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blewballoon'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
5.0
Moderate: Death, Sexism, Racism, Violence, and Blood
june_t_michael's review against another edition
- 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
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
midnightcomets'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? No
4.25
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Racism, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts
emilywemily6'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
3.75
Graphic: Blood, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexism
Moderate: Racism, Animal death, Stalking, and Grief
Minor: Cursing
tomedling's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Racism
parenthesis_enjoyer'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
5.0
Graphic: Blood and Murder
Moderate: Misogyny, Animal death, Racial slurs, and Sexism
Minor: Xenophobia, Classism, and Racism
the G-word is used in relation to Romani peopleicarus_has_risen's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Mental illness, Antisemitism, Death, Xenophobia, Blood, Gore, and Racism
mikarala's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Unfortunately, that was by far the most gripping point of the novel.
From that point on, the story went downhill. The middle was terribly long and dull, and the climax wasn't much better. Nominally, there were horrifying events happening that increased the tension in the story, however, I just didn't care or find it interesting. Count Dracula as a character was, frankly, disappointing. For all of the mysterious and disturbing sense of menace he brought in the early chapters, he didn't really have much presence in the rest of the novel--certainly he wasn't accompanied by that same feeling of doom. I really didn't care for any of the rest of our cast of vampire hunters. It seems like it should be exciting, but it just really wasn't.
What I did find a bit interesting was viewing this novel as a great time capsule, with Stoker's obsessive inclusion of various new technological inventions and newfangled societal trends. Unfortunately, this has downsides. Dracula is an epistolary novel, and while I liked the idea of Dr. Seward using his phonograph to record his diary, and enjoyed the inclusion of certain important events being alluded to in newpaper article format, for the most part I found this style kind of cumbersome. Frankly there were moments where it became awkward and broke my suspension of disbelief (ahem when Mina literally "stutters" in her writing lmao).
Also there was just a lot of benevolent sexism and casual racism. One of Mina's jobs is literally to be cheerful so the menfolk can rally around her as a source to motivation. Not even an exaggeration; that's actually from the text. And the casual racism is toward the "gipsies", who uncritically serve Dracula due to superstition or something? I don't know, because it's not interrogated at all, but presumably they just don't know any better because they aren't proper white Anglo-Saxons, right, Stoker? It's honestly not even a huge part of the text, but it did really bother me.
Ultimately, while it's fascinating to read a classic that codified so many vampire-related tropes that continue into the modern day, I don't think the novel itself is that impressive.
Moderate: Gore and Sexism
Minor: Racism
armand's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia