Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

Review by Shwetha H S

Title: Carmilla
Author: Sheridan Le Fanu
Imprint: Pushkin Press, UK
ISBN Number: 978-1-78227584-8
Genre: Classic, Fiction, Horror, Gothic, Vampires, Sapphic/Lesbian

Sheridan Le Fanu is an Irish writer, who lived in Dublin in the 1800s. He is touted to be Stephen King of his times. His work, Carmilla, is said to be the cult classic that inspired Bram Stoker to write his cult classic, Dracula.

Young Laura and her father live in a schloss (German for castle) in a place called Styria where families live very far from each other, but would like to visit each other. Laura doesn’t have any friends of her age, except her governesses who are of course older than her. She awaits visits from her far away neighbours hoping they would bring in their young nieces or friends with whom she could be friends. One such visit of an elderly neighbour with his niece gets cancelled at the last moment due to sudden death of the niece, for reasons unexplained to them by the neighbour. One night, in an accident outside their schloss, an injured girl of the age about that of Laura, is taken in after a lot of discussion with a lady who claims to be her mother. Joyed to have a friend at last, Laura spends a lot of time with her new friend, Carmilla, who is always tired, languid and tantrum-throwing. As Laura becomes closer to Carmilla, the more the former girl becomes weak. Unable to understand why Laura is weakening and getting nightmares, her father searches for answers. What answers does he get? What happened to the neighbour’s niece? Who is Carmilla? What happens to Laura? Read the book to get your answers.

If you have already read Dracula by Bram Stoker, you will find Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu a little pale. But, on the other hand, Carmilla is an easy read compared to Dracula. I personally don’t like epistolary novels. Dracula took me a very long time to finish reading. I struggled with it. Although Carmilla is in a similar form, it is a short read and hence tolerable. But, that is just me. Apart from this, I must acknowledge the fact that while writing one of the early fictions of vampirism, Sheridan Le Fanu also included homosexuality in it. Must have been too much to handle for the people of his era. However, it is very subtly handled in the narration. That might have avoided any furore. We don’t know what might have happened at that time. Sheridan Le Fanu is more dead than Carmilla now to answer our questions.

All in all, I neither recommend nor reject Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. You are on your own with this.

Tanya Tania by Antara Ganguli

Review by Shwetha H S

Genre: Fiction, Drama
Imprint: Bloomsbury, India
ISBN: 9789384898410

Antara Ganguli is a Gender and Development Specialist with UNICEF. She is also a writer. He debut novel is Tanya Tania.

Tanya, a Pakistani-American in Karachi starts to write letters to Tania, an Indian in Bombay, now Mumbai. The story is set in the times of Babri Masjid issue, 1992. The two girls are poles apart in characteristics, yet they connect with each other as they continue to exchange letter. The story is in epistolary form, but in two timelines. 1992 and after three years. The girls write to each other in 1992 but stop writing after a few months. Why? Not because of the Babri Masjid issue and the fact that Tanya is a Muslim. Then why do they stop writing to each other? Only Tanya keeps writing to Tania after three years only to stop after a few letter. Why? You will get your answers only from Tania.

Antara creates characters that are too real. Though the story is set during a real-life incident, it is a fictitious story but difficult to believe so. Tanya’s and Tania’s mothers are best friends since college in the USA. Tanya is your typical Miss Goody Two Shoes, trying to study well and get into a good university back in the USA. Tania is also your typical Queen Bee, trying to keep her boyfriend to herself and be more famous in school. Tanya has Chhoti Bibi whom she treats just the way she has to treat a servant. Tania has Nusrat whom she considers her best friend but is also her servant. Tanya has a twin brother. Tania has an elder brother already studying in the States. Tanya’s parents, American mother and Pakistani father, once very much in love with each other, don’t quarrel but don’t talk to each other either. Tania’s parents quarrel often but love each other. So different from one another, yet so relatable.

Tanya starts writing to Tania because of her mother’s suggestion. After stopping to write in a few months, Tanya again starts to write to Tania because of her psychiatrist’s suggestion after three years. I felt like Tanya is a blinded horse. Tania has a mind of her own and knows what she wants. I could relate to Tanya throughout the story, but in the end, I could not. I was able to imagine the narration of Antara Ganguli, as if I was watching a movie and not reading a book. I can’t tell you more than that. You have to read the book. YOU HAVE TO!

Yes, I recommend this book to every reader.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Review by Shwetha H S

Imprint: Dial Press
ISBN: 1984801813
Genre: Historical, Drama, Fiction, Humour

The late author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer, passed away due to cancer a few months before the book was released. Her niece and co-author, Annie Barrows, stepped into her shoes to complete the book and make it see the light of the day. I am glad it happened. If not, I would have missed one witty book by female authors.

Juliet Ashton is a writer with few books to her name. She is not the typical girl of the WW2 era. Not coy, not timid. She is a person of her own mind and that mind of hers makes her pursue things that lead to her betterment. Wow. I love her. I see myself in her. I would totally do whatever she did in the situations she faced in the book. Getting back on track, she is an orphan but has close friends to call family, Sophie and Sidney. Under certain circumstances, she befriends the members of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on the island of Guernsey under the nationality of England. When she gets to know the problems they faced during German occupation of the island and more intriguing facts about a few people, she decides to go to the island herself leaving behind a suitor, Mark, and her book publicity tour. There she finally meets her pen pals with whom she had developed a bonding over the letters. Amelia, Isola, Eben, Dawsey, Elizabeth, her daughter Kit, and Will are the prominent characters from the island. They all are present in person except Elizabeth who is in all the narrations of others. What happens between all these characters is the rest of the story. Each character in the story is different, but I kind of didn’t gel well with Isola. She was too much for me. If she were real, I would not have tolerated her bubbly nature.

I have personally never liked the epistolary format of books. Robinson Crusoe, Frankenstein, Swiss Family Robinson, they all bored me to death and I came alive by finishing them with audiobooks. But The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is different. I fell in love with the way letters are written. The narration is witty. So humorous that I want to wake Mary from her grave and kiss her and surrender to Annie for the prowess they exhibit in this book. Chuck the movie. Read the book. The movie does zero justice to the story and doesn’t even follow the same storyline completely.