A Mexican fairy tale in which Casiopea plays a wary, cynical Cinderella. Doomed to serve her casually cruel rich relations, Casiopea accidentally frees the Mayan God of Death, and he enlists (demands, really) her help in defeating the brother who wronged him. Their journey through Mexico and deep into the land of the underworld, as seen through Casiopea’s suspicious naivete, is delightful; the character of the God of Death gets surprising depth as well.
Tag: author-silvia moreno-garcia
Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Take all the artfulness and creeping wrongness of DuMaurier’s Rebecca, but make the heroine an actual fierce and feisty 1950s debutante who can dress fabulously while also holding forth on philosophy and the chemical properties of paint… throw in references to racism, sexism, colonial plunder, and a great nod to The Yellow Wallpaper… and you have this amazing book. In response to a desperate appeal from her newlywed cousin, Noemí ventures into the in-laws’ mold-infested Gothic mansion, and meets a creepy old British patriarch and his weirdly subservient family. Reading this was extra creepy for me because I’d just read about the possibilities of fungal networks, which this book uses to good effect.