Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

18 reviews

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this is my opinion.

honestly, this book was meh. it's an oldie, so obviously a lot of its tropes that USED to be cool and revolutionary are now overplayed. the language is cool and i like the letter-based storytelling.

but besides that, this book is like weirdly misogynistic and dracula's closeted, like "the closet is glass and i know what you are boy kiss- i mean, boy blood sucker" closeted. like why is he so obsessed, bro coulda just killed jonathan 😭😭 also every woman in this book is written to be weak and lucy is sexualized. 19th century L

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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

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This was a lot different than I'd expected it to be, but I still had fun reading it!

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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

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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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
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

this is no doubt a very good book and a classic for a reason but it also gave me such a deep and bone-chilling panic attack over the inevitability of death and nothingness that i was unable to finish the last chapter and a half for over five months and have been fixated on my fear of death everyday ever since. so thank you bram stoker for that i guess. 

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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: Complicated

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!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I have to admit I have been putting off reading this book because horror is not my favorite genre.  I wasn't at all sure what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised in that I actually enjoyed the book.  It did take a little while to get used to the epistolary format of the story, but once done, the story moved along fairly well.  With the exception of a few "academic" rants, I was engaged in the story all the way to the end. I highly recommend this book.

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Going into this, I did not expect it to be so metaphorical. I truly appreciate how blood is representative of all things surrounding love and lust. It represents whatever the scene needs it to, leading into more intricate things like abuse, innocence, and infidelity. It is a heartbreaking study that many people can relate to in diverse ways.

That being said, THIS SHIT TOOK ME SIX MONTHS TO READ! IT'S BORING AS HELL. FUCK VAN HELSING. ALL HE DOES IS CAUSE PROBLEMS. THE BOOK WOULD BE 200 PAGES SHORTER WITHOUT HIM. SCREW THIS BOOK. I LOVED ALL IT REPRESENTS BUT I HATE IT IN ITSELF. Also, Lucy Westerna, will you marry me?

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous 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: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings