Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

112 reviews

mme_carton's review against another edition

3.5

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cannibalism, Gaslighting

Minor: Gun violence

thebookgoober's review against another edition

5.0

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

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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??? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexism, Xenophobia, Stalking

Minor: Death of parent, War

emmsiej95's review against another edition

5.0

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Sexism, Xenophobia, Grief

The depiction of the Count as a strange foreigner who seeks to come to England and disrupt their way of life is xenophobic, but it's also very period accurate.

tokenkobold's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Renfield is my ride and die
Beginning was best, middle was slow burn, ending dragged on way too long

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Cannibalism

weisse_masse's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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A horror classic. The scary parts were truly chilling. Though, I wasn't so satisfied with the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness, Misogyny, Xenophobia

librarianmage's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism

_candela's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Blood

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Antisemitism

_ciaranmoss's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous dark hopeful 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: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Sexism, Stalking, Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault, Xenophobia

mars2k's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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If Dracula had ended after chapter four, I might have given it a full five stars. The first fifty-odd pages are undoubtedly the best part of the book. Jonathan Harker is trapped in Dracula’s castle, and slowly realising that he is trapped. The atmosphere is tense and eerie. Both Harker and Dracula are interesting and well-developed characters, and the interactions between them are great.

I want to talk for a moment about Count Dracula specifically. In the first four chapters he is depicted as (seemingly) kind, hospitable, careful, and emotionally intelligent, but there’s something sinister about him too. There’s also quite a bit of queer subtext. Dracula is a complicated and sympathetic character at this point, but later his characterisation changes drastically and he ends up being reduced to a cartoonish villain with very little depth. He also becomes a much less prominent part of the narrative – he’s not entirely absent, but he takes on more of a peripheral role. I wish we’d seen more of him. (Interestingly, this is the exact reverse of my view regarding Frankenstein’s monster)

Of course, I must address the elephant in the room – the bigotry. Dracula is a character crafted from several antisemitic tropes. His hooked nose is emphasised many times, and there are parallels between his vampirism (specifically his preying on children) and blood libel. Something else that stands out when viewing the character through this lens is the way he is presented as both an immensely powerful mastermind and a weakling with a “child-brain” – proto-fascist rhetoric, perhaps? The book as a whole is riddled with xenophobia, racism, ableism, and sexism. In many ways it’s a product of its time. Its age doesn’t excuse these problematic elements, but it does offer some context at least.

I was led to believe that Dracula is slow-paced but for a gothic horror story it’s actually very quick. It’s relatively well-written, and the epistolary format is executed well. Excellent build-up to an anticlimactic ending. There’s so much more I could say about the characters and the story (both praise and criticism) but I think I’ll wrap things up here.

Overall I did enjoy Dracula and I’m glad I finally sat down and read it. It’s certainly not without its flaws but I think it’s worth reading if you haven’t already.

“The last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his hand to me, with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that Judas in hell might be proud of.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Alcohol

Minor: Body horror, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Vomit

pola_pocket_'s review against another edition

4.5

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I'm a horror fan and despite the problematic things of the book in continues to be one of my most loved stories. I like to read it yearly, following the dates of the book.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Mental illness, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder