mikerickson reviewed Piñata by Leopoldo Gout
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2 stars
Ah, so that's what happens when the chip on the author's shoulder is so big it gets in the way of the story.
Decolonialism and minority/indigenous voices (fortunately) seem to be a growing subset of horror literature over the past few years, and when done well I really enjoy the novel takes on what people find scary and how to confront those fears.
When done well.
We find ourselves a little too spread thin here unfortunately, both thematically and narratively. There's the central focus on the legacy of pre-Columbian culture trying to survive in modern Mexico and what "revenge" would look like, but we also briefly touch at various points on violence against women, illegal immigration into the US, how to architecturally restore historic buildings in a respectful way, how drug cartels affect communities, and mother-daugher relationships. But none of these themes really felt like they were …
Ah, so that's what happens when the chip on the author's shoulder is so big it gets in the way of the story.
Decolonialism and minority/indigenous voices (fortunately) seem to be a growing subset of horror literature over the past few years, and when done well I really enjoy the novel takes on what people find scary and how to confront those fears.
When done well.
We find ourselves a little too spread thin here unfortunately, both thematically and narratively. There's the central focus on the legacy of pre-Columbian culture trying to survive in modern Mexico and what "revenge" would look like, but we also briefly touch at various points on violence against women, illegal immigration into the US, how to architecturally restore historic buildings in a respectful way, how drug cartels affect communities, and mother-daugher relationships. But none of these themes really felt like they were given enough time to have something to say about them beyond, "I am aware that these are concepts people have opinions about."
We start the book following the perspective of Carmen, a single mother and architect who is trying not to fumble a big opportunity her firm has given her while also trying to get her two daughters to connect with the Mexican culture that is their birthright but they're not familiar with. Beyond her, the rest of the cast feels almost comically one-dimensional, and a paint-by-the-numbers tropefest just kinda carries on because it has to. We also jump around to multiple points of view towards the middle and end of the book, to the point where I started to wonder what was going on with our main protagonist we began the story with.
This book also played its hand a little too early with respect to supernatural elements; there is some pretty freaky body horror during the climax that I know would have hit a lot harder if we had eased into a growing sense of danger rather than getting hit in the face with it in the prologue. Maybe the author just wanted to lay out expectations and set the tone from jump, but I think a more gradual build up of horror would've been more effective. There's also the matter that the "antagonist" here - for lack of a better word - is also kind of a stand-in for the indigenous culture that is praised through multiple history exposition detours and character monologues. This sent a mixed message that confused me, and when you got the reader rooting for the "colonizer" in a given scene, you're doing something wrong.
This was a counterintuitively "safe" horror plot that wanted to say more than it ended up doing.
