Title: Lotería
Author: Cynthia Pelayo
Genre: Adult, anthology, horror
Publication date: July 2012
Published by: Union Square & Co.
Source: Purchased paperback
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Synopsis: The Mexican board game of Lotería is a game of chance—similar to bingo. However, in Lotería instead of matching up numbers on a game board, players match up images.
There are 54 cards in the Lotería game, and for this short story collection you will find one unique story per card based on a Latin American myth, folklore, superstition, or belief—with a slant towards the paranormal and horrific. In this deck of cards you will find murderers, ghosts, goblins and ghouls. This collection features creatures and monsters, vampires, werewolves and more.
Many of these legends existed long before their European counterparts—passed throughout the Americas via word of mouth, collected just like the tales the Brothers Grimm. These are indeed fairy tales—Latin American fairy tales—but with a horrifying slant.
I enjoyed this book so much!! I love playing Lotería and I love horror, so this book was made for me! 😆 And for those unfamiliar with Lotería:
The traditional way to play Lotería is that each player will select a game board that includes a random selection of sixteen images. The caller then takes the deck of fifty-four Lotería cards, shuffles, and then announces the card to the players. Sometimes the caller will just state the name of the card-"El Bandolin" for example-or sometimes the caller will recite the corresponding verse before announcing the card "Tocando su bandolón, está el mariachi Simón." The players with the corresponding image on their game board will then place a game chip over that picture. The caller will then call the next card and they will continue on this way, and the first player to fill their game board will shout "Lotería!" The concept is similar to that of Bingo.
The Lotería cards were thought to have originated in Italy, taken to Spain, and then to Mexico in the 1700s. The word Lotería translates to "lottery." The images of the cards range from people to things, but each image is believed to hint to various aspects of Mexican history and culture.
The Lotería cards were thought to have originated in Italy, taken to Spain, and then to Mexico in the 1700s. The word Lotería translates to "lottery." The images of the cards range from people to things, but each image is believed to hint to various aspects of Mexican history and culture.
Or as I like to call it: Mexican Bingo 😆
I really enjoyed all of the short stories! Some of them were supernatural horror, which we know I love. Lol. And some of them were based in IRL stuff, and those are the stories I found truly terrifying. Like La Sirena aka The Mermaid story? Horrifying! I still think about that one from time to time because of how tragic and abhorrent it was 😩 It wasn’t super graphic, but it was just such an incredibly awful situation for a girl who only wanted a freaking Quinceañera 😭
But going back to the supernatural stuff, it usually always had to do with mythology, which is another thing I love, so I really enjoyed those stories and getting to know these different mythoogies I’m unfamiliar with. And it wasn’t just mythology from Central America, but also South America. And we even got a banshee mention AND a story set in the Aokigahara forest in Japan. It always tied back to Latin America somehow, and I loved it! It makes me want to read more about all these different mythologies. I’m gonna have to do some investigating and find some books on the subject. Lol.
On top of the short stories inspired by the 54 cards, we also got a novella at the end. It was kinda repetitive and dragged for a bit, but I did like it overall. But I’m not gonna lie, I much preferred the shorter stories! And I did enjoy the book overall! It just incorporates so many things that I love, and it did it SO well!
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