Marginal Damage

annotated. dog-eared. loved.

[marginaldamage]

I think I like the idea of reading classics more than actually reading

[marginaldamage]

The ratio of books I've read to books I plan to is humbling.

[themoorishwitch]

[marginaldamage]

Carmilla - Luke warm take

Going into Carmilla I was expecting a story that would have held up against time in the same way Dracula has. I know now that is an unfair comparison.

During the time it was published I can see it being the groundbreaking queer, gothic, vampire story it is spoken as today. However, time has not been kind to the plot. The story is predictable. Any time a mystery was introduced I immediately knew the outcome.

Every time I see someone battling a negative critique on the story they mention the gothic atmosphere and how it builds a sense of unease. I didn't experience any discomfort reading this story. I feel like that its attributed to the simple story. The tension felt non-existent. Don't get me wrong I loved the descriptions of the beautiful buildings and forests around the characters, but that alone can't hold it up to a modern audience.

The queerness in this story is also "over-hyped" I was not expecting a full on scissoring scene, but I was expecting something more direct. there are a few pecks on the cheeks and lips but no outright relationship. You go through the entire story with the relationship being implied.

Overall, I genuinely believe that if someone went through and dumbed down the vocabulary, this book could be sold to a middle school audience. That being said, my critique is only on how when I was first reading the book i saw people online saying that the book still held up to modern times; I think the story is indisputably important to the development of gothic literature. My argument is only that it doesn't hold up for today's readers.