Bookmarked: Carmilla
Hey y'all let's see what's up today! I had the pleasure of diving into the novel Carmilla, this vampire novel predates Bram Stoker's Dracula by about 25 years and is hailed as one of the foundational pieces of the vampire genre. I was lucky enough to find a copy of this novel for $5 in a clearance bin, however I will leave a link where you can get your own copy from Amazon as well at the end of this post if you'd like to read along with me.
As always, there's a playlist for you to enjoy while you read, as well as some content warnings that I beg you all to read thoroughly before picking up a copy of any book that I recommend.
Content Warnings: Isolation, Vampires, Death, Religion, Blood, Slightly Racist Imagery, Ableist Language, Nightmares, Sickness, Murder, Religious Imagery, Slight Mentions of Classism
The Summary
Laura lives an isolated life with her father and servants in a German schloss. It's peaceful, they don't get many visitors, and there isn't much trouble to be had for their small family. However, things change when a mysterious carriage hauling a mysterious family is overturned near their estate. A mother and daughter seemingly traveling with urgency emerge from the turned carriage. Laura's father doesn't believe the daughter is in any condition to travel and offers to host her temporarily, to which the mother agrees.
Laura quickly befriends Carmilla, a strange girl with even stranger ways about her. However, soon trouble finds her where she least expects it. Will her father be able to save her in time, or will Laura succumb to the same dark forces that have taken other young ladies from nearby villages?
The Review
This book has been on the forefront of my mind since I watched an accompanying film adaptation of it a few years ago. I happen to like this book a little bit better than Dracula purely because of how unassuming these vampires are. Additionally this novel was written in 1872 and features what many readers including myself believe to be the first canonical depiction of a queer character in horror media.
Despite the ways in which this story is very progressive, it did use some outdated language regarding disabled people and people of color. While I would find it distasteful to continue to use such language in a modern book, I do understand that was simply the language of the time and its important to understand that they had very different definitions of what was considered socially acceptable. I don't think that makes this book any less progressive in nature, it just shows how far we've come in depicting different types of characters in better light.
As much as I love it, there are periods during reading where things were a little too slow for my liking. I find that I stay focused better with books that sort of put you into situations right off the rip. This is honestly just a complaint born of personal preference, however if you are not used to a classic literature style of writing which is very slow this may be off putting to readers who aren't used to it.
Closing
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