Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Jo Fletcher Books
2020
Ms. Hen decided to read this because she read an article about the best sci-fi books. It was the same article in which she found the previous book she read.
This novel is a gothic romance novel set in Mexico. The protagonist, Noemi, is a socialite and a party girl. She is sent to the house where her cousin, Catalina, lives with her husband to see what is wrong with Catalina. Noemi's father received a strange note from Catalina that makes him worried. When Noemi arrives at the house, she realizes that it's very strange, and a little haunted. Catalina's husband, Virgil, lives there with Florence, Francis, and Harold, and some servants. There is little talking in the house, and Florence lays down the law. Noemi doesn't realize what she's getting herself into, and neither did Ms. Hen because she became very confused.
Ms. Hen did not love this book. She found the Noemi shallow, and unlikeable, and also, she could not get into the story. She didn't believe the story, if that's possible. She thought it might have been something someone made up, which a novel ultimately is, but she couldn't bring herself to sink into the novel like others she has read. When she read her previous book, THE PAPER MENAGERIE, she got into every story, even though they were short stories, and she believed them. How does a reader believe a story? That's a question for the ages. Also, the end of this novel got very confusing and ridiculous, and weird, and even though Ms. Hen likes weird things, this was unbelievably weird, which she didn't like.
Ms. Hen doesn't recommend this book. Instead, if you want to read a Gothic romance, read REBECCA, which this book aspires to be, but falls flat in the attempt.
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