One detail, the brutality of colonization in Congo was the Belgians, not the Dutch. Mind you, Dutch colonies were not nice either, although Congo was extreme even by brutal colonization values (probably because it was the private property of King Leopold, so basically not just a colony but a 'plantation'.
I was hoping this book would be a Mexican-style gothic, not an English-style gothic plopped into Mexico. If the author wanted to explore the colonial horrors and influence in Mexico, I would have thought exploring the Spanish influences would be the way to go. Not all gothicness has to be of English origin, just because the literary genre originated there. Look at how much American gothic stories are set in Louisiana and explore the intersection of religions and cultures in that area.
As an aspiring writer your videos really helpful to me. My high school doesn’t have that many resources for creative writing so your videos are something I rely on. I would like to thank you three for getting me through this year and helping foster my creativity. Thank you to Maria for your great plot summaries and very witty cometary. Thank you too William for helping me read between the lines and see what does and doesn’t work for the certain books. And thank you Katie for helping deepen my appreciation for proper grammar. Thank you all so much doing this. I hope you all have a happy new year!
Yes, thank you! I think what particularly frustrates me about Moreno Garcia, she always links it back to Nazis or Nazi adjacent people, instead of deconstructing Mexican racism. She even mentioned President Vasconcelos, who advanced the idea of "cosmic race" people, people of mixed european and indigenous descent. She painted it like Naomi didnt buy into it and knew it was wrong. As an upper class Mexican she would have probably AGREED with that idea. Like you said, if she started off like that, like admiring these Europeans who hold onto their practices and identity because she feels they're in the same racial group and then surprise! They view her as inferior because she still has "polluted" blood, even if she has "superior" physical traits. And her whole world could have been turned upside down. Catalina's marriage could have been a bigger plot point. The Doyles could have felt "tricked" because they thought Catalina and her family were more European than not. *Whew* I have been holding this in for so long lmao
Omfg Wills comment about connection the Mayan gods to Catholicism could actually be so interesting, like gothic horror through human sacrifice and cannibalism but about Jesus and simultaneously Christians alienating indigenous people and traditions by accusing them of those things. That could have been so interesting and good
Will tells Maria how bad this books is -> Maria reads the book for the podcast -> She does not hate it as much as she thought she would because of Will’s previous comments -> Maria’s inner contrarian flares up -> Maria is Will
I think it is common to misunderstand gothic literature as being about a set of tropes leading to a certain conclusion, whereas what universally unites the works we label as "gothic" all examine the ways in which the past influences and almost assaults the present. And in so so so so so many way Mexican Gothic is about almost everything except how the main characters are caught in the currents of the past, because neither Francis nor Noemi has played an active or integral role in the Doyles past. And upon closer inspection, the Doyles past is more of a plot device that part of any themes the book wants to examine, and all scrutiny is on the shallow side.
It's interesting that the book mentions revolution/war because that would have been an actual way to bring other Europeans into the story since The Second Mexican Empire was promoted by France and have as monarch Austrian Archduke Maximilian of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, who had ancestral ties to the rulers of colonial Mexico. The Doyle family (with a different last name) could have been a remnant of the period.
I agree. I can't get the title either. I think it's trying to play against Mexican Baroque, which is an actual concept (a.k.a. New Spanish Baroque), which is / has been done a lot in Latin American modernist literature - also been called Tropical Baroque especially by Cuban critics. If this is the thing, then it doesn't quite work either
After the comment about "why did they not send a man to investigate this creepy family situation," i just thought - why didn't the author just set it as the protagonist having to investigate a suspicious nunnery/convent? 1) character - would explain why a girl is sent. Boys not allowed. Also potential for girl to display agency on the choice. 2) visual - a family and protagonist who derives their fortune from making bright, colorful textiles must swap it out for drab black and white. 3) theme - the idea of culture vs religion, individually vs group think, colonial dominance. even though both the family and the nuns practice catholicism, the nuns imposition of their house, their rules = colonial themes, because their house is on your land, but your land doesn't matter. 4) come on, a nun monastery in 1930s Mexico, with a british, french, belgian, whatever inspired architecture - where the people dress alike, walk alike, and move about in black, murmuring prayers under big habits... that is ripe for creepiness. Just my two cents. I wonder why the author didn't do that. The nuns could be a sect / cult, and not even catholic so the author could not go so far to criticize the church.
This would actually be so good, now I want to read that so bad lmao. Having the story center around just another english mansion misses out on so much interesting stuff man
Never been so early! Finished the book a few days ago and can't wait to see what you think about it. Edit: I LOVE Maria's suggestion for how Catalina could handle the situation. Wow!!
This could have been a much better book if it had cut the romance and focused on the relationship between Noemi and Catalina, like them vs the Doyle family. The whole healthy relationship she's trying to build clashes with the gothic horror atmosphere she wanted, it's too subdued and... well, normal. Gothic in books and film is mostly vibes, there's no clear definition for it, but no part of it ever inspires "healthy romance" imo. And yes, she did Francis so dirty. She made him the least Gothic love interest I could ever imagine.
SMG named the Doyles after Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock author). Doyle is considered a pillar in late Gothic literature and was deeply interested in the occult and held Victorian-typical beliefs about races not considered white. Howard Doyle (and the Doyle family in general) is basically an amalgamation of the intratextual and metatextual roots of racism prevalent in the Gothic genre.
I would recommend Nuestra parte de noche / Our share of the night by Mariana Enriquez; I'm currently a little over 60% but this discussion and some of the comments made me think of it! I really enjoyed Gods of Jade and Shadow by Moreno-Garcia, so I'll probably still check out Mexican Gothic xD Some day...
I’ve read several of Silvia’s books and they were all mediocre, at best. Her writing is so bad. There are several Booktubers who rave about her writing and I just don’t get it. I think she has great concepts but the execution is poor every time.
I recommend "Pedro Páramo" by Juan Rulfo. Or the Netflix series based on the book. A true classic and true Mexican gothic. "Have you ever heard the dead moan?"
Wow I wouldn't have expected Pedro Paramo to get a series. Aura is another classic. Alberto Chimal is a modern Mexican horror writer (I have only read Los Atacantes). Compared to say Mariana Enriquez he doesn't lean into writing "Latin American horror" so much, but of course it's influenced by it just as a US or Japanese writer can't avoid being influenced by their background.
6:16 wtf? She says the surname perfectly, heck since she hyphenates it maria's saying of moreno-garcia is the correct way rather than the truncated moreno memillo used. Edit: 10:11 it's not an hacienda (ie a plantation or ranch manor) tho. Nor is it spanish. She is pretty clear what the place is & who it is built by; because it is based on real towns in the mountain forest region of mexico. The choice of site & mood kinda riffs on the other half of the author's nationality, the canadian bit. But the places are mexico, & your expectations of what "mexico" is is super racist actually! 10:44 read about the Porfiriato at the very least; before making snide comments about european imposition on mexico post independence. & like yeah her book sorta fails you if you read it & you arent left wanting to look into some of the details if the setting but being sarcastic to the point of sanctimony of "the british very famously subjugated mexico" is gross. But like "Taboada" is a spanish surname; the sort of textiles they sell are european style textiles; the place where she learns about cochineal is in fact an Hacienda. There are themes. There are themes to why the dad sends just a woman; themes about the relationship to the usa & europe. Will is being actually really reductive about a country he isnt in or know anything about.
The novel is flawed; it is derivative, yes, but also it overplays the mexiconess,& it barely has subtext with the themes; from the fact that in spanish the title is "mexican gothic" not "gotico mexicano" but the english phrasing, to the choice of time period to... well the whole thing But mister beard there is so "mexico is El Nopal, La Cerveza, Maria Sabina, Cancun Spring Break, siesta" that you miss the text.
Re spanish pronunciation: the joke is that I’m being pretentious and policing spanish pronunciation poorly. Sometimes I say things because I think they’re funny or will bother Maria, which I privilege over whether new viewers will interpret them that way. 10:11 - I’m aware it’s not an hacienda; the rhetorical point of what I’m saying there is to contrast how the things I’m listing aren’t in the book. ‘The choice of site & mood kinda riffs on the other half of the author's nationality, the canadian bit. But the places are mexico, & your expectations of what "mexico" is is super racist actually!’ I mean cool, but that really isn’t relevant to what we’re talking about. There’s no synergy in themes between canada and mexico in the book. 10:44 - American and European states have had massive effects on mexico and more broadly latin america, but those aren’t the effects this book is talking about. This book isn’t talking about Porfiriato and his policies, or the way the American drug war has affected Mexico, or some other example of European colonial projects. Its talking about an old British family. “There are themes to why the dad sends just a woman;-” The book never discusses why her father sent a woman at all. It can’t be a theme if it’s never commented on or builds to anything. “-themes about the relationship to the usa & europe.” The book never mention the US. And what are its themes about Europe? That old British families came and set up mining towns to exploit native labor? That’s not a thing that broadly happened in mexico, and isn’t something that shaped mexican culture. Again, the book is called Mexican Gothic, which means it’s setting the reader up to think it’s talking about Mexican culture and Mexico broadly. “Will is being actually really reductive about a country he isnt in or know anything about.” How so? The things I state are part of mexican culture (catholicism, spanish imperialism, etc) I never state are the only things that it’s composed of. As I said, the only thing I’m saying aren’t a big factor in mexican culture is british imperialism as portrayed by old british families taking up residence in mexico in this time period, which is a fairly limited statement. “that is heart of darkness, because the british were complicit & enabling of King Leopold's bullshit.” I haven't read it and am not overly familiar with the history of the congo, but if your point is correct, then my analogy is incorrect but it doesn’t disprove the point: switch british and chinese and the point still holds, it’s mildly offensive to act as though one oppressor or colonial power can be switched interchangeably with another. ‘The novel is flawed; it is derivative, yes, but also it overplays the mexiconess,& it barely has subtext with the themes; from the fact that in spanish the title is "mexican gothic" not "gotico mexicano" but the english phrasing, to the choice of time period to... well the whole thing. But mister beard there is so "mexico is El Nopal, La Cerveza, Maria Sabina, Cancun Spring Break, siesta" that you miss the text.’ I don’t know what this means. You seem to just be agreeing that the book is bad. We lay out pretty specifically that ways it is both bad at being a gothic novel, and bad about being a mexican gothic novel; what point are we missing? --Will
I would love to see your guys' review on her book The Daughter of Dr Moreau. I really enjoyed it, and I mainly read it because it had the exact same premise of a YA book I read long ago called the Madman's Daughter which I thought was funny XD. I still love this book when I first read it, but I agree with your guys' points. Great review!
Will please stop putting down others when it comes to Spanish name pronunciations it’s fine for ppl to not pronounce it perfectly. 6:11 has me cringing at your comment to Maria
I read this book in Spanish. I didn't know it wasn't written in spanish, since i picked it from my local spanish library's Halloween reconmmendation. In Spanish the title is just "Gótico" (Gothic, not mexican just gothic). The author's note in the end explains how just "gótico" should have always been the title with no further explanation. Because i didn't expect it to be mexican, i don't have any of the complains you have. Maybe adding mexican was an editorial suggestion to sell in non hispanic countries. Also, you have some misconceptions about Mexican culture and society. Mixed people could be upper class, even if whiteness was more common. Mixing was way more common in spanish colonies than in other european ones.
It would be interesting to hear your views on 'Starling House' by Alix E Harrow, another fairly recent gothic romance type book about a creepy house. Personally I enjoyed it a lot, but I DNFed 'Mexican Gothic'.
I feel like I would enjoy this book. The funny thing is that I avoid watching y’all’s good review videos (sorry)because I don’t want to spoil myself on good books, but surprisingly this video made me want to read from this author. I think I would’ve liked Mexican gothic to some extent
Hey, can you folks roast IN THE VALLEY by Autumn E. Knight? I'm the author, and I love your channel. I'd love to see my book roasted; I promise I have a thick skin and wouldn't get upset. In fact, the reader feedback would mean the absolute world to me.
It was just the eugenics that did me in. Couldnt be plain racism, had to be extra colorful racism! The moment i read it I just skimmed the rest hoping it would pick up but nope. And all the gothic theming fell short because its all coming back to genes and worth, blah blah blah.
Oh no, I know Will didn't like this book so I'm disappointed that this was the book ye chose to read from her 😭 I think it would've been interesting for ye to have read a different book from her's like Gods of Jade and Shadow 🤧
First of all, if you have not seen the SEMINAL "emos contra punks mas hare krishnas" (lit: emos versus punks plus hare krishnas) you simply must Second: the book is very much akin to Del Toro's Crimson Peak Third: Silvia Moreno's name has no rolled r's (otherwise it'd be Morreno) the r is "rolled" because it can be sustained. it sounds a bit like an engine? I know a joke is meant but also, americans do do that joke a lot to the point it has peculiar feel But also: if you know the rolled r is the double r why would you deliberately mispronounce the author's name? What's the joke there? Or if you thought the short r is the rolled r... the joke is you got it wrong? I dont want to be acerbic but i really dont get why bring the rolled r up
Have, but have not yet read, this newest book to go through the UTT shredder, so I had to stop watching after a while. Spoilers. But, if you take recommendations for books to hate on, have a go at The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern because, you know, ew...
You know who had a super complicated mixed heritage? Sophia Alice Callahan. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynema,_a_Child_of_the_Forest She was mixed Muscogee and Confederate. She referred to Native people as "dusky savages" in her book. But she was horrified by the genocide that she saw the other side of her family doing.
One detail, the brutality of colonization in Congo was the Belgians, not the Dutch. Mind you, Dutch colonies were not nice either, although Congo was extreme even by brutal colonization values (probably because it was the private property of King Leopold, so basically not just a colony but a 'plantation'.
Ah, my bad, thanks.
--Will
I was hoping this book would be a Mexican-style gothic, not an English-style gothic plopped into Mexico. If the author wanted to explore the colonial horrors and influence in Mexico, I would have thought exploring the Spanish influences would be the way to go. Not all gothicness has to be of English origin, just because the literary genre originated there. Look at how much American gothic stories are set in Louisiana and explore the intersection of religions and cultures in that area.
As an aspiring writer your videos really helpful to me. My high school doesn’t have that many resources for creative writing so your videos are something I rely on. I would like to thank you three for getting me through this year and helping foster my creativity. Thank you to Maria for your great plot summaries and very witty cometary. Thank you too William for helping me read between the lines and see what does and doesn’t work for the certain books. And thank you Katie for helping deepen my appreciation for proper grammar. Thank you all so much doing this. I hope you all have a happy new year!
Yes, thank you! I think what particularly frustrates me about Moreno Garcia, she always links it back to Nazis or Nazi adjacent people, instead of deconstructing Mexican racism.
She even mentioned President Vasconcelos, who advanced the idea of "cosmic race" people, people of mixed european and indigenous descent. She painted it like Naomi didnt buy into it and knew it was wrong. As an upper class Mexican she would have probably AGREED with that idea.
Like you said, if she started off like that, like admiring these Europeans who hold onto their practices and identity because she feels they're in the same racial group and then surprise! They view her as inferior because she still has "polluted" blood, even if she has "superior" physical traits. And her whole world could have been turned upside down.
Catalina's marriage could have been a bigger plot point. The Doyles could have felt "tricked" because they thought Catalina and her family were more European than not.
*Whew* I have been holding this in for so long lmao
Omfg Wills comment about connection the Mayan gods to Catholicism could actually be so interesting, like gothic horror through human sacrifice and cannibalism but about Jesus and simultaneously Christians alienating indigenous people and traditions by accusing them of those things. That could have been so interesting and good
Will tells Maria how bad this books is ->
Maria reads the book for the podcast ->
She does not hate it as much as she thought she would because of Will’s previous comments ->
Maria’s inner contrarian flares up ->
Maria is Will
I think it is common to misunderstand gothic literature as being about a set of tropes leading to a certain conclusion, whereas what universally unites the works we label as "gothic" all examine the ways in which the past influences and almost assaults the present. And in so so so so so many way Mexican Gothic is about almost everything except how the main characters are caught in the currents of the past, because neither Francis nor Noemi has played an active or integral role in the Doyles past. And upon closer inspection, the Doyles past is more of a plot device that part of any themes the book wants to examine, and all scrutiny is on the shallow side.
HOW, after three years, are we still letting Will get away with saying "prose" like it's plural?
💯😂
It's interesting that the book mentions revolution/war because that would have been an actual way to bring other Europeans into the story since The Second Mexican Empire was promoted by France and have as monarch Austrian Archduke Maximilian of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, who had ancestral ties to the rulers of colonial Mexico. The Doyle family (with a different last name) could have been a remnant of the period.
I agree. I can't get the title either. I think it's trying to play against Mexican Baroque, which is an actual concept (a.k.a. New Spanish Baroque), which is / has been done a lot in Latin American modernist literature - also been called Tropical Baroque especially by Cuban critics. If this is the thing, then it doesn't quite work either
Sounds like it should be called "Mushroom Gothic" instead.😂
After the comment about "why did they not send a man to investigate this creepy family situation," i just thought - why didn't the author just set it as the protagonist having to investigate a suspicious nunnery/convent?
1) character - would explain why a girl is sent. Boys not allowed. Also potential for girl to display agency on the choice.
2) visual - a family and protagonist who derives their fortune from making bright, colorful textiles must swap it out for drab black and white.
3) theme - the idea of culture vs religion, individually vs group think, colonial dominance. even though both the family and the nuns practice catholicism, the nuns imposition of their house, their rules = colonial themes, because their house is on your land, but your land doesn't matter.
4) come on, a nun monastery in 1930s Mexico, with a british, french, belgian, whatever inspired architecture - where the people dress alike, walk alike, and move about in black, murmuring prayers under big habits... that is ripe for creepiness.
Just my two cents. I wonder why the author didn't do that. The nuns could be a sect / cult, and not even catholic so the author could not go so far to criticize the church.
This would actually be so good, now I want to read that so bad lmao. Having the story center around just another english mansion misses out on so much interesting stuff man
Never been so early! Finished the book a few days ago and can't wait to see what you think about it.
Edit: I LOVE Maria's suggestion for how Catalina could handle the situation. Wow!!
This could have been a much better book if it had cut the romance and focused on the relationship between Noemi and Catalina, like them vs the Doyle family. The whole healthy relationship she's trying to build clashes with the gothic horror atmosphere she wanted, it's too subdued and... well, normal. Gothic in books and film is mostly vibes, there's no clear definition for it, but no part of it ever inspires "healthy romance" imo. And yes, she did Francis so dirty. She made him the least Gothic love interest I could ever imagine.
It's a bit weird that the name Doyle is Irish, not English or even British... I can't tell if it's deliberate f-you to Europe or a lazy choice.
SMG named the Doyles after Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock author). Doyle is considered a pillar in late Gothic literature and was deeply interested in the occult and held Victorian-typical beliefs about races not considered white. Howard Doyle (and the Doyle family in general) is basically an amalgamation of the intratextual and metatextual roots of racism prevalent in the Gothic genre.
@@tnguyen7424 Ohh that's interesting. Thank you for adding context! :)
I got this book from the library and forgot I got it until I got a return alarm. 🤣
I would recommend Nuestra parte de noche / Our share of the night by Mariana Enriquez; I'm currently a little over 60% but this discussion and some of the comments made me think of it! I really enjoyed Gods of Jade and Shadow by Moreno-Garcia, so I'll probably still check out Mexican Gothic xD Some day...
I’ve read several of Silvia’s books and they were all mediocre, at best. Her writing is so bad. There are several Booktubers who rave about her writing and I just don’t get it. I think she has great concepts but the execution is poor every time.
Agree. Her writing is poor. A pity, because she has good ideas.
Have I binged the last videos in the past 2 weeks? Yes. Was I sooo excited to have a new video? Again YES!
This was me a month or so ago. Discover channel, binge all old content, get excited for new videos going forward.
I recommend "Pedro Páramo" by Juan Rulfo. Or the Netflix series based on the book. A true classic and true Mexican gothic. "Have you ever heard the dead moan?"
Wow I wouldn't have expected Pedro Paramo to get a series.
Aura is another classic.
Alberto Chimal is a modern Mexican horror writer (I have only read Los Atacantes). Compared to say Mariana Enriquez he doesn't lean into writing "Latin American horror" so much, but of course it's influenced by it just as a US or Japanese writer can't avoid being influenced by their background.
6:16 wtf? She says the surname perfectly, heck since she hyphenates it maria's saying of moreno-garcia is the correct way rather than the truncated moreno memillo used.
Edit: 10:11 it's not an hacienda (ie a plantation or ranch manor) tho. Nor is it spanish. She is pretty clear what the place is & who it is built by; because it is based on real towns in the mountain forest region of mexico.
The choice of site & mood kinda riffs on the other half of the author's nationality, the canadian bit. But the places are mexico, & your expectations of what "mexico" is is super racist actually!
10:44 read about the Porfiriato at the very least; before making snide comments about european imposition on mexico post independence.
& like yeah her book sorta fails you if you read it & you arent left wanting to look into some of the details if the setting but being sarcastic to the point of sanctimony of "the british very famously subjugated mexico" is gross.
But like "Taboada" is a spanish surname; the sort of textiles they sell are european style textiles; the place where she learns about cochineal is in fact an Hacienda.
There are themes.
There are themes to why the dad sends just a woman; themes about the relationship to the usa & europe.
Will is being actually really reductive about a country he isnt in or know anything about.
16:45 my brother in fucking christ: that is heart of darkness, because the british were complicit & enabling of King Leopold's bullshit.
The novel is flawed; it is derivative, yes, but also it overplays the mexiconess,& it barely has subtext with the themes; from the fact that in spanish the title is "mexican gothic" not "gotico mexicano" but the english phrasing, to the choice of time period to... well the whole thing
But mister beard there is so "mexico is El Nopal, La Cerveza, Maria Sabina, Cancun Spring Break, siesta" that you miss the text.
Re spanish pronunciation: the joke is that I’m being pretentious and policing spanish pronunciation poorly. Sometimes I say things because I think they’re funny or will bother Maria, which I privilege over whether new viewers will interpret them that way.
10:11 - I’m aware it’s not an hacienda; the rhetorical point of what I’m saying there is to contrast how the things I’m listing aren’t in the book.
‘The choice of site & mood kinda riffs on the other half of the author's nationality, the canadian bit. But the places are mexico, & your expectations of what "mexico" is is super racist actually!’
I mean cool, but that really isn’t relevant to what we’re talking about. There’s no synergy in themes between canada and mexico in the book.
10:44 - American and European states have had massive effects on mexico and more broadly latin america, but those aren’t the effects this book is talking about. This book isn’t talking about Porfiriato and his policies, or the way the American drug war has affected Mexico, or some other example of European colonial projects. Its talking about an old British family.
“There are themes to why the dad sends just a woman;-”
The book never discusses why her father sent a woman at all. It can’t be a theme if it’s never commented on or builds to anything.
“-themes about the relationship to the usa & europe.”
The book never mention the US. And what are its themes about Europe? That old British families came and set up mining towns to exploit native labor? That’s not a thing that broadly happened in mexico, and isn’t something that shaped mexican culture. Again, the book is called Mexican Gothic, which means it’s setting the reader up to think it’s talking about Mexican culture and Mexico broadly.
“Will is being actually really reductive about a country he isnt in or know anything about.”
How so? The things I state are part of mexican culture (catholicism, spanish imperialism, etc) I never state are the only things that it’s composed of. As I said, the only thing I’m saying aren’t a big factor in mexican culture is british imperialism as portrayed by old british families taking up residence in mexico in this time period, which is a fairly limited statement.
“that is heart of darkness, because the british were complicit & enabling of King Leopold's bullshit.”
I haven't read it and am not overly familiar with the history of the congo, but if your point is correct, then my analogy is incorrect but it doesn’t disprove the point: switch british and chinese and the point still holds, it’s mildly offensive to act as though one oppressor or colonial power can be switched interchangeably with another.
‘The novel is flawed; it is derivative, yes, but also it overplays the mexiconess,& it barely has subtext with the themes; from the fact that in spanish the title is "mexican gothic" not "gotico mexicano" but the english phrasing, to the choice of time period to... well the whole thing. But mister beard there is so "mexico is El Nopal, La Cerveza, Maria Sabina, Cancun Spring Break, siesta" that you miss the text.’
I don’t know what this means. You seem to just be agreeing that the book is bad. We lay out pretty specifically that ways it is both bad at being a gothic novel, and bad about being a mexican gothic novel; what point are we missing?
--Will
The bar for SUPER racist have been set really low here.
First video?
I would love to see your guys' review on her book The Daughter of Dr Moreau. I really enjoyed it, and I mainly read it because it had the exact same premise of a YA book I read long ago called the Madman's Daughter which I thought was funny XD. I still love this book when I first read it, but I agree with your guys' points. Great review!
Will please stop putting down others when it comes to Spanish name pronunciations it’s fine for ppl to not pronounce it perfectly. 6:11 has me cringing at your comment to Maria
i think you just don’t get his humor because it was obvious he was joking 😅
Will is such a clown 💩
@ okay, it was really off putting from outsider perspective
He does this all the time. He never means it. Give it some time and you’ll get used to it
My body is ready.
I read this book in Spanish. I didn't know it wasn't written in spanish, since i picked it from my local spanish library's Halloween reconmmendation. In Spanish the title is just "Gótico" (Gothic, not mexican just gothic). The author's note in the end explains how just "gótico" should have always been the title with no further explanation. Because i didn't expect it to be mexican, i don't have any of the complains you have. Maybe adding mexican was an editorial suggestion to sell in non hispanic countries.
Also, you have some misconceptions about Mexican culture and society. Mixed people could be upper class, even if whiteness was more common. Mixing was way more common in spanish colonies than in other european ones.
I still advise Will to read “Bimbos of the Death Sun”. Would be extremely interesting what he'd make of that title.
The book is awesome, BTW.
It would be interesting to hear your views on 'Starling House' by Alix E Harrow, another fairly recent gothic romance type book about a creepy house. Personally I enjoyed it a lot, but I DNFed 'Mexican Gothic'.
I feel like I would enjoy this book. The funny thing is that I avoid watching y’all’s good review videos (sorry)because I don’t want to spoil myself on good books, but surprisingly this video made me want to read from this author. I think I would’ve liked Mexican gothic to some extent
Hey, can you folks roast IN THE VALLEY by Autumn E. Knight? I'm the author, and I love your channel. I'd love to see my book roasted; I promise I have a thick skin and wouldn't get upset. In fact, the reader feedback would mean the absolute world to me.
It was just the eugenics that did me in. Couldnt be plain racism, had to be extra colorful racism! The moment i read it I just skimmed the rest hoping it would pick up but nope. And all the gothic theming fell short because its all coming back to genes and worth, blah blah blah.
ThHow did the goths cane from europe to mexico
Oh no, I know Will didn't like this book so I'm disappointed that this was the book ye chose to read from her 😭 I think it would've been interesting for ye to have read a different book from her's like Gods of Jade and Shadow 🤧
First of all, if you have not seen the SEMINAL "emos contra punks mas hare krishnas" (lit: emos versus punks plus hare krishnas) you simply must
Second: the book is very much akin to Del Toro's Crimson Peak
Third: Silvia Moreno's name has no rolled r's (otherwise it'd be Morreno) the r is "rolled" because it can be sustained. it sounds a bit like an engine?
I know a joke is meant but also, americans do do that joke a lot to the point it has peculiar feel
But also: if you know the rolled r is the double r why would you deliberately mispronounce the author's name? What's the joke there?
Or if you thought the short r is the rolled r... the joke is you got it wrong? I dont want to be acerbic but i really dont get why bring the rolled r up
Have, but have not yet read, this newest book to go through the UTT shredder, so I had to stop watching after a while. Spoilers. But, if you take recommendations for books to hate on, have a go at The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern because, you know, ew...
Please don't roast my Mexican me!!!
You know who had a super complicated mixed heritage? Sophia Alice Callahan. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynema,_a_Child_of_the_Forest She was mixed Muscogee and Confederate. She referred to Native people as "dusky savages" in her book. But she was horrified by the genocide that she saw the other side of her family doing.