Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

25 reviews

lucius_gooseman's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

This is a good book. Sapphic Dracula with a plug-and-play "mystery" as to who the vampire is. I think a brain-damaged pastor's child who had never heard of a vampire, let alone a lesbian, could figure everything out in terms of the romance and "twist". The leadup to the twist is amazing- I love dark romanticism and gothic fiction and Sheridan Le Fanu writes the genre perfectly. Every word is perfectly chosen and each character described in a way that'd make Edgar Allan Poe cream his jeans. However, the two chapters of the General monologuing was so boring, I just skimmed some paragraphs. There's a lot of boring admin that goes into dark romanticism, so I get that. I still reserve the right to hate it, lol.

I'd like to dedicate a few words to this edition, and the asides and clarifications by lesbian author and essayist, Carmen Maria Machado. Her comments and history add another layer to the novel that I don't know if I would get without them. Her 21st-century adaptation of homoerotic 19th-century vampires (who am I kidding, they're legit gay) makes Carmilla a fully-rounded, time-transcending work of queer art. 

It's still boring as all shit, though, sorry gals. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

mandareads222's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Lesbophobia

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

danilo_syrtis's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Misogyny, Suicide, and Grief

riverofhorton's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.75

I loved 95% of this book, and will be coming back to it in the future.

One of the things I especially liked was that the lesbian relationship was incredibly obvious, but none of the characters seemed to have much a problem with it, despite the cultural attitudes of the time this book was published.

I only wish it were longer and gave more detail on the time they spent together, though I do understand this is intended to be read as a letter to the reader.

The only bit I don't like is the implications around the "vision" that starts the book.

Laura, the narrator, is 6 at the time this vision happens, which involves the (by that point) 150+ year old Carmilla being very intimate with her. Carmilla does later say that for her side of the vision, she saw Laura as an 18 year old not a 6 year old, but it still weirded me out to think about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

hellokatya's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.25

i really enjoyed the guide and introduction. it felt like a friend giving u inside information and really helped my understanding of the book. 
i do wish it had focused more on the relationship, more intimately, than it did. it felt very glossed over and not the focal point of the story. definitely should’ve been a longer and more thorough story. 
overall, i did it enjoy it, but it was a bit hard to comprehend at points - had to reread numerous times - but i think that’s also a skill issue as i’m not used to this particular style. 
would recommend

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, and Abandonment

ju_harue's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Achei uma obra incrível, estava com receio de lê-la por se tratar de um escrito de 1872, mas foi surpreendente. A maneira como trouxe assuntos tabus pra épocas posteriores, foi uma grata surpresa. Apesar de obviamente, pertinente a época, ter algumas questões problemáticas e preconceituosas, ainda assim, ver o desenrolar de uma relação de duas mulheres, de uma forma tão natural (e bem condizente com a relação predador-vitimas) foi bem narrada. Acompanhar a primeira Vampira mulher, que inspirou Dracula, foi um deleite e a edição da Wish-Clepsidra está impecável, com textos de apoio maravilhosos, recomendo.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

maddramaqueen's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

thebiblioboo's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail