Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

53 reviews

earth_to_dani's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

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

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)

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.

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

kira_elfling's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Xenophobia

riverofhorton's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The world-building was incredible, and all but one of the main group were fully fleshed out characters. The only things that let it down were poo Quincey, the language of Van Helsing being a slog to get through, and the repetition of a lot of the bits of lore. Four times we're told that Dracula can't cross running water, three times that killing Dracula will stop the transformation of any vampires that are somewhere between human and vampire, three times we're told that communion wafers act as a talisman against the vampires, plus a few others that I could mention. I wonder how long this book would be without these instances of repetition. I particularly enjoyed reading the letters between Mina and Lucy, and their respective journal entries about the other: Mina is definitely gay for Lucy, and I can see no other explanation for the way she talks of and to Lucy. I would like to have seen some more expression of that love, but I get that wasn't really possible when this was published, sadly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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