Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

45 reviews

rory_john14's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Gore, Homophobia, Suicide, Medical content, Cannibalism, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

eva_vva's review

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Confinement, Stalking, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Gore, Sexism, Suicide, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

vdlvrs's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

R.I.P J. Sheridan Le Fanu, you would hate the fact that Carmilla became a lesbian icon 🧡🤍🩷

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, and Medical trauma

Minor: Gore, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

dogoodwithbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• 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

4.0

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Racism, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Minor: Suicide and Death of parent

clovetra's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

easily out of all the classics i’ve read from before the 1900s, this is my favourite. 

yes technically this edition is modern as it was edited by carmen maria machado but SHUT UP.

also shout out to carmen i loved her editing!!!! her little end notes plus her prologue? honestly without her editing i don’t think i would’ve enjoyed this as much. so happy i chose to read this edition. the fact that carmen doesn’t add the additional letters simply to spite the author for hiding just HOW DOWN BAD laura was???? god her prologue was so fun. usually prologue’s for classics are a snooze fest where it’s literally just them recounting the authors life, but carmen somehow managed to breathe life into a short summary? plus i don’t know if the original edition has this or if carmen added it, but the images!!!!! did not expect them, and honestly it added to the story quite nicely, especially the images where laura is so incredibly down bad. she’s so me coded (falls head over heels in seconds without checking for concerns and becomes absolutely infatuated with someone she knows jack shit about). i love stupid lesbian rep in my 1800s gothics. 

god what can i say. this book immediately gets bonus points because i am infact a lesbian who loves vampires and horror. like this book was set up for me to love it. plus carmen’s editing made all the fanciful 1800s english actually coherent! cuz im sorry english pre-1900s is so hard for my brain to comprehend. sorry booktwt im not smart enough for classics sue me. but this? this made so much sense and i loved it.

i also loved that the classic vampire traits we’ve grown to know don’t come from this. i mean this was literally the blueprint of vampire tales. i love that carmilla is just a sleepy girl who wakes up at 1pm and is moody. me and carmilla are one in the same. she gets me fr. like fuck that shit about garlic give me an enchantress who happens to be perpetually tired. like my girl has CFS/ME and is goth she’s literally me!!!!!!!! plus she turns into a cat!!!!! all lesbians love cats!!!!!! carmilla is the same as modern day lesbians i said what i said.

also props for the lesbianism being so explicit! in other classics there’s a lot of subtext…., nah in here we see carmilla and laura kiss and laura has a sleep orgasm cuz she dreams about carmilla. she’s so down bad. 

i wish i got a bit more time with my homegirl carmilla and saw her be more explicitly a vampire but im not too mad about it. i like the fact her vampirism is more of an undertone and is less explicit honestly. fuck lesbianism being in the subtext let’s make the fact she is an ancient supernatural being the subtext 🔥

anyways this might actually be my favourite classic. I LOVE LESBIANS!!!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

_n_m_'s review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Lesbophobia

rainbowrocky's review

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book must've blown minds in 19th century Ireland. I can see why it's a literary classic. I loved it a lot even if the characters are a bit one dimensional. It's more about the atmosphere, the looming threat of death. We know what's happening to Laura, but she hasn't the faintest idea since she's so innocent. Spoilers:

Carmilla's death was a bit of a let down. I thought we were building to something more shocking but her death was over so quickly and unceremoniously.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism

Minor: Violence and Classism

bearystarry's review against another edition

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

4.5

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, and Murder

devermismysteris's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Blood

Moderate: Chronic illness and Cannibalism

Minor: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

mary_stormageddon's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• 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? Yes

4.0

In my opinion, all classics should be edited by Carmen Maria Machado. I'd enjoy them much more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship