Reviews tagging Sexism

Dracula, by Bram Stoker

83 reviews

forgetfulreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.5

It's considered a classic for a reason. The pace is slow in the beginning but once it gets going the story is everything you'd want in a book. The story is told through a collection of journal entries from different characters pov. I usually find stories like this confusing to read but this time it had me feeling more involved. It's like I was helping the characters piece the puzzle together to figure out what the hell the count was. I really enjoyed it and Bram Stroker created the blueprint for every other vampire story we have now. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Xenophobia, Grief, and Body horror

Minor: Sexism

szel_zsofi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Animal death

Moderate: Sexism, Animal cruelty, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Misogyny

fjordpingvin's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Classism, Injury/injury detail, Sexism, Mental illness, Animal death, Blood, Animal cruelty, and Xenophobia

Minor: Antisemitism, Gore, Suicide, Grief, Murder, and Terminal illness

lunam0uth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, Murder, Injury/injury detail, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Mental illness, and Racial slurs

Minor: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Animal death, Body horror, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Stalking, and Sexism

goldfishtangerine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Racism, Xenophobia, and Sexism

emmaward55's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

average person eats 3 flies a year" factoid actualy just statistical error. average person eats 0 flies per year. Flies Renfield, who lives in an asylum & eats over 10,000 each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

Okay now that that's out of my system, I have to confess, I read this book is a rather unorthodox fashion, as part of the Dracula Daily emails, whereby the letters in the book are emailed out to readers on the corresponding dates. It's a fun idea for an epistolary novel and I found that it suited the format well. However, did I manage to keep up with those emails? Heck no! In fact, I only managed to finish it now, a month after the book has ended, because I started copying the emails into a text-to-speech bot and listening to months at a time. 

The above being said, I really enjoyed my first experience with Dracula! I especially loved the characters of Mina and Van Helsing, and Jonathan "wifeguy" Harker gets a mention too. Although the book some times suffered for it's period typical Christianity and sexism, it was refreshing how Stoker broke free of that at times and allowed Mina to be more than just the wife in jeopardy. Like every man in this book, I too would give my life for Mina Harker at the drop of a hat.

In term of the ending, it did feel somewhat anti-climatic. I understand that an outright fight between Dracula and the party would have ended in Dracula's survival, but I was expecting more than just a quick brawl with a group of unnamed (and unimportant) men and them stabbing the Count as he slept.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gore, Mental illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Confinement, Racial slurs, Murder, and Sexism

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

Minor: Alcohol and Cursing

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cannibalism, Gore, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Injury/injury detail, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Classism, Gun violence, Murder, Stalking, Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Animal death, Death of parent, Grief, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Child death, Gaslighting, and Panic attacks/disorders

startjpw23's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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

4.0

Enjoyable read. Book is largely slow paced. Pace does pick up toward the end.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Violence, Sexism, Blood, and Injury/injury detail

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Animal death, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism and Misogyny

Minor: Racial slurs

mengzhenreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

2.5

I read this book via DraculaDaily, a mailing service that emails every entry of the book on the day that that entry was written, so that you read about the story as if it's unfolding in real time. Honestly this took a really long time and because the book itself is so slow paced and heavy, it was definitely a slog to get through at times. I think it would be nice to maybe reread it sometime in it's actual proper format over a shorter period but overall this was okay. It was definitely a bit too slow paced for me, plus I felt no connection to any of the characters, and the parts of the book where the plot really unfolded were all too short for me. That said, I get why it was such an influential book and I appreciate it as a piece of literature.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism and Animal death