Velvet was the Night: President Obama's Summer Reading List 2022 pick

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There’s also beautiful writing, which makes me eager to read more of the author’s books. I just didn’t connect at all to the characters or the content of this one. Had I read the end of the book before starting the beginning, I would have known this particular story wasn’t a great fit for me. But if you go into it for what it is – a compelling, intricate, superbly-written noir mystery – you’re in for a hella good read. Mexico City: while student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite escapes from her humdrum life in the stories of passion and danger that fill the latest issue of Secret Romance. The characters didn't even met till the very end of the book.The romance angle wasn't good as well. It was boring. Why I enjoyed this book: Maite and Elvis were characters that I found it difficult to look away from. I won't say I liked them, per se, but they were memorable. If anything, this book most closely resembles Certain Dark Things to me because Maite and Elvis feel very similar to Atl and Domingo.

It took a while for me to really get into this, but when I did, it took off and didn’t stop!! Maite was such a strange protagonist that I didn’t really related to her until she started looking into Leonora’s disappearance with Rúben. And he wasn’t that interesting for a long time too. In fact, Maite annoyed the crud out of me cause while her life is boring, she’s not the best person ever. Her redeeming qualities were… well, slim to none! But once they really got into searching for Leonora, I got hooked and started to like her more. Sometimes the melody sets the tone and all the other notes follow in a certain sequence. Velvet Was the Night does just that as it prepares us for a loud upcoming crescendo. While people tend to lean into the familiar and recognizable, these intricate characters are forced to march to a different drum.....way different. After being introduced to Silvia Moreno-Garcia's work through her much-loved title Mexican Gothic, I found that I loved her writing style, the depth that her writing gives to the characters and her ability to produce twists and turns throughout her well-thought-out and unique novels. Velvet Was the Night is no exception to this. After seeing that Velvet Was the Night was going to be a noir novel I found myself actually looking forward to reading it as I happen to enjoy noir books, such as the ones penned by Walter Mosley. The cover, title, and premise of Velvet Was the Night were certainly alluring. I mean, covers like this one are pretty much my Achilles’ heel. My expectations weren’t that high given my history with SMG's works...and yet, even so, I still ended up being fairly disappointed by Velvet Was the Night. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is wonderful at setting an atmosphere within her stories. It pulled me right in from the beginning and I was there for the low-stakes and small twists and turns.The story is split between alternating perspectives of two main characters. Maite is working as a secretary in a law firm, and feels content only when reading her favorite comic Secret Romance or listening to records from her extensive collection. She’s intentionally uninformed about current events in general until a favor she does for a neighbor thrusts her into the middle of a conflict she’s unprepared to navigate on her own. On the other hand, Elvis knows exactly what he’s signed up for. As a member of the Hawks, he was there for the bloodshed and is still dealing with the ramifications of his choices during it. Slowly, Silvia Moreno-Garcia weaves these two characters’ stories together, testing existing loyalties and building new alliances. When her neighbor, the beautiful and artistic Leonora, asks Maite to watch her cat while she leaves town for a few days, Maite reluctantly agrees. Maite has no idea how that one decision will change her life. This one ended and had me wishing I could begin another book by this author right away. Silvia Moreno-Garcia did a brilliant job of blending fiction with historical events. You can read her Author's note at the end as she details the events. She caught my eye with Mexican Gothic and I became a bigger fan with this book - I have to say I enjoyed this one more. Clearly bad characters are revealed to be in fact bad. While our good characters have one or two ‘reasonable’ flaws (she steals now and again, he’s working for the ‘baddies’) that are meant to humanise them, said flaws don’t change the fact that they are very much the good ones. Our MCs were not the morally grey characters I'd hoped they'd be (esp. given that the noir genre lends itself well to ambiguous characters). Maite did not strike me (again, emphasis on ‘me’) as a deep or fleshed out character. Yet, she was presented as being this complex woman who is caught in a ‘dangerous’ web. I wish she’d been written as being a wholly superficial and self-serving individual. Someone who is only concerned in making her fantasies into her reality. Or, as I said above, as someone who goes from being a tremulous meek & mousy woman who is unsure of herself, to a femme fatale type of figure. In scenes of ‘tension’ (when she is fighting with that guy) she either makes petulant remarks (which were frankly cringy given that he’s still a student and she’s in her 30s) or acts like the classic ‘fragile’ and ‘hysterical’ woman who can’t defend herself or speak up or use her brain to figure out stuff.

Mexico City: while student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite seeks escape from her humdrum life in the stories of passion and danger filling the latest issue of Secret Romance. Maite works as a legal secretary in 1970s-Mexico City. But that's just her day job. At night she reads romantic comics and dreams of a different life for herself. Immensely satisfying, refreshingly new and gloriously written . . . Moreno-Garcia mashes up Anglocentric genres with midcentury Mexican history, resulting in a brew flavored with love, heartbreak, violence, music and unsettling dread. . . .The gift of this book, and Moreno-Garcia’s storytelling, is how it imbues this well-worn genre with addedstrength, grace and even musicality.” —The New York Times Book Review Before I move to the reasons why I did not vibe with this, I will try and mention a few positive-ish things: Velvet Was the Night was a different kind of Moreno-Garcia read, however, and I'm still chewing on the why. For one thing, it took Moreno-Garcia's already slowwww pacing and dialed it down even further. Which I didn't know was possible. Let's be honest: I struggled with the slowness of the pacing for the first half of the book because it was just that—tooooooo slowwwwww.

The story takes places in 70’s of Mexico, centered on high tension political area because the incidents enacted by PRI Mexican Political party! Elvis is member of Hawks : a group is unofficially works for government during the Dirty War as Maite is clerical worker who hates her job, loves reading romance lovers, listening to records, thirty, single. By the end of the novel, you come to truly feel for the characters and you are rooting for them, realising that Elvis doesn't want to do the things that are asked of him and that Maite has enjoyed the chance at an adventure. Elvis's battle with morality that we see throughout the novel shows his character growth and by the end, we see him have a real grasp on what he believes is right and wrong. The ending provided a real sense of closure for the story. Ultimately, the character progress is fantastically done and we see Maite grow into herself, realising that she is enough as a person and we see her start to fall in love with life again, just as we see Elvis move away from the things that have been bad for him. With this stunning cover and engaging title, I expected an amazing story as well. I love Silvia's mexican gothic so much. It was one of my fav book of last year. So naturally I had really high expectations.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a simmering historical noir about a daydreaming secretary, a lonesome enforcer, and the mystery of the missing woman they’re both desperate to find. Overall, a very satisfying book that will stay with me for months and possibly years to come! If you are looking for a unique read, look no further! Now that I essentially just wrote a review about how Velvet Was the Night is the greatest thing since sliced bread, I will mention that the book was pretty slow at times. The book is focused on trying to find Leonora, but I think the characters spend way too much time on, "I don't know where she is. Do you?" Given the storyline, the book should have been trimmed down a bit. Anenthrallingtale that’s as fun as it is mysterious . . . The characters are fascinating, the tonelush and romantic, and it’s all wrapped up in a mystery with twists and turns one likely won’t see coming. . . . [Moreno-Garcia is] the sort of author whose works automatically end up on your ‘must-read’ list.” — USA Today But before I begin this review I’m going to do a bit of a preface—If you are already a Silvia Moreno-Garcia fan then I’m sure you’ll love this. If the only work of hers you’re familiar with is Mexican Gothic then it may diverge from your expectations. While Mexican Gothic was a slow-burn gothic horror novel set in the 1950s, Velvet Was the Night is a crime noir that takes place in 1971 Mexico City. It’s not a thriller. There’s nothing paranormal. And if those are deal breakers then this might not be the book for you.I seriously cannot get enough of this author’s writing. I deeply admire her skill and have loved everything I have read by her so far. If there is one thing I know, it is that I can count on Moreno-Garcia for some of the most beautiful writing I have ever seen. It is rich and atmospheric. It is so fun to see how the author explores a variety of genres in all of her different works. With her noirs, she does an excellent job creating intrigue and mystery.