A review by abmochapman
Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes
“Certainly LeFanu needed a monster; he could not imagine lesbian desire otherwise,” says Carmen Maria Machado in a perfectly normal interview.

Having read The Gilda Stories and Fledgling, I was immediately excited to find a queer vampire story pre-dating Dracula. This gothic novel reads much more like a condemnation of deviant desires than an exploration of sexuality and the supernatural as in the case of its more modern counterparts. Yet, I think Carmilla is nonetheless an important piece of vampire and lesbian literary history. 

It was slow and tortuous, ridiculously campy, and almost erotic. Though it was not as scary or suspenseful as I had hoped, I had fun! 

And did you know Marcia Maren, like Mircalla, is an anagram? Once I realized — after some research, of course — I found an even greater appreciation for Carmen Maria Machado’s introduction and how she twisted LeFanu’s self-serving fiction into her own.
 

Now I can’t wait to dive deeper into author interviews and fan re-tellings (such as the web series). I love a queer reclamation of a cult classic!
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