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reiven's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Gore
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
avie_j's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Confinement, Gore, Violence, Death, and Body horror
Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Sexual assault
Minor: Child death, Child abuse, and Suicidal thoughts
ashsparrow's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Animal cruelty, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent
peggy_racham's review against another edition
3.0
Moderate: Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, and Racial slurs
icarus_has_risen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Antisemitism, Death, Xenophobia, Blood, Gore, and Racism
elizabeth_henry's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, and Mental illness
mikarala's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Unfortunately, that was by far the most gripping point of the novel.
From that point on, the story went downhill. The middle was terribly long and dull, and the climax wasn't much better. Nominally, there were horrifying events happening that increased the tension in the story, however, I just didn't care or find it interesting. Count Dracula as a character was, frankly, disappointing. For all of the mysterious and disturbing sense of menace he brought in the early chapters, he didn't really have much presence in the rest of the novel--certainly he wasn't accompanied by that same feeling of doom. I really didn't care for any of the rest of our cast of vampire hunters. It seems like it should be exciting, but it just really wasn't.
What I did find a bit interesting was viewing this novel as a great time capsule, with Stoker's obsessive inclusion of various new technological inventions and newfangled societal trends. Unfortunately, this has downsides. Dracula is an epistolary novel, and while I liked the idea of Dr. Seward using his phonograph to record his diary, and enjoyed the inclusion of certain important events being alluded to in newpaper article format, for the most part I found this style kind of cumbersome. Frankly there were moments where it became awkward and broke my suspension of disbelief (ahem when Mina literally "stutters" in her writing lmao).
Also there was just a lot of benevolent sexism and casual racism. One of Mina's jobs is literally to be cheerful so the menfolk can rally around her as a source to motivation. Not even an exaggeration; that's actually from the text. And the casual racism is toward the "gipsies", who uncritically serve Dracula due to superstition or something? I don't know, because it's not interrogated at all, but presumably they just don't know any better because they aren't proper white Anglo-Saxons, right, Stoker? It's honestly not even a huge part of the text, but it did really bother me.
Ultimately, while it's fascinating to read a classic that codified so many vampire-related tropes that continue into the modern day, I don't think the novel itself is that impressive.
Moderate: Gore and Sexism
Minor: Racism
damiscous's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
However, it is important to be mindful that the work was originally published in 1897. That being said , this work does contain "weak" women, some misogynistic ideals, and ideas of the time. The characters are, for the most part, enjoyable, and there's a splash of romance that does, of course, read in the devotedly sexist fashion of the 1800s, but, hey, they do give a woman a gun, so that's nice. The book is long and can be wordy, as most older books can be, but overall, a wonderful, chilling, classic work.
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Racial slurs and Suicidal thoughts
mdugas's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Gore, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Child death and Violence
Minor: Alcohol
armand's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia