Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

47 reviews

orchidlilly's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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

3.0

Dracula's horror has a kind of slow burn that makes it very hard to capture in movie form. This also makes it, for those of us who are used to more thriller-like horror, or for those who are already aware of vampires as a concept, a bit of a slow read. There are times when the book drags on, most notably the newspaper sections and legal proceedings. It is rife with that classic British brand of racism, which while expected, is no more pleasant than it would be now. It also has a good bit of that 19th century sexism which is annoying, if only because of how repetitive it becomes, and how much of a hindrance to the plot it is.
All in all, an interesting read, but a good bit of the charm and suspense is lost to the changing principals of time.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Misogyny, Sexism, and Classism

Moderate: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Murder, Blood, Stalking, Violence, Ableism, Cannibalism, Death, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, Drug use, Misogyny, Colonisation, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, and Child death

toffishay's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

I liked Dracula, but I wanted to like it more. I liked the style of writing, telling the story through letters, memos, notes, and updates from all of our characters. There were times where this slowed the story down when characters were recapping the same events and, at times, not adding additional context or a new perspective. And at times, each update was so minimal that it could feel unnecessary. I loved how central Mina is to the story, she is sidelined at times, but she is present at least for all of the action and the other, largely male, characters make several points to acknowledge her smarts and critical contributions to the whole endeavor. I do think that it could have been shorter. The end drags a lot too and the ending fight was very disappointing. <SPOILER> It ended up being primarily a fight between humans and not enough of Dracula, which particularly sucks because it the books starts so strong with showing how scary and cunning Dracula is. Only to end the book with him being killed in his box in transit without even hearing from him again, let alone fighting our heroes. <END SPOILER>

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Murder, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Racism, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Racial slurs, and Blood

meganpbennett's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

I read Dracula many many years ago, and thought it was interesting. Didn't give it much thought except for a few school assignments, or considering a reread along with some other classics. Then, in 2022, people started sharing a link to a substack, where someone was emailing the novel to readers, in real time. I signed up. 

All of the characters keep a journal of some form, and it's all dated. In the standard printing of the novel, all of Johnathon's several months at Castle Dracula would have been first, then followed up by Mina and Lucy's correspondence. In this case, it's in real time, so you only see what happens on any given day. There are long gaps between Harker's entries, as he starts to realize what is really going on and how he is trapped in the castle. Lucy's death scene, a chapter or so in the book, is stretched over the almost a month Dracula fed on her until she became a vampire, making it all the more emotional when they have kill her. Or when the group heads to Castle Dracula, and it takes the same number of days for us as it did for them. Very interesting way of reading a novel, and one that several other people are putting together. 

Edit: 2023-11-07: After forgetting to unsubscribe from Dracula Daily before the novel reset, I decided to reread it. Still a fascinating way to read a novel, in chronological order. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Medical trauma, Rape, Stalking, Body horror, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Grief, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

melancholymegs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping, Death of parent, Sexism, Stalking, and Misogyny

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

aardwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

3.0

It's. The one with Dracula. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Medical content, Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Child death, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, and Terminal illness

leanne_miron's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Murder, Blood, Death, Gore, and Stalking

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Animal death, Confinement, Ableism, Xenophobia, and Sexism

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Stalking, Terminal illness, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Grief, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

1quillb's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

1.0

First of all, I’m very disappointed that Dracula only showed up on probably 40 pages out of the 400 in my book. But to be fair, on most of those other pages absolutely nothing happened. And second of all, that ending? Did he run out of pages and just word-vomit onto the page to meet the deadline?
So, with full and complete offence meant to Abraham “Bram” Stoker: this book sucked. Horribly.

I’m not entirely sure what happened in it, to be honest. Jonathan goes to Dracula’s castle and gets trapped there. A man called Renfield eats spiders but really wants to eat a cat. Mina sits in a churchyard with her girlfriend Lucy. Lucy gets proposed to three times by men she’d literally spoken to one time… it was just random plot point after random plot point, none of which made sense in any sort of context.
And the entire second-half of the book was devoted to… you guess it, absolutely nothing! They decide that vampires are indeed real (though it takes them some time to come to that conclusion even after they see one), and then they go to Dracula’s castle. Why? I don’t know. Dracula wasn’t even there.
Then, for about the last ten pages of the novel, they have a metaphorical snowball fight and start stabbing random Romanians. Obviously the Romanians lost, because they were exhausted from spending the last dozen hours carrying Dracula’s coffin up the mountainside because the Count was too lazy to walk. But luckily “he” dies!
Who is “he”, you may ask? Apparently, it’s Dracula, because later on the characters rejoice in the fact that they killed the vampire, but Bram literally didn’t even write that it was Dracula who died. Nor did he specify if it was Jonathan or Morris who was stabbed by a Romanian. Only in the epilogue is it made clear (a dead man can’t have children, I don’t think).

Overall, this was terrible. I’ve not read anything else by Stoker, so I don’t know if this hideous novel was just a one-off or if it’s actually how he writes, but it sucked regardless. Highly don’t recommend. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Stalking, Xenophobia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Rape, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, and Self harm

roaze's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Medical content, Gore, Grief, Animal death, Death, Murder, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Classism, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, and Xenophobia

naomi_k's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Animal death, Gore, and Body horror

Moderate: Xenophobia, Misogyny, Medical content, Death of parent, Classism, and Stalking

Minor: Sexual content and Terminal illness