Book Review: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla

I have to say I really liked this book and finished it in a single sitting. I am fascinated by vampires and this book actually pre-dates Bram Stoker's Dracula. What was interesting was the fact that the main character was a female vampire who preyed on other women. I always thought that Dracula was the first book to explore this theme and the image of Count Dracula has captured the imagination of people for so long.

So it was really interesting to read about Carmilla, a countess preserved as a little girl who preys on other girls and women. There are overt references to lesbianism in Carmilla's love for the narrator. I just thought that it was kind of amazing that someone wrote this in the 1800's. In fact, the writer is a man, so his choice to make both the victims and the vampire women is really interesting.

I enjoy Gothic fiction, especially the old school variety. Most contemporary Gothic tales just don't excite me as much. The old Gothic novel's like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Bram Stoker's Dracula are just Classics that I can read and re-read.

Even though I won't put Carmilla in the same category as those Classics, I would still recommend it to anyone who enjoys Gothic fiction.

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami

Even though I love Murakami's style, how the metaphysical intrudes into everyday reality, how the ordinary becomes extraordinary, I have mixed feelings about this book.

My mother bought it for me because of the title, since I am a dancer. (not that the book is really about dancing!) When I started reading it, it sucked me in. But somehow by the end of it it did not resonate for me like some of his other books.

What I did enjoy was the satire of the novel and the air of mystery. The other side of reality part and the element of the bizarre which almost almost permeates Murakami's writings somehow just didn't work for me here.

I did for some reason really like the character of the teenage girl, who befriends the narrator after her famous mother "forgets" her in the Dolphin Hotel. The Dolphin Hotel which dominates the landscape of the novel really comes alive. It almost becomes a character in itself.

If you have not read any of Murakami's works, I would not suggest this novel to start with but if you have read his other works then, like me, you will find it captivating, an interesting mix of mystery, satire with generous sprinklings of the bizarre.