Reviews with content warning for Racism - Dracula

It has a really interesting idea - it is the original vampire book - but it is so boring. The story starts of strong with Johnathan and Dracula, but then just fizzles out. It’s quite disappointing. Also, you can really tell the time it was written in.

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mikarala's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

The opening chapters told from the POV of Jonathan Harker via his journal as he becomes a guest at Dracula's castle would make an excellent short story. After that section, I thought this was going to be a 4.5-5 star book.

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.

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armand's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

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sophtanda's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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plantdonut's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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goldfishtangerine's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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orchidlilly's review against another edition

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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.

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jiyajiyajiya's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.5

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