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

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Even though I thoroughly enjoyed the other two books I'd read by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and the writing in this one is as sharp as ever, somehow the story itself fell flat to me. I didn't connect with it at all. And I've been trying to figure out what happened ever since. 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. 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.

I loved how this story follows the two main characters Maite and Elvis. I enjoyed seeing how they had separate stories at first but ultimately came together through a connection to Leonora. The dual perspective really strengthens the narrative. It works to explore different perspectives by having an insider and outsider. Readers can see Maite as the outside perspective who is in over her head while Elvis gives the inside perspective into the Hawks and their operation. Maite is a self-centered girl, working as a secretary while waiting for a wealthy, attractive man to sweep her off her feet. El Elvis is a thug in the Hawks, whose sole purpose is to undermine activist students using whatever means necessary. When Maite's neighbor goes missing, their individual steps to find her slowly take them on an intersecting path toward each other and danger. I loved both of the characters. The pacing was still intriguing. I never get bored till the end. That’s why I’m giving my whirlwind, exciting, powerful, fast pacing, four viva Mexico stars!As Maite and Elvis follow Leonora’s trail, they journey deeper into a world of student radicals, hitmen, government agents and Russian spies, who are all determined to unearth Leonora’s secrets- at gunpoint. If you need to be hooked in the beginning, this is definitely not for you. But if you can hang in there till about 50% of the way in, this is well worth the time. It went from being a 3 star read to being a 4 1/2 star read in my mind. I seriously enjoyed that last half!! 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. It's the 1970's in Mexico City and Maite starts and ends her day, every day, in the same robotic manner. She works as a secretary in a law firm where the majority of the time she is running errands for the top lawyers or shuffling papers across her desk. Maite circles the Help Wanted Ads in the hope that something will prompt her to better her mundane life manipulated by her mother and overbearing sister. 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.

Her fictional story is set in Mexico City and focuses on a romance comic-obsessed secretary named Maite who gets caught up in the disappearance of her beautiful neighbor and meets a reluctant thug named Elvis who’s also trying to find her. There’s violence, a little sex, loads of naughty words, and a lot of intrigue. 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 I normally enjoyed the author’s paranormal thrillers more but she meticulously succeeded to form a good story and showed us she could perfectly write in different genres.Mexico in the 1970s is a dangerous country, even for Maite, a secretary who spends her life seeking the romance found in cheap comic books and ignoring the activists protesting around the city. When her next-door neighbor, the beautiful art student Leonora, disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman—and journeying deeper into Leonora’s secret life of student radicals and dissidents. Without emotionally connecting with the story, this felt like a slog that wouldn't end. I don't want to dissuade anyone from reading this because I can imagine it being enjoyable for the right audience, but unfortunately, it wasn't me. I remain a fan of the author, but I'll avoid any more of her noir pulp fiction. 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. While at times I liked SMG’s prose, her style strikes me as passive. That is to say that when she recounts something I feel very much at a distance from what she’s recounting (even if that thing is happening there and then). 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.

Maite's neighbor Leonora disappears and leaves her keys and instructions to feed her cat. She nevers comes home, leaving Maite on a dangerous path. Velvet Was the Night will not be for everyone, though. And many of the reasons why I loved it are exactly why some readers won’t. Swirling in parallel trajectories, Maite and Elvis attempt to discover the truth behind Leonora’s disappearance, encountering hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies. Because Mexico in the 1970s is a noir, where life is cheap and the price of truth is high. Velvet Was the Night] isa noir with a heart of gold, and it’s a narrative in which the empathy we feel for its characters ultimately reveals an important truth: That Moreno-Garcia is not onlya talented storytellerbut also anincredibly versatile one.” —NPR The fact of the matter is: I disliked her. She was that special brand of annoying that always acts like a victim. Everyone else is mean to her. They are either taking advantage of her (like leonora and her ‘men’) or mistreating her (her family). I would have loved her if she had been explicitly written as unlikeable. She could have been a modern Emma Bovary. Someone who is so determined to make her daydreams into her reality that she’s ready to sabotage her own marriage and reputation to do so. Emma is a bitch, but I love her. The narrative is quite clear in pointing out that she’s selfish and vain. Emma’s nastiness was quite subversive & refreshing. But here, well, Maite is just a crybaby, a nonentity. She claims that she’s pathetic and boring but then we have Elvis pointing out how ‘interesting’ she seems. The narrative seemed intent on making her seem ‘different’ and ‘more relatable’ than other women.

Featured Reviews

Velvet Was the Night wasn't what I expected, although that's my own fault. This is true noir, take that seriously. It's a slow burn, with relatively low-stakes. She is deeply envious of her neighbour, a beautiful art student apparently living the life of excitement and intrigue Maite craves - so when Leonora disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman, journeying deep into Leonora's secret life of student radicals and dissidents.