nathanjhunt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
I picked it up in Chiang Mai, Thailand and read it in Vietnam and Indonesia. I left it at my hotel in Kuta.
Uhh.. where to begin?
The first 50 pages of this book were phenomenal. There was such an amazing dark atmosphere, with tension and dreamy words. I wish so badly that the rest of the book was like the first 50 pages. If that was a short story, it would have been incredible. I would have rated this a 4.5, so that is ultimately why I didn't rate the whole book lower than I have.
The rest of the book is filled with such slow boring drivel, I had to try very hard to pay attention. It had some great, creepy ideas, but the narrative was just so dry and full of characters I didn't really care about. The exciting well-written action moments were so few and far between, I found myself far too bored to care about them in the last third of the book. I honestly ended up skimming over the last third. Just so slow and dull.
So, criticisms...
I hated the framing in the book, switching between people, newspapers and diary/journal entries etc. It meant we got repeated explanations of events and descriptions of people. It just added to the slowness and monotony of the book.
"God" and religion is laid on so thick in the last third of the book. My brain absolutely shut down every time Van Helsing spoke - constantly repeating such boring monologues. Along those lines, there is so much unnecessary sexism throughout the book! There are also hints of antisemitism, and late-Victorian psuedo sciences.
Next, the worst offender was the way that all the men are frothing at the mouth over the two women characters. Constant "poor dear Madam Mina", pet names, kissing their hands and pining over the "beauty" of dead vampires. And the women are always talking of "how amazing and brave the men are to look after me, and tell me when to go to sleep". This book was written by a man using one hand! Gross.
A major annoyance of mine, is that for a book called "Dracula", there's a disappointing lack of Dracula within. It's far, far too long a book.
So what actually happens in the book? Not a lot.
A man goes to Transylvania to meet Dracula, and gets trapped in the castle. His fiancée rescues him. Dracula comes to England and bites a woman. The woman turns into a vampire, and a group of men kill her.
Dracula bites another woman and escapes back to Transylvania when confronted. The group follows him, and kills him.
It sounds somewhat exciting, but it really isn't. I wouldn't recommend this book, I really had to force myself to get through it, especially the last third.
Graphic: Ableism, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Blood
Minor: Antisemitism
phantompansy's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Antisemitism, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, and Racism
warlockdorian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Murder, Antisemitism, Medical content, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racism, Misogyny, Stalking, Xenophobia, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, and Racial slurs
mellifer's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I don’t love it so much for the horror, although there is plenty of that. Dracula is a really great monster and there are plenty of spine chilling moments. But I think the reason I love it so much is the good characters, and the relationships between those characters. Without giving too much away, these characters and their bonds to each other bring light and hope to what could otherwise have been a very dark and depressing read.
I finished this via the podcast “Re: Dracula”, an unabridged, full cast audio version of the book, with some parts slightly rearranged to be in chronological order. I highly recommend this. The voice acting is perfect, the soundscaping is excellent, and overall it really breathes life into this book. I will most definitely be re-reading and re-listening.
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Death, Grief, Ableism, and Confinement
Minor: Death of parent
decafdirtychai's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I highly recommend Bloody FM's audio presentation, "Re: Dracula," which brings the story to life with voice actors, sound effects, content warnings, additional context provided, and a chronological timeline. I cried listening to things I had read before ("Oh, John, it was butcher work").
CONTENT WARNING that there is a graphic description of a terrifying and horrible assault about mid-way through the book. I don't often see this content warning given, and it came as a shock to me.
There is also SO MUCH medical malpractice that was standard at the time. The asylum is especially harrowing, but it is manageable.
Don't let the slow pace of the beginning of this book hold you back. The suspense builds and bursts in a wonderful bubble, it's so worth it, I promise.
Graphic: Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Antisemitism, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Violence, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.5
Dracula is a book which has been around for over a century, and it's a story that has known problems of racism and antisemitism baked into its premise and its execution. What I primarily want to rate here is my experience of reading the book through Dracula Daily, where everything is emailed in order based on the date of the piece of writing, rather than being in the order Bram Stoker envisioned. I, as a person, got kind of stressed out by knowing that this book was going to take months to read. On the other hand, since I don't have a strong sense of the passage of time, it was very cool to get more of a idea of how long the characters were waiting for news or how very long all of this travel took. When the characters were waiting for word or would put in their diaries that they were still waiting on a letter or didn't have information they needed, that resonated more because I also had been waiting. Or, occasionally, I was able to read a letter that was written but had not yet reached the intended recipient.
Overall, I enjoyed it as an experience, but if you looking for a vampire story to read there are ones with fewer old-timey bigotries. The emails definitely are an easy way to get the epistolary feel, if that's what you want.
Graphic: Grief, Death, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Medical content, and Animal death
Minor: Child death, Suicide, Sexual content, and Pregnancy
julesadventurezone's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Reading it via Dracula Daily really builds an attachment to the characters, 10/10 recommend.
Graphic: Racism, Murder, Violence, Death, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Mental illness, Ableism, Misogyny, Confinement, Child death, and Child abuse
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and War
june_t_michael's review
- 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
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.
- Wie lange Lucys Verwandlung gedauert 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 ^^
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Medical content, and Misogyny
Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism
Minor: Antisemitism and Rape
moongoblin38's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
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.
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Confinement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, and Death
Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death of parent, Gore, Child death, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, War, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racial slurs
emmagreenwood's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Animal death, Child death, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Stalking, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence