Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin

 “There’s no way not to suffer. But you try all kinds of ways to keep from drowning in it.” - James Baldwin 

Going to Meet the Man is a collection of eight short stories by James Baldwin. I’ve read two of his essay collections but this is my first time reading any of his fiction. Themes that show up in these stories include identity, family, religion, love, racism, and bigotry.

When I first flipped through the pages I got a little nervous. I saw a lot of long paragraphs. It’s been my experience that long paragraphs are usually slow and boring. Luckily that wasn’t the case here. My one critique is that most of the stories took a few pages to get started. Once things were set up I was drawn into each story though. James Baldwin writes beautifully. 

These five stories had the strongest impact on me:

“The Man Child”

“Previous Condition”

“Sonny’s Blues” 

“This Morning, This Evening, So Soon”

“Going to Meet the Man”

Out of those five, “Sonny’s Blues” and “This Morning, This Evening, So Soon” were my favorites.

“Sonny’s Blues” is about a man trying to reconnect with his younger brother who struggled with drug addiction in the past. The older brother is skeptical of his younger brother’s desire of becoming a musician. When the older brother suggests something more practical the younger brother responds with “I think people ought to do what they want to do, what else are they alive for?” 

“This Morning, This Evening, So Soon” is about a successful black actor/singer who is nervous about returning to the United States after having lived in France for many years. Like a lot of Baldwin’s fiction, this one seems based on his own life experiences. I thought of James Baldwin’s debate with Paul Weiss on the Dick Cavett show while reading this story. During the debate he mentions how moving to another country saved his life. It’s worth a watch:

James Baldwin and Paul Weiss Debate Discrimination In America | The Dick Cavett Show - YouTube

The blurb on the back cover does an excellent job of describing this collection:

“By turns haunting, heartbreaking, and horrifying — and informed throughout by Baldwin’s uncanny knowledge of the wounds racism has left in both it’s victims and perpetrators…”

Two of the stories are incredibly dark, but there’s a haunting beauty in all the others.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

"Mexico is peppered with mining ghost towns. The description has a double meaning. On the one hand, it refers to an abandoned place. One the other hand, these towns carry with them the traces of colonial rule and all it's excesses. They are filled with ghosts." - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Mexican Gothic is a gothic novel set in 1950s Mexico influenced by Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft. Noemi Taboada gets sent to a distant house in the Mexican countryside to check on her recently married cousin. Her cousin has married into a British family who owns an inactive mine nearby. She soon realizes that things are not what they seem and tries to find out what’s going on.

The first two thirds of the book set everything up. We learn more and more in each chapter as Noemi meets and interacts with various characters and then starts having strange dreams. We also get to know Noemi. She’s a debutante that’s a little vain and doesn’t know what she wants in life yet. She faces condescension and criticism for her choices from the people she meets but she's tough and stands her ground.

While the first two thirds are like a gothic mystery, the final third is all out horror. The author said in an interview that she followed something she calls a 70/30 rule. “For 70 percent of the book, things would go a bit slow and quiet, and then for the last 30 percent, all hell would break loose.” It worked for me. I found the entire book really interesting as it commented on colonialism, racism, eugenics, and toxic masculinity, while still providing an entertaining story.

I’m always interested in an author’s influences and writing process. Silvia Moreno-Garcia talks about these things in the extras at the end of the book as well as in interviews I found online. 

The author is interested in horror, noir, and Italian giallo films. Her introduction to horror was reading a collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories when she was a kid. Through Poe she discovered H. P. Lovecraft. She recommends noir author Charles Williams.

Noemi’s family name, Tabaoda, comes from Carlos Tabaoda, a director of Mexican horror films. The British family name in the book is Doyle, named after Arthur Conan Doyle.  The Doyle family patriarch Howard is named after H. P. Lovecraft, as the H stands for Howard. 

The title Mexican Gothic originally started out as a placeholder title until she could think of something else. In her interview with Pen America she states, “Originally, I was going to do an elaborate, metaphorical title inspired by the flowery titles of Mexican horror films by Carlos Enrique Taboada (Even the Wind is Afraid) or the giallos of the 1970s (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage). Eventually, I thought Mexican Gothic was a bit of an ironic title because this takes place in a town that was controlled by British forces.”

On a side note, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) is one of my favorite films. It's directed by one of my favorite directors, Dario Argento, and loosely based on the novel The Screaming Mimi, which is by one of my favorite authors, Fredric Brown.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia says she chose to set the book in the 1950s because she wanted real life historical constraints. Many mines in Mexico were shut by then. The town where the story is set is inspired by a real town in the mountains of Hidalgo. It has a British cemetery similar to the one in the novel. The women in the novel are all under some kind of patriarchal control which was common in 1950s Mexico. 

Finally, I found the marketing of the book interesting. The author created a Spotify playlist to go along with the book.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - playlist by randomhousebooks | Spotify

There is a book club kit available online which includes a printable paper doll set. No, I’m not interested in paper dolls, but yes I find it interesting! I like the art and it ties in with Noemi’s interest in fashion. 

The paperback was released with a stepback cover (a second cover under the front cover) featuring pulp style art by illustrator Mia Araujo. I love stuff like that.

Like me, Silvia Moreno-Garcia has a wide variety of interests. So far she’s written fantasy, horror, noir, and sword and sorcery. Mexican Gothic was really enjoyable and I’m looking forward to reading more of her work.