Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

71 reviews

toffishay's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I liked Dracula, but I wanted to like it more. I liked the style of writing, telling the story through letters, memos, notes, and updates from all of our characters. There were times where this slowed the story down when characters were recapping the same events and, at times, not adding additional context or a new perspective. And at times, each update was so minimal that it could feel unnecessary. I loved how central Mina is to the story, she is sidelined at times, but she is present at least for all of the action and the other, largely male, characters make several points to acknowledge her smarts and critical contributions to the whole endeavor. I do think that it could have been shorter. The end drags a lot too and the ending fight was very disappointing. <SPOILER> It ended up being primarily a fight between humans and not enough of Dracula, which particularly sucks because it the books starts so strong with showing how scary and cunning Dracula is. Only to end the book with him being killed in his box in transit without even hearing from him again, let alone fighting our heroes. <END SPOILER>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Murder, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Racism, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Racial slurs, and Blood

meganpbennett's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• 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

4.0

I read Dracula many many years ago, and thought it was interesting. Didn't give it much thought except for a few school assignments, or considering a reread along with some other classics. Then, in 2022, people started sharing a link to a substack, where someone was emailing the novel to readers, in real time. I signed up. 

All of the characters keep a journal of some form, and it's all dated. In the standard printing of the novel, all of Johnathon's several months at Castle Dracula would have been first, then followed up by Mina and Lucy's correspondence. In this case, it's in real time, so you only see what happens on any given day. There are long gaps between Harker's entries, as he starts to realize what is really going on and how he is trapped in the castle. Lucy's death scene, a chapter or so in the book, is stretched over the almost a month Dracula fed on her until she became a vampire, making it all the more emotional when they have kill her. Or when the group heads to Castle Dracula, and it takes the same number of days for us as it did for them. Very interesting way of reading a novel, and one that several other people are putting together. 

Edit: 2023-11-07: After forgetting to unsubscribe from Dracula Daily before the novel reset, I decided to reread it. Still a fascinating way to read a novel, in chronological order. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Medical trauma, Rape, Stalking, Body horror, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Grief, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

ellanarose's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Death, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Classism, and Racism

prettiestwhistles's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Violence, Blood, Death, and Misogyny

Moderate: Medical content, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Animal death, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Classism

Minor: Alcohol, Gun violence, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness

aardwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

It's. The one with Dracula. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Medical content, Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Child death, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, and Terminal illness

samsonian's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

i love this book so much its so gay

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Blood

Moderate: Racism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Sexism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child death, Animal death, and Xenophobia

emmalouisereads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

This book is written as a series of letters and diary entries, which I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy. However it was a lot of fun! 

There’s a lot of different abilities that Dracula has compared to what I thought. The book is also much slower paced than I expected.

Negatives: There’s a few old fashioned views and expressions about those with mental health difficulties, women in general and foreign people. Also, occasionally there is a long-winded speech I don’t think is entirely necessary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal cruelty, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Ableism and Mental illness

Minor: Racism and Misogyny

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Stalking, Terminal illness, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Grief, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Sexism, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Racism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child death, Grief, Gun violence, Racial slurs, and Classism

Minor: Drug use

roaze's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? N/A

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Medical content, Gore, Grief, Animal death, Death, Murder, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Classism, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, and Xenophobia