Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Dracula

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

75 reviews

gnuoymas's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

this was a slay, literally!

dracula follows jonathan harker's diary entries to translyvania to meet the purchaser of a property in london, count dracula, at his secluded estate. cue a dissent into potential madness from Jonathan as he slowly realizes that something is afoot in this dark and mysterious (and lowkey empty like get some furniture miss dracula) castle.

okay so i LOVED this book for multiple reasons. i loved reading the book that has been considered the beginning of our modern vampire. i can see many of the now stereotypes of a vampire that were so fresh in this book. i loved the writing!! each of the chapters were exerpts from character's diaries, news clippings, and business agreements that painted a fascinating picture of dracula: the man, the myth, the legend. at times, it even felt like a fantastical but realistic murder mystery that used deduction, wit, and intellection to catch dracula red-handed. i liked the characters too!! my favorite was probably van helsing, the eccentric dutch doctor that helps our motley crew to define truth and find answers. i also really liked mina up until she became one-dimensional, god-fearing, and subordinate to the men ://// it's a classic for a reason i guess :////

i think this book is one that can be discussed from multiple angles and perspectives for meaningful insights. as I've been reading Irish authors for my, ahem, IRISH YEAR, i have found an overarching theme of otherness being discussed in different forms. i think an interesting read of this book would be one of dracula as a foreigner rather than a threat. someone who is coming to a new country in hope of a new life, only to be ostracized, exiled, and ultimately murdered for being different. it's giving xenophobia!

Content Warnings

laine37's review against another edition

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dark

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I decided to read Dracula. The unabridged version, I take it. This was a bad idea. Or, perhaps, to get into the spirit of things...

Prose

"Meine Got! O! Woe is me friend reader. To think miene flying spaghetti monster would abandon me so, to think that I would fall from its warm noodly arms, which had oh so caressed me . Oh dear, precious juices gone, a life of meatless darkness awaits me! (Mem. Must remember to give the recipe for spaghetti to Andrew) How can I go on alone, cold, and starving. I must steel myself and hold true to meine squelchy beliefs of old, for though I am gone from its warmth, believe and spirit are the only true things is this cold dark abyss of a world. Upon them I shall hold myself and push ever onward. But! So! Well! So is the human spirit strong Meine Herr. Strong such that it may withstand any terrible blow." I breathed in and squared my shoulders. "We must prevail! And vanquish this darkness!"

And that's not 1% of the speeches one Van Helsing delivers throughout this book. Indeed, at (kindle) location 5407 he gives a 1200 word speech. And indeed many a paragraph waffles past 500 words. Scarce, however, is anything of value said.

The only comfort to be found in the prose is the occasional flair of well crafted poetry, but these are rare and short indeed. Otherwise, the verbosity seems to be dedicated to little more than witless sermons regarding the human spirit, given by a man who is possessed of not one ounce such. This brings us to the next topic

Characters

They're cardboard cutouts, all of them. They do not feel as if real people, they feel like Gothic action figures. Utterly 2 dimensional and awaiting directions of the author. Van Helsing is probably one of the earliest Garu Stus put to press. He knows all, he is eternally wise, significantly strong, he has no intellectual equal, and possesses the biggest, warmest heart. Worse than his perfection, however, is his monologues. Meine Got! Whenever he speaks, it's 2 lines or 50, with little in between.

The rest aren't even worth talking about. Apart from Renfield. He was perfectly adequate, but not much more.

Plot

A garbled mess.

Beyond that, however, there's lots of stupid stuff. Like not giving people crosses to wear (As they seem to be the only thing that can fully repel a vampire. Honestly, I'd prefer to take the approach of locking one around my neck if I were in this world, because of hypnotism). Despite them really needing crosses.

The book also makes clear that the antagonist has some pretty easy win conditions (like burying a coffin or picking them off one by one) but he never bothers and instead runs away.

World Building

Not really relevant. It functions.

Social Stuff

One of the female characters does something smart and this is the response "“Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man’s brain—a brain that a man should have were he much gifted—and woman’s heart. The good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made that so good combination."

And I'm just gonna let that speak for itself.

I get it, this book is 130 years old, but the gender stuff is just annoying to read oh so endlessly. Just about every tenth page the men cry for the hearts of their weak womenfolk. Indeed, Dracula has three ticking clocks and all of them are instances of women being at risk of becoming vampires (Mina counts for 2, imo). At one point they decide to keep secrets from Mina, such as to not discuss anything relating to their mission while she is in hearing range, because her poor little heart can't take hearing about the scary vampire. This is made all the more insufferable by how eagerly the women accept their roles.

Having said that everyone in this book seems to have the heart of a child, since they break down crying at rather slight provocations.

There's also much to be said of the antisemitism via Count Dracula. I myself am quite poorly read of Jewish history and stereotypes and so only recognized the nose as a potential source of such hatred, but having seen only than in him, I dismissed the possibility at first. Apparently, however, the whole undead man himself is inspired such. Which colored the latter half of my reading experience somewhat.

Content Warnings

carmine_b's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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

1.0

It just didn't do it for me. I enjoyed the opening section following Jonathan Harker at the castle, most everything with Mina and/or Lucy in the middle, and most everything with Mina and/or Jonathan near the end, but on a whole the story just dragged. I probably would have enjoyed it more if it'd been shorter.

Content Warnings

mme_carton's review against another edition

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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

3.5

Content Warnings

kelleykamanda's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

I. Love. This. Book.

I grew up loving gothic stories, especially those that included vampires. “Dracula” is truly just one of the best. For a story over a century old, it reads so easily. With lovable characters, an eerie setting, and an engaging plot, what’s there to go wrong???

Content Warnings