Carmilla

Beautiful book in terms of artwork and design. If you love classic's that are a little more descriptive in their writing, this is a great read! Plus the history on this novel is really interesting!

The story itself is fantastic, however the footnotes add nothing except spoilers and unnecessary interjections like ‘it’s not strangulation it’s pleasuring’ or some such nonsense. Let me infer if I want to infer. I disliked the footnotes taking me out of the story with the opinions of the editor. Even the locations weren’t really necessary to be elaborated on. I did appreciate knowing about Styria and Monrovia but the editor lost all my good faith by the spoilers which were either in the intro or the footnotes and how the editor decided it would be clever retribution against the author to insinuate original material for the story that could have deepened everything which she felt was better to be withheld for some reason which ultimately punished the readers? The edition is beautiful, but the footnotes and intro were unnecessary and detracted in my opinion. The story, however, is exquisite. I do believe you can find this book for free on the Gutenberg project or if you just search it on google, if you aren’t interested in hearing someone put in the footnotes how they think the sky looks like blood etc. But, for all the ragging on it... if you like owning hard copy, this is admittedly a beautiful little book, from the binding to the illustrations and worth having. I would definitely buy it again and love the story and aesthetic. One of the other editions might be better though if you hate spoilers. Juuuust not digging the added material, which seems to refuse to provide us with more than its own opinions. Edit: having viewed some other hard copy editions of this story I would like to alter my opinion of this edition somewhat. This edition is far better laid out and more enjoyable to read than some of the other editions. It is clean and beautiful and the illustrations are fantastic. I wanted to clarify too, this is worth buying! Just avoid the introduction by the editor and the footnotes until after you’ve read it. The footnotes are sparse and unobtrusive if you choose to ignore them.

I approached this book when searching for some new, spooky reads for October. I was intrigued by the vampire novel written in a time before Dracula, especially because the vampire in question was a woman. What I didn’t realize, however, was the queer themes associated with Carmilla and Laura. I’m surprised I didn’t catch this theme when doing my pre-reading research, considering the overwhelming presence of it. Despite being unexpected, it wasn’t something I didn’t enjoy. I find it incredibly interesting that even despite Le Fanu’s exclusion of much of the correspondence he took inspiration from, that correspondence being highly insinuating of a romantic relationship, it was still evident from what he did retain. It calls into question how these dynamics found themselves, seemingly so openly, within this novel at a time when queer representation was little to none. Overall, this was a very interesting and thought-provoking novel. It makes me want to research and look farther into queer history and representation of the time.

sister was happy, gave this to her as a gift

Carmilla is a wonderful novel and well worth reading, but this edition was disappointing to me. While Machado does provide some contextual footnotes, they are shallow at best. Too often, her personal comments and attempts at humor feel intrusive and add little to the reading experience, in fact they took me out of it. I would have preferred more robust research and deeper annotations instead of casual interjections. The cover art is great, but the illustrations inside are only okay and have noting to do with the taxonomical illustrations of bats (which are very cool), ultimately, not enough to make this edition essential for a personal library.

Such a great read. Pre Dracula and just gives off creepy vibes.

I couldn’t not put this beautiful book down!! It’s gripping, sexy, risqué, just wonderful!!

i liked it

Apesar da previsão de entrega ter sido de mais de um mês, chegou antes do previsto. Ele não veio plastificado como um livro novo, mas estava bem embalado e não possui nenhum defeito aparente na capa.

The cover of carmilla seem to look like a biology diagram of bats but when I opened up the paperback book. There are flaps that allows for quick bookmarking, with beautiful illustrations. I’m very impressed by this style done for the illustrations. The paper used for the pages are soft while not too thin, seems to be of standard quality. While this is a christmas gift for my friend, I’m thinking of buying one for myself.

The art is amazing. The classic story is so heartbreaking but beautiful. So romantic and gothic. Have to admit, this one is better than Dracula (in my opinion)

Easily one of my favourites now