om_mata's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
chalkletters's review against another edition
adventurous
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
After last year’s successful Dad-goes-walking & I-go-singing holiday, this year we’re trying a Dad-goes-walking & I-go-reading weekend. I’m booked to discuss three books: Dracula, Shadowplay and The Deathless Girls as well as walk around Whitby, where much of Dracula is set. At this point, I have really no idea what the holiday itself will be like, but I’d read Draculabefore, so I decided to refresh my memory. I was hoping to read the ‘Dracula Daily’ edition, but it doesn’t come out until November.
Dracula is very much a novel of its time: the attitudes towards women and religion and people from countries other than Britain are entirely 19th-century, as are the long speeches. Some of Bram Stoker’s long passages of description work really well as scene setting for a horror novel, but others are a little tedious if you’re reading purely for enjoyment and with 21st-century eyes.
That said, it’s not completely possible to read Dracula purely as a horror novel; there are too many things that don’t really make any sense. Why are all Dracula’s victims women, when he does away with plenty of men and has Jonathan Harker at his mercy? What, exactly, does Dracula want in coming to London? Not to mention, there are some pretty huge coincidences which stretch credulity if you’re not looking at Dracula as a metaphor for something.
The essays in the Norton Critical Edition did a good job exploring the many, many different fin-de-siècle fears that Dracula could be read to represent. These are somewhat long and dry if you’re not actually studying Dracula, but still worthwhile in the long-run. (That said, the ones relating to the various cinematic and theatrical adaptations of Dracula aren’t particularly necessary as background information on the novel.)
Bram Stoker’s characters fall into two camps: vampires (and Renfield) vs non-vampires. As there’s plenty of conflict between the two groups, it doesn’t really feel as though conflict between the non-vampires is missing, but it is a little unlikely that fully fleshed-out people would agree quite so completely about everything. Nonetheless, the characters are distinct with very little chance of muddling them up with one another, which is definitely an achievement.
Overall, it was fun to read a horror novel which really felt like a horror novel, and the Norton Critical Edition has hopefully prepared me for interesting discussions on my holiday!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Mental illness and Gun violence
Minor: Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, and Child death
jordibontje's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Antisemitism, Misogyny, and Sexism
martin27's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Antisemitism, Violence, Animal death, and Xenophobia
Minor: Child death
chloenrogers's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
3.0
Really strong start, very evocative storytelling and obviously a staple of the gothic genre. However, the story becomes lost within the attention to too much unnecessary detail and it is important to acknowledge the antisemitism within the characterisation of Dracula.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, and Blood
Minor: Antisemitism
icarus_has_risen's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
It has a really interesting idea - it is the original vampire book - but it is so boring. The story starts of strong with Johnathan and Dracula, but then just fizzles out. It’s quite disappointing. Also, you can really tell the time it was written in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Antisemitism, Death, Xenophobia, Blood, Gore, and Racism
beereads27's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-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? It's complicated
4.75
A masterpiece of gothic horror
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Misogyny and Antisemitism
elizabethpfeiffer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
Content Warnings
Minor: Antisemitism
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
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.
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: Racial slurs, Racism, Misogyny, Sexism, and Classism
Moderate: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Murder, Blood, Stalking, Violence, Ableism, Cannibalism, Death, and Grief
Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, Drug use, Misogyny, Colonisation, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, and Child death