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savvyrosereads's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.5
Moderate: Terminal illness and Blood
Minor: Sexual violence
maregred's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.0
Moderate: Blood and Terminal illness
el219's review against another edition
4.25
Moderate: Toxic friendship
Minor: Blood, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Terminal illness
danimacuk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Chronic illness, Child death, Death, and Terminal illness
littleflowerfairy's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Violence, Death, Chronic illness, Medical content, Murder, Blood, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Grief, Ableism, Racism, and Body horror
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
saraaaa's review against another edition
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I think its main problem is that it didn't fit the novella format that well. Everything felt rushed, especially the ending chapters, as if Le Fanu was running out of ink. By the end, the line between the protagonist-narrator and the author blurred every few paragraphs rather noticeably. Had it been a novel, there could've been enough room for both of them, without the technical information taking up precious space from the plot, that could've been better developed. Many plot points were left unexplored in their potential, some were just plainly ignored –
At the same time, almost paradoxically, the prose was so complex, the periods so long and full of subordinate clauses, that I found the pace rather slow.
Graphic: Blood and Terminal illness
ggcd1981's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Toxic friendship, Blood, and Terminal illness
alexisgarcia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Stalking, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, and Grief
vigil's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
the plot began to trail off upon the introduction of the general, though the answers to the mysteries throughout the book were fully delivered (a bit too fully, you could say) in a very sussinct manner that, once finished, quickly pushed you towards the climax.
the ending was, in my opinion somewhat anti-climatic, but i understand that was the style of the time. i do think that in making carmilla more of a vague outline of a monster, rather than something present, both added and detracted from the climax, which really need more of her actually in it.
i really found carmen maria machado's introduction to be informative as well as her footnotes, though they often leaned towards comedy.
i had a fun time with this book though i think if it were longer, it would've made the book much better. especially the climax.
Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Murder, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Chronic illness, Child death, and Death
Minor: Racism and Xenophobia
maeverose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
I loved the writing style of this book. It was atmospheric and gothic, I loved the setting of the castle and the grassy hills and the ruins of the old town. I just pictured fog over everything anytime they were outside. Now I just wanna have a picnic at old castle ruins in the fog with a pretty vampire. (Sadly that doesn’t happen in this book but it could’ve). This might be my favorite classic I’ve read so far… it’s at least tied with Dracula, but I think it tops it. It actually got pretty creepy at times.
Was also a little surprised how explicitly sapphic it was, given when it was written. I was expecting it to just be homoerotic in the way that classics sometimes are, or overtly homophobic. I think it’s safe to assume that the combination of sapphic elements and vampirism was very intentional.. automatically villainizing lesbianism by portraying it as a ‘virus’ that you can ‘catch’, something that’s evil and scary… But reading it it isn’t actually explicitly homophobic. It’s all subtext. It could easily be read through a more modern lens, removing that subtext.
Graphic: Blood and Death
Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Death of parent, Sexual content, Suicide, and Ableism
Religious themes, beheading, cremation, sleep paralysis (not really but the descriptions are similar)