Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

131 reviews

stitchwilliam's review against another edition

mysterious 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

2.5

I feel like the novel shouldn’t really be called Dracula. "Mina" is a more suitable title if it had to be named after a character… 

Story was slow a lot of the time, but it was relatively suspenseful and mysterious for a classic (note: the novel is more mystery than it is horror). Implemented the idea of “not much happening” in order to create that suspense, which worked well when the novel first started, but not too well at the end (I don’t really enjoy reading multiple POV on people just traveling). 

Overall messages were concerning—E.g. xenophobia and stereotyping (this, unfortunately, probably reflected the thinking of some communities at that time…). 

The characters were kind of dry, except for Mina and Renfield. There isn’t a lot of character development overall. 

I also feel like the author also left out necessary details at times. I still don’t understand why some of the characters did certain things? E.g.

Why was Dracula so possessive of Jonathan at the beginning? How did Renfield meet Dracula? Why is Van Helsing so into vampires?

In Short - Outdated messages and plot drags a lot, but interesting to consider the story that popularized the vampire myths. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Xenophobia, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Violence, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Gore, and Misogyny

Minor: Animal death

decepticons's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Emotional abuse, War, Blood, Gore, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Mental illness, Medical content, and Stalking

Minor: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, and Classism

Vampirism used to excuse racism

“My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them?” says enough about the book really

glashtyn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

3.0

As with most books of its time Dracula is exceptionally wordy and quite preachy. Otherwise the story is interesting and challenging. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Mental illness

j_the_human's review against another edition

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Racism

modern_cryptid's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

I only read this for a class. It was so much better than I thought it would be. Good story, great suspense all throughout, but it's definitely a classic. Its long, it quite often drags, also some uncomfortable story elements due to the time period, it's social expectations and views of what it appropriate regarding language. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny and Medical content

Minor: Racial slurs and Xenophobia

ameliethemoomin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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

5.0

good god i love this book

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Murder, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Death, Blood, Xenophobia, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Medical content

Minor: Antisemitism, Animal cruelty, Ableism, Animal death, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

kjm19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Violence, Gore, and Misogyny

sopopia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Sexual harassment, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

hjb_128's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, Violence, Gore, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death

gossamer_lens's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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

5.0

Just absolutely loved this book. I have tried picking it up several times and gotten stuck on the first 10 pages where we get this letter written by a main character that starts with essentially, "everything will be detailed and thoroughly mundane but here we are". Of course, give it a minute and this turns into "oh shit, oh oh shit... what am I to do!" 

There are several POVs that are delightfully conveyed via missives and have various "newspaper clippings" and other information interspersed. It is a fun story with some delightful characters. I became thoroughly invested once I made it about 10% of the way into the book and I only put the book down when I had to read other things for book club and the like. 

I 100% enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Violence, and Mental illness