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animalculum's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Sexual content, Murder, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Racism and Racial slurs
Minor: War
starlightxs's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
agravereader's review
4.0
I really hope someone translates/publishes the rest of Zárate's work, because I really enjoyed this. A little slow getting into it but by parts 2 and 3, I was hooked. The haunting imagery in Part 3 especially will never leave my mind, I don't think. Zárate's prose is so poetic and touches all the senses, which i really enjoyed. I would have liked more interactions between the captain and Dracula, but overall, really liked this!
I also thoroughly enjoyed Poppy Z Brite's essay in the afterword.
I also thoroughly enjoyed Poppy Z Brite's essay in the afterword.
starslang's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
pinxsol's review
5.0
I kind of managed to forget that Dracula lived in Romania, a slavic country, silly me. So, this book. coughs into fist This book. Is a gift to slavic queers. It really is. Jokes aside, though, it is for the people who live in a world where being queer is a crime. The author of this novella obviously was well acquainted with that one (as do many queer people), and it's really resonant throughout the novella.
The story follows a captain of the ship who was to deliver Dracula to Britain. The first two chapters of the story deserve their own standing applause. It's just longing of a gay captain. And it's amazing. It's sexual, intimate, shameless in a way you can't allow yourself to be (to think, sometimes) when you're queer.
I also see it as a social commentary. Not only of the slavic society but the author's own. The reading experience felt deeply personal to me. It touched something in me that I didn't even know had been neglected.
The story follows a captain of the ship who was to deliver Dracula to Britain. The first two chapters of the story deserve their own standing applause. It's just longing of a gay captain. And it's amazing. It's sexual, intimate, shameless in a way you can't allow yourself to be (to think, sometimes) when you're queer.
I also see it as a social commentary. Not only of the slavic society but the author's own. The reading experience felt deeply personal to me. It touched something in me that I didn't even know had been neglected.
laelyn's review
4.0
This is probably one of the most fascinating books I have read all year. I'm having so much trouble with this review because the experience of reading it is so hard to describe - this novella is less of a story, more of a feeling. Not that there isn't a story here, there is. It tells of Dracula's voyage to England on the Demeter from the perspective of the nameless captain. It's short, it's gothic, it's full of fear and death.
But more than that it is a book full of longing. Longing to love and be loved, to want and be wanted, to accept oneself and be accepted by the world for who one is. The captain is gay and has only ever experienced hatred as reaction to homosexuality, which is why he hides it from everyone including his crew. The first half of the novella especially focuses on his sexual desires that he knows would get him killed if people knew. It's such strong, intoxicating and poetic writing that you cannot but feel with him, for him.
The prologue already talks about the connection between vampirism and homosexuality in literature, and the novella plays with this in a very intense way. Vampirism is often used as an allegory for homosexuality, with both vampires and gays being considered monsters by society, both of them ruled by a forbidden, monstrous thirst and desire that bring only sin and death. The captain's journey from this belief instilled by the society he lives in and the experiences he went through to the realization that actually, there is no comparison to be made between the two, he is no monster, there is nothing inherently wrong with being gay is fascinating and hits hard. His choices at the end that tie in directly to what we know of the voyage from Stoker's Dracula is chilling, the imagery both horrific and strangely sensual.
This novella won't be for everyone - it's a strange little thing, very graphic when it tells of the captain's sexual desires, and it has a tendency to lose itself in its own poetic language which makes it hard to follow at times - but it is a unique reading experience. Knowing its history and its importance makes it even more of a joy to be able to read it in English now. And both the prologue and the epilogue are incredibly informative and interesting and deserve to be read as well.
But more than that it is a book full of longing. Longing to love and be loved, to want and be wanted, to accept oneself and be accepted by the world for who one is. The captain is gay and has only ever experienced hatred as reaction to homosexuality, which is why he hides it from everyone including his crew. The first half of the novella especially focuses on his sexual desires that he knows would get him killed if people knew. It's such strong, intoxicating and poetic writing that you cannot but feel with him, for him.
The prologue already talks about the connection between vampirism and homosexuality in literature, and the novella plays with this in a very intense way. Vampirism is often used as an allegory for homosexuality, with both vampires and gays being considered monsters by society, both of them ruled by a forbidden, monstrous thirst and desire that bring only sin and death. The captain's journey from this belief instilled by the society he lives in and the experiences he went through to the realization that actually, there is no comparison to be made between the two, he is no monster, there is nothing inherently wrong with being gay is fascinating and hits hard. His choices at the end that tie in directly to what we know of the voyage from Stoker's Dracula is chilling, the imagery both horrific and strangely sensual.
This novella won't be for everyone - it's a strange little thing, very graphic when it tells of the captain's sexual desires, and it has a tendency to lose itself in its own poetic language which makes it hard to follow at times - but it is a unique reading experience. Knowing its history and its importance makes it even more of a joy to be able to read it in English now. And both the prologue and the epilogue are incredibly informative and interesting and deserve to be read as well.
amobrien's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
mbod's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
beautyisterror's review
2.75
This is a take on Dracula I’d never seen before: it’s a retelling of the Demeter’s journey as told by the captain’s secret log. Not only we see how the terror develops on the ship as Dracula keeps getting rid of the sailors one by one, but we see how he plays on the captain’s mind and feeds on his dreams and desires. The language used was beautiful and incredibly melodic, definitely erotic (even if, as the tale goes on the horror overtakes the captain’s other feelings and emotions) but I’m a bit unsure on what I think of the actual message it brought forward, as it kind of felt a bit as if the book was saying to deny one’s own “forbidden desires” (the forbidden desires here are being gay). I hope I understood it wrong because I was a bit sleepy when I read it and I’m not sure I grasped everything.