Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

132 reviews

stitchwilliam's review against another edition

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In Short - Outdated messages and plot drags a lot, but interesting to consider the story that popularized the vampire myths. 

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decepticons's review against another edition

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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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j_the_human's review against another edition

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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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ameliethemoomin's review against another edition

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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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kjm19's review against another edition

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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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sopopia's review against another edition

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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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hjb_128's review against another edition

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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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finn_vibing's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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rehtaehwashere's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

 
  • What I liked: The DRAMA, the characterization of Dracula, how hell-bent they were on catching him after he corrupted Lucy,
    that Lucy's mother fucked her over by not just leaving her and her flowers the hell alone and opening windows.
      The wolves and the bats. The suspicions of Dracula's neighbors and that everyone knew and just said LITERALLY NOTHING.
    Dracula throwing the mirror out the window lmao
     
  • What I disliked: that they equated soft feminine virginal girls with morality and goodness implying that Lucy deserved what happened because she wasn't 'pure' enough. That women were written as such weak little things and that they only got praise when they 'thought like men'. That the story was basically men saving 'women in distress'. That the language was so flowery and annoying to parse through.
  • Overall thoughts: I think I'll stick to modern adaptations because the flowery language was so annoying to get through and I loved how dramatic Dracula was but the characterization of women left a lot to be desired. It was definitely a product of its time and a good story none-the-less if you can overlook the 1 dimensional female characters but it's hard for me to do. The men are well written, rounded out characters that show emotion which is a bright spot in this.  
  • Recommend to a friend? Y 


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swisner's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0


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