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kiwibird's review against another edition
5.0
On the surface, it's a vampire novel, but once you look below this, it's really a book about the (perhaps unavoidable) evil of humanity and being an outsider in a society that wasn't made to accept you. It also had a lot of unexpected queer themes—deep down, the narrative of the main character Oskar is just the story of a young boy coming to terms with his sexuality. The character of Eli, the young vampire Oskar falls in love with, is also fascinating. The text refers to Eli intermittently as she and he, and though she insists multiple times that she's "not a girl", she still chooses to present herself femininely. It's very easy to read her as a transfeminine nonbinary character, even though these terms weren't commonplace when the book was written.
I don't want to say that this novel is completely unproblematic, especially when it comes to its queer representation. I won't go into much detail so as to avoid spoilers, but there are several harmful stereotypes employed in the narrative, and Eli's transness can easily be seen as something that was forced upon her rather than a choice she made.
Despite these criticisms, I thoroughly enjoyed Let the Right One In and the way it grappled with heavy themes. This is definitely not a book for the faint of heart (be sure to check content warnings for this one), but if you're interested a good vampire story where the humans are the real villains, a portrait of 80s Stockholm suburbs, or a horror-genre exploration of growing up queer, you should pick it up.
{Note: I read the original Swedish version, so I can't comment on how the English translation holds up.}
Graphic: Murder, Pedophilia, Blood, Death, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Suicide, and Animal death
Minor: Racism and Alcoholism
morebedsidebooks's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Murder, Blood, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Alcoholism, Animal death, Car accident, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking
Minor: Racism, Homophobia, Cancer, and Death of parent
Also contains scenes of genital mutilation and substance abuse.maddireads13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Toxic friendship, Blood, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Pedophilia, Death, Bullying, Sexual violence, and Rape
bakerreads's review against another edition
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, and Sexual content
Moderate: Racism and Bullying
Minor: Alcoholism