Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

14 reviews

elliott_the_clementine's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

An odd novella, to be sure, and yet one that has earned its place among my favorite classics. An interesting take on sapphic desire, love, and identity accompanied by very intriguing, lore-heavy vampirism. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

clovetra's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

easily out of all the classics i’ve read from before the 1900s, this is my favourite. 

yes technically this edition is modern as it was edited by carmen maria machado but SHUT UP.

also shout out to carmen i loved her editing!!!! her little end notes plus her prologue? honestly without her editing i don’t think i would’ve enjoyed this as much. so happy i chose to read this edition. the fact that carmen doesn’t add the additional letters simply to spite the author for hiding just HOW DOWN BAD laura was???? god her prologue was so fun. usually prologue’s for classics are a snooze fest where it’s literally just them recounting the authors life, but carmen somehow managed to breathe life into a short summary? plus i don’t know if the original edition has this or if carmen added it, but the images!!!!! did not expect them, and honestly it added to the story quite nicely, especially the images where laura is so incredibly down bad. she’s so me coded (falls head over heels in seconds without checking for concerns and becomes absolutely infatuated with someone she knows jack shit about). i love stupid lesbian rep in my 1800s gothics. 

god what can i say. this book immediately gets bonus points because i am infact a lesbian who loves vampires and horror. like this book was set up for me to love it. plus carmen’s editing made all the fanciful 1800s english actually coherent! cuz im sorry english pre-1900s is so hard for my brain to comprehend. sorry booktwt im not smart enough for classics sue me. but this? this made so much sense and i loved it.

i also loved that the classic vampire traits we’ve grown to know don’t come from this. i mean this was literally the blueprint of vampire tales. i love that carmilla is just a sleepy girl who wakes up at 1pm and is moody. me and carmilla are one in the same. she gets me fr. like fuck that shit about garlic give me an enchantress who happens to be perpetually tired. like my girl has CFS/ME and is goth she’s literally me!!!!!!!! plus she turns into a cat!!!!! all lesbians love cats!!!!!! carmilla is the same as modern day lesbians i said what i said.

also props for the lesbianism being so explicit! in other classics there’s a lot of subtext…., nah in here we see carmilla and laura kiss and laura has a sleep orgasm cuz she dreams about carmilla. she’s so down bad. 

i wish i got a bit more time with my homegirl carmilla and saw her be more explicitly a vampire but im not too mad about it. i like the fact her vampirism is more of an undertone and is less explicit honestly. fuck lesbianism being in the subtext let’s make the fact she is an ancient supernatural being the subtext 🔥

anyways this might actually be my favourite classic. I LOVE LESBIANS!!!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

bearystarry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Loved this. Even though I'd heard people talk about this book before, I was not expecting it to be this overtly romantic? Loved the specific vampire lore here as well. I think this will be something I want to reread pretty often.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, and Murder

moreau's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

solid, short book. good story, read it all in a day. literally my only complaint is it shouldve been longer because its so good

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Medical content

littleflowerfairy's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Racism, and Grief

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

suzylit's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Toxic friendship

jelliestars's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racism, Blood, Medical content, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Child death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, and Grief

danajoy's review against another edition

4.5

I didn't expect to find this book accessible but I really did.
It was fun and atmospheric. It felt very sapphic and characters weren't punished for it. Even though one was a vampiric monster that was the problem, not that she's a girl but that she's feeding. 
There are some slurs and ablist statement that are uncomfortable, especially for a modern reader but overall this story was a fantastic piece of short literature filled with fantastic spooky atmosphere and heavy wlw tones.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Blood, Medical content, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent

thenerdybookwitch's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

4.0

This pleasantly surprised me! I was expecting it to treat Carmilla and Laura’s relationship negatively but it’s not at all. Their romantic relationship is not judged by anyone. I can see why so many Lesbian bookworms absolutely adore this book. It is a vampire classic that has set a huge standard especially in the Lesbian vampire genre. It is a very good read and I highly recommend it.

Note: This is a book from 1872 so problematic themes are still going to be present. Especially outdated terms that are Ableist today. It also has such a negative view on Suicide at the end. Just keep that in mind when reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Medical content, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism, Suicide, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Alcohol

jojo_'s review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Incest, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Classism