Zac's Updates en-US Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:14:39 -0800 60 Zac's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7123037481 Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:14:39 -0800 <![CDATA[Zac added 'Carmilla']]> /review/show/7123037481 Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu Zac gave 4 stars to Carmilla (Paperback) by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
This was a very good book, and very particular for its time. This is pre-Dracula vampire fiction. It shows off some vampire lore that existed before Dracula: blood-sucking, immortality, nobility (show me one non aristocratic vampire), coffin-sleeping and aversion to church symbols. Notably absent are the garlic and sunlight allergies. Still, the « Vampireness » of this story feels recognisable- it might make you rethink how much our conception of vampires really owes to Bram Stoker and how much existed before. Another aspect of Carmilla’s particular brand of Vampirism is she doesn’t just suck blood from her victims- she likes to get close to her victims- she consumes them, emotionally and physically ( though not with all her victims- she randomly feeds on peasants with none of the relation building she does with the narrator). It is also mentioned
Much has been made of the lesbian aspects of Carmilla. A lot of Victorian books that have been characterized as gay didn’t seem it to me- maybe that’s me not really picking up on subtext or assuming platonic motivations- but boy, this is overt. Remember what I said about consuming emotionally? Well, Jesus is Carmilla open about that. It seems more too confuse our narrator than anything else: she rebukes Carmilla’s whenever she starts raving about Laura (the narrator) loving her and dying for her. There’s also this odd paragraph where Laura imagines that Carmilla’s is a quote « boyish lover » in disguise coming to court her while dressed as a woman to get closer. That just… confused me. Much ado is made of both characters thinking the other is beautiful, though the relationship isn’t exactly a… relationship. Obviously , Carmilla is preying on Laura and doesn’t love her in any wholesome way, though she is explicitly treating her romantically, and Laura- though we are in her head the whole time- I don’t really get a grasp on what she thinks of it. She definitely loves Carmilla, in quite a wholesome way. Wether that love is romantic or platonic? I think Laura herself struggles with that. She perceives Carmilla’s advances and rebukes them, but loves her all the same.
The atmosphere is wonderful, and I much enjoyed the first few pages in which Laura describes the setting. The prose is nice, though-and this might be my fault- in places pronouns like him and he were used in so much and so far from any actual references to the character they were used to describe that I found myself losing track of who was doing what.
The story is good, though the ending was lacking- as I read it I noticed I only had a couple pages left and I knew it couldn’t be wrapped up satisfactorily. It ends exactly the way I’ve grown to expect from a lot of these older novels, not with a grand finale but with a bit of a whimper. Of course a huge fight or anything like that, but Carmilla’s death happens out of the view of the narrator and so is not so much told to us as summarized. The Baron, a character instrumental to the death of the vampire, more Van Helsing then Dracula’s Van Heksing, kind of just… shows up when we discover Carmilla’s vampirism, and a chapter is tacked on at the end explaining everything retroactively, much like you’d expect in a mystery novel or something. The ending, though not unsatisfying- I wouldn’t change anûy of the actual events, it tied up the story and wasn’t out of place, it just left me wanting a bit more, both in the actual way it was written and also in Laura’s reaction to it. Carmilla was of course her friend and I was hoping to see more reaction or internal wrestling with the discovery of her vampirism and her death. ]]> Rating744867710 Wed, 03 Jul 2024 16:12:04 -0700 <![CDATA[Zac C.C liked a review]]> /
Zac C.C liked s's review of The Whispering Skull (Lockwood & Co., #2):
The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud
"This is a reread.

LOOK I'M CRYING. I AM DYING. THAT ENDING IS SO SWEET AND I JUST WANT TO CRY. The characters, the plot twist, this entire story is just so incredible, hilarious and everything I need in life. I love George, Lucy and Lockwood more than I love myself and that probably sounds really sad lmao. I'm incapable of writing a review bc honestly i don't know how to for this. All you need to know that this series is perfection. So get your butt to read it, if you haven't??
"
]]> Review6397448029 Tue, 02 Apr 2024 18:31:21 -0700 <![CDATA[Zac added 'El Doctor Francia...']]> /review/show/6397448029 El Doctor Francia... by Thomas Carlyle Zac gave 4 stars to El Doctor Francia... (Spanish Edition) by Thomas Carlyle
]]> Review6187132923 Sat, 20 Jan 2024 04:54:39 -0800 <![CDATA[Zac added 'This Book Is Full of Spiders']]> /review/show/6187132923 This Book Is Full of Spiders by David Wong Zac gave 5 stars to This Book Is Full of Spiders (Paperback) by David Wong
]]> Review6187131669 Sat, 20 Jan 2024 04:53:55 -0800 <![CDATA[Zac added 'This Book Is Full of Spiders']]> /review/show/6187131669 This Book Is Full of Spiders by David Wong Zac gave 4 stars to This Book Is Full of Spiders (John Dies at the End, #2) by David Wong
]]> Review6187130114 Sat, 20 Jan 2024 04:53:29 -0800 <![CDATA[Zac added 'Player One: What Is to Become of Us (CBC Massey Lecture) by Douglas Coupland']]> /review/show/6187130114 Player One by Douglas Coupland Zac gave 4 stars to Player One: What Is to Become of Us (CBC Massey Lecture) by Douglas Coupland (2010-10-01) by Douglas Coupland
]]> Review6187130114 Sat, 20 Jan 2024 04:53:04 -0800 <![CDATA[Zac added 'Player One: What Is to Become of Us (CBC Massey Lecture) by Douglas Coupland']]> /review/show/6187130114 Player One by Douglas Coupland Zac gave 4 stars to Player One: What Is to Become of Us (CBC Massey Lecture) by Douglas Coupland (2010-10-01) by Douglas Coupland
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