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Gerardo Sámano Córdova
Gerardo Sámano Córdova is a writer and artist from Mexico City. He is the author of the novel Monstrilio, a story that blends literary horror with a study of family and grief
Monstrilio
Synopsis
Monstrilio (2023) is Gerardo Sámano Córdova's bold, haunting debut — a literary horror novel about grief, love, and the monstrous shapes they can take.
When her eleven-year-old son Santiago dies, the grieving Magos cannot let go. Following the dubious logic of an old folktale, she cuts away a piece of his lung and nurtures it until it stirs to life, growing into a small, carnivorous creature she hides within her family's decaying Mexico City home. As the being she calls Monstrilio grows, it begins to resemble the boy she lost — but its hungers, curbed only by the care of a fractured, unconventional family, threaten the fragile second chance it represents.
Told in four voices — Magos, her friend Lena, her husband Joseph, and Monstrilio itself — and moving from Mexico City to Brooklyn to Berlin, the novel is a tender, unsettling meditation on loss, queerness, and what it means to be human. Strange and deeply felt, it reworks the Frankenstein myth into something wholly its own.
Genres
Characters
MagosProtagonist
A grieving mother who nurtures a creature grown from her dead son's lung.
SantiagoProtagonist
MonstrilioProtagonist
The carnivorous being who grows to resemble the lost boy, Santiago.
LenaSupporting
Magos's close friend, one of the novel's four narrators.
JosephSupporting
Magos's husband, another of the narrators.
Frequently asked questions
Is this book part of a series?
This is a standalone novel that does not require reading any other works to understand its narrative or conclusion.
What is the structure of the narrative?
The story is divided into four distinct acts, each told from the perspective of a different character, which allows the reader to see the central events through the eyes of Magos, Lena, Joseph, and the creature itself.
Has this book received any notable recognition?
The novel was a finalist for the Balcones Fiction Prize and was recognized as a Book of the Year by NPR.