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dark
tense
fast-paced
I loved this book and I really wished it finished strong and wasn’t racist so that I could give it a higher rating.
I can’t believe how explicitly lesbian this book is for its time period and how, even though the lesbian is a villain, the book’s strength is its romance rather than the horror.
I wish Laura was more developed as a character, especially towards the end of the book. Nothing particularly happens to transform Laura from an innocent, naive girl to accepting and understanding the truth about Carmilla. She doesn’t reject the account of the General but does not believe it. Her father does not try to talk to her about it. She doesn’t have an epiphany or connect the stories. She literally just decides “well there’s a lot of reports so ig she’s a vampire” which isn’t growth it’s just not being an idiot. She doesn’t even seem upset about it when she comes to that conclusion— which makes the story incredibly anticlimactic since she was so taken with her AND a victim of her. She also does not seem upset when they kill Carmilla or when she is told that Carmilla’s love was only a lust for blood. She is, however, still missing Carmilla by the time she writes her narrative and thinks of her as a friend/lover, rather than a villain, which is intriguing. I just wish the novella explored her feelings a bit more.
The reveal of Carmilla’s identity and her capture/killing is also incredibly anticlimactic since the only “action” Carmilla takes is simply grasping the General’s wrist. For a dangerous villian who has been killing people, she does not seem scary or hard to catch. it’s disappointing to read, but at least it doesn’t demonize her sexuality and independence of men any more than it already does ??? i guess ??
Basically this story had so much potential and I will be rereading it— I just wish the 2nd half was just as good as the first.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Carmilla is quite an interesting book. The plot and allure surrounding (the first of its kind of vampire novel before Dracula became a thing) intrigued, and I felt that Le Fanu’s writing lived up to the hype this book has been getting. I appreciated the quiet horror that Le Fanu employs in Carmilla rather than angling towards a jump scare approach. Additionally, I found myself wondering about the nature of Carmilla’s and Laura’s relationship, especially if Carmilla was truly in love with her (though some of her most popular quotes seem to come straight from a romance novel, if you think about it). Even after the final page, Le Fanu still leaves you second-guessing everything that occurs in the book (but it’s in a good way, I promise), and it’s the type of book that lingers around after you’re done reading it.
An underrated classic that doesn’t get as much attention, I would recommend Carmilla for readers looking for queer vampire novellas to read this spooky season.
An underrated classic that doesn’t get as much attention, I would recommend Carmilla for readers looking for queer vampire novellas to read this spooky season.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Racism, Toxic relationship, Murder
Minor: Suicide, Death of parent
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Racism, Murder
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism, Racism
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Racism
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
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Blood
Moderate: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Murder
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Only a homophobe could sit and go I'm writing this to explain that lesbianism is bad and then produce homoerotic content in 100 pages. Like Camilla was confessing and wooing this woman, and sometimes you felt her ick towards it (yeah could have had more lesbians)
0.5 star because there's a line where a character is stated to describe a hideous black woman and I'm taking it as racism because look at the time period of this book, mans was probably racist as well
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Child death, Murder
Minor: Racism, Suicide
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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:
Yes
Enjoyable classic! Wanted to read before some upcoming novels on my TBR that are inspired by Carmilla. Found the writing very fun and descriptive!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
There's a random scene that includes a disturbing description of a black person. Was unnecessary to the plot.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
This one is a reread for me and having already read the original book I wanted to see what Carmen Maria Machado would add to the original text. I enjoyed her contributions a lot. It was already very queer and I feel as though Carmen's little edits and anecdotes made it even more abundantly queer
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Racism, Suicide