Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

18 reviews

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

2.5

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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I wish this book and the information around it weren’t so well known, I think experiencing this as the slow burn mysterious horror from the beginning and uncover it alongside the characters.

I think the characters were solid overall. I think Mina, Lucy, and Jonathan were the best followed by Arthur and Quincy, then Van Helsing, with Sewerd at the rear. Honestly, I think Mina and Lucy were the book’s most interesting characters, but were often hindered by the book’s rampant misogyny. While I expected it, considering the time,  it always floored me when Mina had proved she could handle the situation and they said she was too delicate. It was really frustrating, even if expected, because it led to the boys making stupid and illogical choices about how to handle Dracula. Especially with Van Helsing who seemed to be the only one that understood what they were up against.

I also think this was incredibly well written. Scenes were properly haunting, especially the scene about the final attack against Lucy from Dracula. It was chilling to read her recounting it, and then the following scenes where they try their best to keep her alive. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy the text was to follow considering its age. I also thought the narrators for this audiobook were REALLY strong, my only complaint being how hard the voice for Van Helsing was to understand.

Really my biggest issue is that this book is anti-immigration and REALLY xenophobic. Dracula is meant to represent eastern European immigrants coming to England and preying on the elderly, children, and the pure and good English women. I would even argue that his feeding on Lucy and Mina (and having Mina drink his blood) is meant to parallel SA. That’s not even getting into the fact that he’s helped in his evil plans by Romani and Jews that seem to fully support him. I’m not denying that this part of the book is a product of its time, but I also don’t think that puts it and it’s ideas about critique.

Overall I fully understand why this is a classic and is so influential. I’m, however, glad most modern vampire stories seemed to have dropped the anti-immigrant themes of Dracula and leaned more into themes around class or the harm of vilification of othered groups. I will say though, Dracula adaptations are missing out on making it found footage horror, I’d give all my money to see that be made.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Blood

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism

Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit

mxine_'s review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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this is why you dont use airbnb

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking

Minor: Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Grief, War, Classism

eva_vva's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective 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, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War

akgeekgirl's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Re: Dracula is such an incredible adaption! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Violence, Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol

rochelleisreading's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma

riverofhorton's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The world-building was incredible, and all but one of the main group were fully fleshed out characters. The only things that let it down were poo Quincey, the language of Van Helsing being a slog to get through, and the repetition of a lot of the bits of lore. Four times we're told that Dracula can't cross running water, three times that killing Dracula will stop the transformation of any vampires that are somewhere between human and vampire, three times we're told that communion wafers act as a talisman against the vampires, plus a few others that I could mention. I wonder how long this book would be without these instances of repetition. I particularly enjoyed reading the letters between Mina and Lucy, and their respective journal entries about the other: Mina is definitely gay for Lucy, and I can see no other explanation for the way she talks of and to Lucy. I would like to have seen some more expression of that love, but I get that wasn't really possible when this was published, sadly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

anni_o's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

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I listened to this as an audioplay and I gotta say, it greatly elevated the experience! Very interesting where the whole vampire lore comes from in modern media,

I found it especially interesting that when you kill the vampire that sired someone the ones he sired that had not fully turned are cured of the "curse". Also personal highlight is van Hellsing taking the doors out of their hinges in the castle so they can't slam shut behind him fhsksj.

Also I found interesting that literally no adaptation has gotten the plot of this book even remotely right XD also none seem to really get Jonathan? V interesting. Anyway I enjoyed it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Medical trauma, Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Blood

mattiedancer's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Writing: 4⭐️/5 

While Stoker is a fantastic writer (the book is a classic for a reason), so much attention was given to the smallest details that the book dragged in portions where it didn’t need to. I thoroughly believe this is a situation in which the prominent style has changed so much over the years that it’s hard to appreciate the detail without feeling it’s too much and unnecessary. That being said when the writing hit, it hit strong and fast, making it an overall well-written read. 

Characters: 4.5⭐️/5

I did enjoy the development of the characters. While the women, though interesting, were reduced in many ways to trope-like behaviours, the characters did feel alive and vibrant during the tale. In many moments, I appreciated the attention to detail for each character, as well as the uniqueness provided by their own voice, which always came through in the writing.

Plot: 4⭐️/5 

**SPOILERS HERE**

It’s the tale of Dracula – the original vampire. And yet, during the climax of the story, I felt disappointed in how little attention was given to his death. I felt the story dragged so much in sections that the plot suffered, the events pulled too far apart to keep enough tension present – or as much tension as I wanted. That being said, the story was still entertaining and intriguing, just long-winded and slow-paced.

Who Should Read This Book? 

• Fans of classic fiction and gothic literature
• Those looking to appreciate a slow read

Content Warnings? 

• Misogyny, sexism, classism, death of a parent, death, illness, toxic relationships, blood, gore, death of a child, murder

Post-Reading Rating:  3⭐️/5

I felt let down by the ending, personally, even if it did wrap things up relatively nicely.

Final Rating: 3.75⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

bumblebeth25's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 33%

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis