Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

10 reviews

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

rehtaehwashere's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

 

• What I liked: The DRAMA, the characterization of Dracula, how hell-bent they were on catching him after he corrupted Lucy,
  that Lucy's mother fucked her over by not just leaving her and her flowers the hell alone and opening windows.
    The wolves and the bats. The suspicions of Dracula's neighbors and that everyone knew and just said LITERALLY NOTHING.
  Dracula throwing the mirror out the window lmao
   
• What I disliked: that they equated soft feminine virginal girls with morality and goodness implying that Lucy deserved what happened because she wasn't 'pure' enough. That women were written as such weak little things and that they only got praise when they 'thought like men'. That the story was basically men saving 'women in distress'. That the language was so flowery and annoying to parse through.
• Overall thoughts: I think I'll stick to modern adaptations because the flowery language was so annoying to get through and I loved how dramatic Dracula was but the characterization of women left a lot to be desired. It was definitely a product of its time and a good story none-the-less if you can overlook the 1 dimensional female characters but it's hard for me to do. The men are well written, rounded out characters that show emotion which is a bright spot in this.  
• Recommend to a friend? Y 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Colonisation, and Classism

atuin's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

3.0

I can see why Dracula is so iconic with this beginning. Stoker does a great job of setting tone with his moody descriptions and the characters inner fears. Dracula himself is a great villain, and I was pleasantly surprised how engaging I found the heroes, especially van Helsing and Mina, though I’ll admit I thought Quincy, the cowboy, was superfluous. There is some period typical attitudes that drag it down for me though, namely the pro colonial, sexist and anti Romani bigotry that, although common at the time, still diminishes this book. Even so, it was still a fun read for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation

june_t_michael's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

Ich fand das Konzept "Dracula Daily" interessant und als ich mitbekommen habe, dass es dieses Jahr erneut läuft, dachte ich: Da mache ich jetzt doch mal mit. Das ist interessant.

Und ich finde, dass es ein unglaublich interessantes Experiment war. Ich habe "Dracula" in der Vergangenheit schon etliche Male gelesen, das letzte Mal allerdings ist über zehn Jahre her. Vieles habe ich vergessen. Vieles fiel mir vielleicht einfach noch nicht auf, weil ich nicht dafür sensibilisiert war oder mir nicht viel dabei dachte.

Woran ich mich überhaupt nicht mehr erinnern konnte:
- Dass im Grunde genommen die Katastrophe, die die Handlung signifikant vorantreibt, durch Sexismus verursacht wurde. 

Nachdem Mina die Drecksarbeit als Sekretärin für die ganze Crew macht, beschließen die Männer, sie von der ganzen Action auszuschließen und lassen sie die ganze Zeit allein. In der Folge kann Dracula sie ähnlich aufsuchen, wie er Lucy mehrfach aufgesucht hat und es kommt zur "Blutstaufe" Minas, infolge derer sie Dracula aufhalten müssen, ehe Mina zu einer Vampirin wird.

Dass das so thematisiert und auch kritisiert wurde, fand ich dann schon erstaunlich für ein viktorianisches Buch.
- Wie lange Lucys Verwandlung gedauert hat. 

Ich erinnerte mich noch an die Episode dessen, dass jewesen aus Naivität den Knoblauch bzw. die Knoblauchblüten aus Lucys Zimmer entfernt hat und sie darum erneut/weiterhin ausgesaugt werden konnte. Aber ich erinnerte mich nicht daran, wie viele Transfusionen sie bekommen hat oder daran, dass im Laufe der Handlung ihre Mutter stirbt und dies unmittelbar mit Draculas Eindringen zu tun hat.

- Wie lange im Allgemeinen die ganze Lucy-Handlung gedauert hat.
- Wie unfassbar viele Ismen das Buch enthält. Mal eben dahingeworfene rassistische Vorstellungen, das Propagieren von Eugenik durch Van Helsing. Wann immer Mina gelobt wird, passiert dies in Form von "not like other girls" - seltsamen Vergleichnissen von einem männlichen Gehirn in einem weiblichen Körper (Transfeindlichkeit, anyone?) Und Gadje-Rassismus. Wenn ich nun außerdem an einen Artikel in der Jüdischen Allgemeinen über den Roman denke und mich an die Stelle erinnere, an der Dracula mit einem Beutel voller Gold durch die Gegend springt... Autsch.

Ich will nicht sagen, dass ich überhaupt keinen Spaß hatte. Das Konzept eines Romans ausschließlich aus zusammengetragenen Medien (Zeitungsartikel, Tagebücher, Briefe, Telegramme) finde ich immer noch charmant und es wäre was, das ich selbst mal ausprobieren könnte.
Die diversen englischen Dialekte, wenn auch teilweise mühsam zu lesen, fand ich interessant eingebunden und es ist ein sehr ... globalsiiertes Buch? Eine wichtige Nebenfigur ist ein Amerikaner, Van Helsing kommt extra aus Amsterdam und Sewart ist sein Schüler. Jonathan macht eine Dienstreise nach Transsilvanien, was aus England heraus zumindest gefühlt eine halbe Weltreise ist. Aber ähnlich wie in anderen Romanen aus dieser Epoche hirschen die Figuren durch die halbe Welt und das ist gefühlt sogar normaler als es für uns wäre.

Und auch sonst ist es historisch interessant, ein so altes Buch über ein so zeitlos gewordenes Thema wie "Vampirismus" zu lesen.
Aber meine Güte, ist das schlecht gealtert ^^

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

Minor: Rape and Antisemitism

spookfish's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

While reading along with the dates had some downsides (pacing, forgetting some of the story from earlier), I really think it helped to build up the atmosphere and anticipation for me. From May~November I've had little passages to read, and each day that I had in my calendar was an absolute joy.
Despite its sexism by today's standards, our main two, Mina and Jonathan, are decidedly queer characters. Mina in particular fascinates me.
Time to watch many video essays haha.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and War

tifftastic87's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.0

Obviously a classic, but very hard to get through. The writing in journal style is intriguing and adds to the mystery. Its very much a product of it's time and that made it hard to get immersed. 

The characters however, have much more depth than I expected and it has made me question the later interpretation of some characters. If you are a horror fan and haven't read this one, I recommend putting it on your list just to understand some of the beginnings of our supernatural tales. 

I do want to add that for the times Mina seems to be a particularly strong female character. The way she is described by the men is annoying "fair but having the brain of a man" but I understand that for the time that was likely a huge praise. It is her and Van Helsing that put it all together, find all the pieces and track down Dracula. Without her the men would have been lost and that is proved in a major plot point when they try to lock her away for her safety. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Alcohol, and Colonisation

orchidlilly's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

3.0

Dracula's horror has a kind of slow burn that makes it very hard to capture in movie form. This also makes it, for those of us who are used to more thriller-like horror, or for those who are already aware of vampires as a concept, a bit of a slow read. There are times when the book drags on, most notably the newspaper sections and legal proceedings. It is rife with that classic British brand of racism, which while expected, is no more pleasant than it would be now. It also has a good bit of that 19th century sexism which is annoying, if only because of how repetitive it becomes, and how much of a hindrance to the plot it is.
All in all, an interesting read, but a good bit of the charm and suspense is lost to the changing principals of time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Colonisation

appurusakura's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? No

2.0

2.75☆

A  interesting story but not at all what I expected to be entirely honest.

The concept of experiencing everything through journal and diary entries and letters was quite interesting but the story itself was pretty underwhelming for me personally. It was interesting but nothing special. It's not a bad book per se but also not a good one. In my opinion at least.

The period typical racial slurs, racism, ableist slurs concerning mental health, misogyny, sexism, classism and overly religious tones were expected but made me uncomfortable which is mainly the reason for the low rating since the book itself was interesting enough (still quite underwhelming in my opinion though).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

aardwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

It's. The one with Dracula. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

bookgurl488's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, and Bullying

Minor: Grief, Colonisation, and Classism