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keiaria's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
i had to read this for my "contemporary afrodiasporic fiction," course and i didn't enjoy it all that much; it was lengthy... maybe, when i'm writing required responses for this book, i can then absorb it again someday.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Sexual content, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual assault and Slavery
byejohn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Great story(ies), i really loved the interpretation/ application of vampire lore and mechanics here. A healthy mix of no-holds-barred action with moments of reflection. Also enjoyed the emphasis on family- and home-making. These vampires aren’t loners but recognize the importance of community!! Which rings very true imo for immortal yet not invulnerable beings.
A couple of points knocked off because I do have to say the writing style was very hit or miss for me- there were moments that felt very clunky or just weirdly written that didn’t quite deliver on the potential of the plot and characters. Additionally the ending felt really rushed to me. But that was mostly balanced out by the passages of brilliance!
Side note it was fun and depressing to read the author’s interpretations of life in 2020 and 2050!
A couple of points knocked off because I do have to say the writing style was very hit or miss for me- there were moments that felt very clunky or just weirdly written that didn’t quite deliver on the potential of the plot and characters. Additionally the ending felt really rushed to me. But that was mostly balanced out by the passages of brilliance!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Blood
morimyths's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Rape, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Violence, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug use, Genocide, Homophobia, Incest, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and War
fareehareads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This Afro-futurist vampire novel is way more than it appears and is easily my favorite read of 2022. Not only is it the best vampire depiction I have ever read, it also calls for you to look within and ask what does a community look like in the face of human caused devastation? Also, what would you do if given the chance at eternity? The story begins with a girl that grew up on a plantation and runs away, finding herself at a woman-run brothel and in the company of a pair of vampires that become her maternal figures. Each chapter jumps forward in time across the 200 years in her life as we watch Gilda adjust and adapt with each time period. A deep connection to the land is interwoven in the foundation of this story through Gilda's intimate relationship with the character Bird of the Lakota people, and through the physical carrying of soil of her homeland everywhere she goes. She meets various black queer women that shape her life along the way and we get the most tender found family of vampires I've seen in a long time. One of my favorite aspects of the vampire elements in this story is the ingestion of blood. Instead of it being a violent act that leaves the victim drained and lifeless, this story calls the exchange a 'sharing of life' where the vampire takes the human's blood and, in exchange, the human gets to dream out the deepest desires and is left dazed but alive. It's a fantastic book to pick up now and the 2020 predictions from when it was written (1991) are startlingly close to what we've experienced. I wonder how many of the 2050 predictions will come to pass. This story has literally everything you could want and to me, is an instant classic. PLEASE do yourself a favor and read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror and Abandonment
Minor: Death and Suicide attempt
The 25th anniversary collection contains an updated note about the predictions of The Gilda Stories, and quotes from Audre Lorde texts which were influential in Jewelle's work. I highly recommend looking.elizalavenza's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Rape, and Blood
Moderate: Racism, Slavery, and Suicide
Minor: Drug use, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault
stormywolf's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Breaking out of my reading slump to read last month's pick in Maven of the Eventide's (aka Elisa Hansen's) Vampire Book Club proved to be no easy feat. Unfortunately, my library did not carry the audiobook, and it turned out I had other obligations the night of the meeting. Luckily I found a copy of the audio online, and, as always, the book club meetings are saved for posterity, so while I wasn't there for the live discussion, I was able to participate in some ways (unlike the previous month's when my library didn't even carry a text copy for The Silver Kiss). And though I'd never heard of this book before the club picked it out, the premise seemed especially intriguing and I was eager to experience it. Let me just say, wow.
Read my full review at The Wolf's Den
Overall, this book will undoubtedly sit with me for quite sometime. From the characters, to the settings, to the long and tumultuous journey of self-discovery, I was wholly invested. The exploration of life, and what it means to live and love from the perspective of an outsider, along with powerful depictions of struggling to choose what's best for yourself and for those around you, even if that means starting over, were what impacted me the most. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in historical fiction, books featuring BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ main characters, empowering women, Afrofuturism, or just a fresh, new take on vampires—even hailing from 30 years ago!
Read my full review at The Wolf's Den
Overall, this book will undoubtedly sit with me for quite sometime. From the characters, to the settings, to the long and tumultuous journey of self-discovery, I was wholly invested. The exploration of life, and what it means to live and love from the perspective of an outsider, along with powerful depictions of struggling to choose what's best for yourself and for those around you, even if that means starting over, were what impacted me the most. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in historical fiction, books featuring BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ main characters, empowering women, Afrofuturism, or just a fresh, new take on vampires—even hailing from 30 years ago!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Racial slurs, and Blood
Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
Minor: Biphobia, Drug use, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Stalking, Death of parent, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
“My dream was to see the world, over time. The real dream is to make a world—to see the people and still want to make a world.”
TITLE—The Gilda Stories
AUTHOR—Jewelle Gomez
PUBLISHED—1995
GENRE—queer vampire story; literary fiction; historical fiction
SETTING—various places across the US including Mississippi, Louisiana, San Francisco, Missouri, Boston, NYC, New Hampshire, the SW (from 1850 - 2050)
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—vampires, queerness, Blackness, found family
WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️—the writing style just felt a bit slow and bumpy; it was beautiful just not as fluid as I like it to be...
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️—this book is not about plot but I felt there was just the slightest of disconnects between chapters that felt a little distracting and also repetitive at times...
BONUS ELEMENT/S—[spoiler, lol] Bird went to New Zealand to participate in the Maori landrights movement!; also the found family trope was really well-developed in this story—one of my favorite things about vampire lit <3
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book was like “vampire story but make it a literary memoir” and yeah—I am here for it. <3 It has a lot of the tropes surrounding vampire stories such as sex and body horror, found family, discussion of the ethics of immortality etc. I think it is inarguably the best demonstration of the importance of both queerness and Blackness in the vampire mythology as well. It was a *very* slow read for me for some reason though, although I kept on with it because I was interested in the story (and it was a bookclub pick 😂) but at times I was feeling a *little* bit like I was slogging through it.
“…as neoliberalism encourages privileged families to shape their lesbian and gay households in the image of hetero-patriarchy, Gilda’s example of chosen family and queer reproduction is instructive.”
I also particularly love the above quote from Alexis Gumbs’s afterword to the 25th Anniversary edition. It demonstrates why this book is *such* an important part of the queer literary tradition and what Gomez was really trying to accomplish thematically with Gilda and her story.
“My life is wherever I am.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Further Reading—
- the Tao Te Ching
- Fledgling, by Octavia Butler
- maybe one of the Interview with a Vampire series, by Anne Rice?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Rape, and Blood
Moderate: Racism, Slavery, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual content
Graphic description of burned flesh; prostitution