Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

82 reviews

olia_k21's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Blood

Moderate: Eating disorder and Xenophobia

Minor: Sexism and Death of parent

stitchwilliam's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

I feel like the novel shouldn’t really be called Dracula. "Mina" is a more suitable title if it had to be named after a character… 

Story was slow a lot of the time, but it was relatively suspenseful and mysterious for a classic (note: the novel is more mystery than it is horror). Implemented the idea of “not much happening” in order to create that suspense, which worked well when the novel first started, but not too well at the end (I don’t really enjoy reading multiple POV on people just traveling). 

Overall messages were concerning—E.g. xenophobia and stereotyping (this, unfortunately, probably reflected the thinking of some communities at that time…). 

The characters were kind of dry, except for Mina and Renfield. There isn’t a lot of character development overall. 

I also feel like the author also left out necessary details at times. I still don’t understand why some of the characters did certain things? E.g.

Why was Dracula so possessive of Jonathan at the beginning? How did Renfield meet Dracula? Why is Van Helsing so into vampires?

In Short - Outdated messages and plot drags a lot, but interesting to consider the story that popularized the vampire myths. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal death

renorsomethin's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Animal death

decepticons's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Stalking

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Classism

Vampirism used to excuse racism

“My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them?” says enough about the book really

caro_mac's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

Reading for the first time, I was shocked at how contemporary this book feels! In my opinion, it stands up to its reputation as a true classic.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Xenophobia, and Blood

Minor: Racial slurs

modern_cryptid's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I only read this for a class. It was so much better than I thought it would be. Good story, great suspense all throughout, but it's definitely a classic. Its long, it quite often drags, also some uncomfortable story elements due to the time period, it's social expectations and views of what it appropriate regarding language. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Misogyny and Medical content

Minor: Racial slurs and Xenophobia

ameliethemoomin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

good god i love this book

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Antisemitism

pyrorchis's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

2.0

Even aside from the blatant xenophobia/racism/sexism of the entire premise, the ending was very lazy and the characters were all so two-dimensional. I confess I was rooting for Dracula the entire time and hoping he'd finish them all off.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Injury/Injury detail

renicula's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Blood, and Stalking

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

Minor: Child death

People forget there’s a cowboy in this book, which gets it at least another half star.

natfoster's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment