Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

168 reviews

yilliun's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

Overall, I enjoyed this much more than I expected I would. The last ~100 pages were such a slog for me to get through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Xenophobia, and Classism

Minor: Racism and Antisemitism

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)

philosopher_kj's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

elliebasta's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Sexism

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.

sarabookshelf's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

3.25

It's a classic and it stands the test of time. However, the characters were a bit one dimensional for me, I didn't enjoy all the religious and conservative aspects, and the ending was a bit rushed and underwhelming in my opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Violence and Forced institutionalization

yolanda_h's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Xenophobia, and Grief

angelo_vossen's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

What month could be better to read this book in than October? Bram Stoker’s „Dracula“, published in 1897, is a classic piece of literature that has had a lasting impact on how vampires are portrayed, but it has both strengths and weaknesses.

The novel’s greatest strength is its ability to mix modern life with old superstitions. Dracula, a creature from ancient folklore, invades the logical and scientific world of Victorian England. Stoker cleverly builds suspense using different narrative forms — diaries, letters, and newspaper articles — making the reader slowly uncover the threat Dracula poses. This structure creates a sense of growing dread that keeps the reader engaged.

However, the book struggles with pacing. The first part, set in Dracula’s castle in Transylvania, is full of tension and mystery, but once the story moves to England, it slows down. The middle sections, where the main characters try to defeat Dracula, can feel repetitive and drawn out, losing some of the initial suspense.

The characters also feel uneven. Dracula himself is a fascinating villain — mysterious and terrifying — but his human opponents are less memorable. Jonathan Harker and Mina Murray, for example, are presented as good, moral people, but they lack depth. Mina, in particular, represents the ideal Victorian woman — pure and nurturing — while Lucy Westenra’s tragic fate as the victim of Dracula reflects the era’s fears around female sexuality.

Additionally, the novel reflects 19th-century fears of foreign invasion. Dracula’s move to England can be seen as a metaphor for anxieties about foreign influences corrupting Western society. This idea, along with the novel’s conservative views on gender roles, has led to debate over whether „Dracula“ supports or critiques Victorian values.

In the end, „Dracula“ is a groundbreaking work that created an iconic figure of horror, though it’s not without its flaws. Its slow pacing, underdeveloped characters, and outdated moral views hold it back, but the novel’s dark atmosphere and exploration of deep societal fears still make it an important piece of literature. I have not read to many classic books yet, but „Dracula“ is definitely one of the better ones so far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol

bearystarry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a lot different than I'd expected it to be, but I still had fun reading it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Confinement, Gore, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

wextra's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

An underrated classic that modern audiences unfortunately will likely not give the time of day because of its pacing, Dracula is the pinnacle of tension building. While there are many slow and repetitive parts of the novel, they exist to build towards the key sequences of the novel and the pay off never ceases to exceed expectations. There are few novels in the English language that reward a reader's patience quite like Dracula and if you are willing to give it its due, you will come away with a great appreciation for the work.

 The cast of characters is somewhat underdeveloped compared to modern standards but the novel is in service to its plot primarily and this criticism extends most to the handful of major characters who unfortunately do not get the chance to write from the first person. The method of storytelling that Stoker employs, the use of journal entries, letters and newspaper clippings, to drive the narrative, favors several characters over others, giving the reader more familiarity with Jonathan Harker, Doctor John Seward, Mina Harker and Professor Abraham Van Helsing than any of the rest of the cast. But I feel the criticism is overstated as it's clear that each of these characters have well-defined goals and values. Lucy Westerna, despite being a narrator at several points, is unfortunately left underdeveloped but her role is more plot device than character and her particular traits likely appealed more to the audience of Stoker’s day than to modern audiences.

But the setting and mood shore up the weak characters. Every scene is truly vivid and detailed and while characters may often be lost in melodramatic prayer for paragraphs at a time, it does bring with it the sense of dread that Stoker sought to evoke, although again, it's a writing tactic that likely appealed more in its time than to modern secular audiences removed from such constant conversation with the holy. 

Unfortunately, there is the elephant of the room of eugenics, racism and xenophobia which will absolutely turn off many modern audiences. While not the crux of the novel, phrenology and it's relationship to criminology and psychology is mentioned numerous times throughout the novel and clearly was influential in the development of the story. Likewise, the novel portrays the Romani as cult-like devoted followers of the Count at several points and the appearance of the Count himself is orientalist in design, meant to evoke a fear of men of the near east. This is absolutely much to the novel worth reading anyway but these are ideas dropped from many adaptations even in the early 20th century for very clear reasons as they quickly dated themselves. Modern readers unaccustomed to the sheer racism of Victorian literature would do well to steel themselves against the portrayals to find the good qualities within if they remain curious about the novel.

And I think it's worth revisiting for the curious and definitely for anyone seeking to study the gothic horror genre, perhaps for their own writing. There is so much to learn and experience in Dracula if you have the patience for it. And I hope you will. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, and Murder