Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

88 reviews

mistystar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Murder

celery's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Could've been shorter

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

akgeekgirl's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

keaganbailey's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The book's main fault is that it's a classic; as such you know the entire time what is going to happen, the majority of Dracula's powers, and are not surprised at any turn. The story also absolutely drags as the author discusses train schedules, characters' availability, and travel more than actual action that drives the plot forward. I could not finish this in text and needed to listen to it on audiobook to move forward. I enjoyed the story while actually reading it, but was not compelled to pick it up again the following day(s) to finish the book.

The acts of killing are also strangely sudden (being a few paragraphs at most) compared to the human deaths that take place over multiple chapters. Between that and the sections of nothing but planning travel - the pacing some of the worst I've ever read as the author focuses on mundane information of the world rather than plot. 

However, that all being said, I still enjoyed the main story beats. I would recommend an abridged version.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, and Stalking

Moderate: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, and Kidnapping

rochelleisreading's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

s3ag0at's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War

corallydeer's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This was a decently fun read! Since it was an edition with larger text, lots of pictures, and a simplified level of writing it was easy to get through and the writing style wasn't too awkward. I did feel like the story felt pretty rushed with this edition which made it hard to get into, so I had to keep reminding myself to read it. But overall I enjoyed it! I'll definitely have to read a full edition.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, and Medical content

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Death & Murder

(various people are killed by Dracula and his wives)

| Medical Content

(Seward and Helsing are both doctors; depictions of medical assessments and blood transfusions)

| Racial Slurs

(consistent use of the word "gypsy" throughout the book)

| Violence

(Dracula and his wives attack a number of people; the men and Mina confront the group of Romani people transporting Dracula's coffin and fight them)

| Animal Death

(Renfield collects various bugs and small animals to feed them to slightly larger ones)

| Death of Parent

(Lucy's mother passes away from shock; Andrew tends to his dying father throughout the story)

| Grief

(various mentions of funerals; Lucy grieves the loss of her mother a bit before passing away herself)

| Gun Violence

(the men use guns in the fight to get to Dracula's coffin)

| Injury/Injury Detail

(some minor discussion of the bite marks; one character receives a stab wound in a fight)

| Mental Illness

(Seward is a doctor at an asylum; Renfield goes back and forth through various depictions of mental illness)

| Suicidal Thoughts

(Jonathan decides that if they don't succeed at saving Mina from vampirism then he'll become a vampire with her to stay together as un-dead)

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

When I read one of "the classics," I pause and remind myself that I'm about to step into a different time with different people who held different and sometimes/often offensive beliefs. A "classic" may not be a good story with good characters, but instead may be a good window into the time and place it was written and set in. And "classics" are also saddled with the moniker of being "over-hyped." With this in mind, I can firmly say that I thoroughly enjoyed Dracula! I didn't feel like I was stepping into a totally unfamiliar world because Stoker is descriptive without making the reader feel bogged down with details or flowery descriptions. I think the characters, while quite overwrought, were fully fleshed out *rim shot* people, and I'm pleased to say that this includes the women! Dracula is very much worth the hype. I can see why it's maintained cultural relevance and why its tropes and themes remain popular after 127 years. I was waiting for the mythical "right" time to read this book, and I'm glad I got to enjoy it during spooky season!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, and Stalking

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Antisemitism

marsco's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Medical content

leann0330's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Gore, Mental illness, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts

Note: Since this is a gothic horror novel, I tried to add content warnings but may have missed some. I finally read this and went into it, not really knowing what the “original” vampire folklore is because our society has been so saturated with undead fantasy. It was great to read this (and I knew that Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla was one of Stoker’s inspirations for this) going in fairly blindly. The story was suspenseful and I loved that it was told strictly from journal entries, so quite a few different POVs. Poor old Van Helsing droned on and on. I think that’s probably the only complaint I have other than the way women were still thought to not be as smart as men (but that was a product of the time). Because, let’s be honest—Mina was the real MVP. I wasn’t sure if the good guys would win in the end, so it was suspenseful for me until the last page.