. So, like, the what was what was the surprises? I I did think they also wove in pretty well the isms that they that she was going with here with, you know, racism, colonialism, exploitation of the working classism, misogynism. Get out. Get does it a 1000 night.

Understand that, but I’m saying that the the way she did it wasn’t just on the nose. She built it into her story and characters, which which I appreciate. So I’m I’m gonna give that a love for a book that I obviously didn’t love. And back to my point about the suspense was, yeah, I thought there was a decent level of suspense. Unfortunately, it drew on too long so that I didn’t care anymore.

And then at the end, there isn’t the payoff that you want. It’s just Agnes, like, Harold’s wife, who he’s, like, used to grow all these mushroom spores, like, still alive, but a giant mushroom spore in the basement or something like that, and she burns her alive. It’s like, alright. Cool. I guess.

Like I was so gone at that point. I was like, what was in the book? I don’t care. I I was in the kitchen, and Caroline’s I was like, oh my god. And Caroline’s like, what’s wrong?

I was like, this book is just going on and on and on. And it’s a it’s an 11 hour book or something like that. I was like, I just don’t care. I was just saying, I don’t care. I don’t care.

Right there with you, bud. Right there with you. Well, let’s get into the hates then. What did you hate? The dialogue?

I I thought it was Fifty Shades of Grey esque. Mhmm. It was that bad without the sex breaks. It was just the flirting and the relationship between her and Francis was, in a word, terrible. It was just awful.

Am I crazy, or is it just was it just really bad? I didn’t notice it, honestly, but I didn’t notice a lot. So Okay. Fair enough. Yeah.

I mean, I got into mine all the characters didn’t like. So, you you got another one? The just think there weren’t enough suspects or, like, other characters? Yeah. No red herrings.

No nothing like that. She went to town once, and then I was like, that’s the end of that. Yeah. We’ll never go back into the town. Waiting for Francis to do a heel turn, and instead he was just, like, a good guy throughout, which was unfortunate.

Would have been nice if he was, but yeah. No. And my other hate was after I finished this book, I went on TikTok because I was, okay. I know this was, like, a book tok thing. Right?

And we have a TikTok account, which I don’t know if we ever really look at. But so I go on TikTok, and I look up Mexican Gothic because I wanna know. What’s the Scuttlebutt? What what do people like about this? And it’s a lot of people, which I guess is what people do on TikTok, which is just, like, reacting to the book the second they finish it or, like, fake finish it or they’re reading it.

Crying or something? Yeah. I don’t even know. But every single person was talking about the atmospheric comp concepts. They’re like, it’s just so next level with the atmospheric writing and this, that.

And I was like, what are they talking about? What does this even mean? So I go to the Wikipedia page, and I look it up, and it’s like atmospheric concepts. I go to other places, and I look it up. And I still don’t know what it means, and I am certain that all these people on TikTok have no idea what the fuck they’re talking about.

They just say atmospheric writing and and to feel smart or something because people want to to get the praise. They wanna they want people to think that they’re smarter and like something because it’s well written or something a lot. Can’t we just all be drooling idiots together and like things because they they make us happy like Harry Potter? Like, why why do we have to pretend that whatever the atmosphere of the writing was making us happy? It was just I was just more confused after going to TikTok and wondering what people like about this book.

Well, the thing is too is I’ve read a lot of those like I would say quote unquote artsy books too that are like, oh, I get it. I get why people like it. This isn’t really my style. I’m I’m more of a need more, literal and more brute force but I get why this is well received in it, like, the writing isn’t really really well done. This that wasn’t the case at all.

Not even close. I didn’t think. Once again, it felt like Get Out fan fiction. I don’t know. Yeah.

Yeah. Another one of my big hates I’ve read to bring up too is just so she’s about to leave. She’s at the dinner table and they’re talking about like, yeah, I’m probably gonna open up the, the mine again. And she’s like, why would you do that? Like, you shouldn’t do that.

It’s like, it’s their family business. Shut shut the fuck up. Like, what do you have to do with anything about this? She’s, like, so brash about that, and I’m like, okay. Fine.

And then they’re like, well, before you leave, you have to go talk to Howard. Why? Who the fuck is Howard? She’s met him one time. Yeah.

And she and then she’s like, yeah. I would never leave without saying bye to Howard. I’m like, what? What is that? What does that even mean?

Why why would that type of stuff just angers me, d man, so much. I don’t it doesn’t make any sense. You met a person one time, and they’re like, well, you can’t leave now because you met that person one time. He’s a fucking dead dude. That’s fucking not even in the book that 90% of the time.

Why would she need to say bye to him? And she’s so brash too. So Yeah. Yeah. You just say, like, nope.

I’m not go I needed some forceful I needed Noemi to do more Noemi stuff, what I think this character would have done, which has been like, fuck no. I’m out of here. You know? Yeah. And then have them have to physically lit a cigarette in his face and blew it in his face.

So now cigarette in his face, not mouth kissing. So yeah. And I just pictured him like the guy from 7 who’s stuck in his bedroom for the sloth guy. It’s like, ugh. My only other hate, and it’s not necessarily I mean, it is a hate, but my first note on this book was, what are we doing here?

But the first thing I wrote down, I went to look at my notes, and I was like, what are we doing here? I was like, exactly. What are we doing here? I have no freaking idea. On Earth or reading the book or Read the book.

She doing there? What is she doing there? All of it. Like, what is happening here? Well, so if you came here looking for a glowing review of Mexican Gothic, I apologize, but maybe you gotta check yourself before you wreck yourself because yikes.

If you did like this book and and know what atmospheric concepts mean, we would love to hear from you, and we could read this on the next episode’s listener mail or something because I just I just wanna know. I’m I’m dying. I’m dying to know. So tell me how I’m wrong. Tell me how I’m an idiot.

I love feedback. I will be happy to say my bad hand up. So, yeah, let us know. To be just to find out that I’m really, really dumb. You know, I know that already, but, like, you know what I’m saying?

If someone’s like, well, you didn’t catch this, I’d be like, oh, okay. Like, it would almost be satisfying. Oh, I’d be so satisfied. I I mean, I I know that I’m an idiot. I just wanna know why I’m an idiot here.

I I wanna be told Yeah. Agreed. Immediately. Glutton for punishment. What do we got coming up next?

We have and I can’t believe you actually made us read this book before I fly out next week, by the way. So thanks a lot for that. I forgot you’re scared of flying. You know, I hate flying, so you made sure to pick this one. Appreciate that.

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley is up next. Yeah. It was a, a friend and listener recommendation. So if we hate it, it’s even better that we lose a friend on top of it. Before the fall.

So, Keith, I’ll check it out for the before the fall next week. Hopefully, we get it out before Christmas, get another, Christmas gift to y’all because I know how much you guys like to hear us tear apart books that I’m sure you love. Unlikely. Yeah. Maybe not.

Cool. Well, Keith, thanks for reading it. I apologize. I said we should read it. It.

So No. It’s good, buddy. We gotta, do what we gotta do on these ones. So sink or swim. Yeah.

Alright. Alrighty. Bye now. Bye now.