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mildredlocke 's review for:
Carmilla
by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I kind of enjoyed reading it but finished feeling very unsatisfied. I don't want to give spoilers but there are certain aspects of the story (and particularly the conclusion) that didn't make much sense to me.
I'm conscious of the period it was written in and need to bear that in mind, but I found the dialogue in particular very difficult to engage with, as well as how drawn out some of the revelations were, when as a reader it was obvious where it was going (though of course this is because of the hundreds of years of literature that came after this story was originally published).
I would have liked more of an emotional response from Laura, it feels like everything just happens around her and she doesn't really react to it. We don't get to see her come to the realisation that those awful dreams were real, or grieve the loss of a connection that wasn't what she thought it was.
And finally the proclamation that this is a sapphic story is, to my mind, 100% queerbait. There's nothing in this that isn't exactly like all of the romantic friendships written for women during this time period. Yes, they're affectionate towards each other (unrealistically so right from the start), but there's no grappling with confusing feelings or conflict or questioning. There's no sense of it being different to the norm. It's just an intimate friendship, and would have been seen so at the time.
I'm conscious of the period it was written in and need to bear that in mind, but I found the dialogue in particular very difficult to engage with, as well as how drawn out some of the revelations were, when as a reader it was obvious where it was going (though of course this is because of the hundreds of years of literature that came after this story was originally published).
I would have liked more of an emotional response from Laura, it feels like everything just happens around her and she doesn't really react to it. We don't get to see her come to the realisation that those awful dreams were real, or grieve the loss of a connection that wasn't what she thought it was.
And finally the proclamation that this is a sapphic story is, to my mind, 100% queerbait. There's nothing in this that isn't exactly like all of the romantic friendships written for women during this time period. Yes, they're affectionate towards each other (unrealistically so right from the start), but there's no grappling with confusing feelings or conflict or questioning. There's no sense of it being different to the norm. It's just an intimate friendship, and would have been seen so at the time.