1. How would you describe Noemi Taboada, the heroine of Mexican
Gothic? As the novel progresses, in what ways does Noemi defy
expectations of her image as a privileged socialite with which the story
opens?
2. Noemi's cousin Catalina has claimed that High Place "stinks of decay,
brims with every single evil and cruel sentiment." Is this a
melodramatic hyperbole… or an apt description of High Place? How
would you describe the Doyle county manor?
3. (Follow-up to Question 2) How would you describe the Doyle
family, both past and present? Consider Howard, Virgil, and Francis.
Also, Catalina? Is she a sterotypical damsel in distress?
4. If you're a gothic fiction fan (think Daphne du Maurier, Emily
Bronte, or Mary Shelley), pick out some of the gothic elements that
author Moreno-Garcia incorporates into her story. At what point,
however, does gothic evolve into horror?
5. What do you make of Noemi's lurid dreams of Virgil. She dreams of him
at night but finds him repugnant by day. What is going on?
5. Talk about the family's mysterious symbol: a circular snake
swallowing its own tail, known as an ouroboros. Akin to a coat-of-arms,
what does this signify for the family—along with the motto, "One is
All." Also, what are the ways the ouroboros functions metaphorically
within the framework of the novel itself?
6. Discuss the role of eugenics in this family, again, both past and
present? How does Noemi learn that Catalina, too, has become part of the
Doyle family's secrets?
7. What is the source of the Doyle family's power? How does it intersect
with colonialism and racism?
8. Were you surprised at the story's finale? The ending is ambiguous: is
it satisfyingly so? Or less than satisfying? What kind of an ending
would you have hoped for?