Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

22 reviews

devermismysteris's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Gore

Moderate: Cannibalism and Chronic illness

Minor: Gaslighting, Murder, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Sexual content

danilo_syrtis's review

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Blood

Minor: Suicide, Grief, and Misogyny

riverofhorton's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.75

I loved 95% of this book, and will be coming back to it in the future.

One of the things I especially liked was that the lesbian relationship was incredibly obvious, but none of the characters seemed to have much a problem with it, despite the cultural attitudes of the time this book was published.

I only wish it were longer and gave more detail on the time they spent together, though I do understand this is intended to be read as a letter to the reader.

The only bit I don't like is the implications around the "vision" that starts the book.

Laura, the narrator, is 6 at the time this vision happens, which involves the (by that point) 150+ year old Carmilla being very intimate with her. Carmilla does later say that for her side of the vision, she saw Laura as an 18 year old not a 6 year old, but it still weirded me out to think about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Murder, Death, Gore, Death of parent, Suicide, Cannibalism, Child death, Grief, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault

hellokatya's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.25

i really enjoyed the guide and introduction. it felt like a friend giving u inside information and really helped my understanding of the book. 
i do wish it had focused more on the relationship, more intimately, than it did. it felt very glossed over and not the focal point of the story. definitely should’ve been a longer and more thorough story. 
overall, i did it enjoy it, but it was a bit hard to comprehend at points - had to reread numerous times - but i think that’s also a skill issue as i’m not used to this particular style. 
would recommend

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Abandonment

ju_harue's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Achei uma obra incrível, estava com receio de lê-la por se tratar de um escrito de 1872, mas foi surpreendente. A maneira como trouxe assuntos tabus pra épocas posteriores, foi uma grata surpresa. Apesar de obviamente, pertinente a época, ter algumas questões problemáticas e preconceituosas, ainda assim, ver o desenrolar de uma relação de duas mulheres, de uma forma tão natural (e bem condizente com a relação predador-vitimas) foi bem narrada. Acompanhar a primeira Vampira mulher, que inspirou Dracula, foi um deleite e a edição da Wish-Clepsidra está impecável, com textos de apoio maravilhosos, recomendo.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

maddramaqueen's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child death, Grief, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Minor: Ableism, Sexual harassment, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Suicide

thebiblioboo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicide, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

abmochapman's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

“Certainly LeFanu needed a monster; he could not imagine lesbian desire otherwise,” says Carmen Maria Machado in a perfectly normal interview.

Having read The Gilda Stories and Fledgling, I was immediately excited to find a queer vampire story pre-dating Dracula. This gothic novel reads much more like a condemnation of deviant desires than an exploration of sexuality and the supernatural as in the case of its more modern counterparts. Yet, I think Carmilla is nonetheless an important piece of vampire and lesbian literary history. 

It was slow and tortuous, ridiculously campy, and almost erotic. Though it was not as scary or suspenseful as I had hoped, I had fun! 

And did you know Marcia Maren, like Mircalla, is an anagram? Once I realized — after some research, of course — I found an even greater appreciation for Carmen Maria Machado’s introduction and how she twisted LeFanu’s self-serving fiction into her own.

 

Now I can’t wait to dive deeper into author interviews and fan re-tellings (such as the web series). I love a queer reclamation of a cult classic!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Grief

Minor: Racism and Misogyny

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

Moderate: Grief, Ableism, Racism, and Body horror

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

bi_n_large's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Sexual assault, Death, Blood, and Violence

Minor: Suicide