Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

67 reviews

chris_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective slow-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Blood

Minor: Xenophobia, Violence, and Antisemitism

warlockdorian's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• 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

---

Content Warnings

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

decafdirtychai's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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

Dracula is an incredible time capsule of thoughts and opinions of the day. Some of those opinions include homophobia, sexism, anti-semitism, and new sciences of mesmerism and blood transfusions. Anyone interested in the Gothic, or horror, ought to read this source material. Dracula is an amazing villain, his evilness is overwhelming; the innocence and rage of the humans makes sense. The earth is fertile here for literary criticism, especially regarding gender roles and religion. 

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Antisemitism, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Violence, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Dracula forces a woman to drink his blood, in a way very clearly reminiscent of rape. She mourns that she is "unclean," and is terrified. While no one victim blames her, they notably do not tell her that it isn't her fault...

moppyy's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Xenophobia

henrygravesprince's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Ableism, and Death

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Blood, Mental illness, and Medical content

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Confinement

gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

A great reread - this audiobook version had great voice actions that have a lot of life to the novel. It definitely surprised me how much I remember from reading this many years ago. It definitely deserves its classical literature status with how vibrant and unique each character is, how imaginative the world of Transylvania and the castle's unease

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical content, and Violence

Minor: Racial slurs, Sexism, and Xenophobia

1890s era bias present

fogbrainfrog's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Death, Terminal illness, and Xenophobia

lydia_harrisx's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Xenophobia, and Misogyny

Minor: Child death

andmingmingtoo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I had never read dracula prior to doing dracula daily! The first year I tried it, it was difficult to keep up the motivation. Once you get far enough into it, though, it really takes off, and the pauses and pacing accentuate the experience by drawing out some of the tension, as well as really highlighting when the book gets action-packed.
All in all, this book has changed who I am as a person and how I will consume all subsequent vampire media. I fully recommend to anyone who wants to check it out, but I also acknowledge that this is not everyone's cup of tea. While some characters were really easy to understand

like Mina

, others

Van Helsing

can get difficult if you struggle with older english. There's also a really vibrant online community, as well as several related works and interpretations (like the re:Dracula podcast).
I'm already looking forward to rereading (and crying my eyes out again) next year!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Racial slurs, Racism, Stalking, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Medical content, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Grief, Blood, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Misogyny, Animal death, and Torture

Minor: Child death and Alcohol

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

• 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

Genuinely enjoyed this MUCH more than I expected. I would kill and die for Mina Harker.
Reading it via Dracula Daily really builds an attachment to the characters, 10/10 recommend.

---

Content Warnings

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