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Moderate: Animal death, Death, Racial slurs, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Classism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, Alcohol
Very slow and long, a bit repetitive at times even. The characters were a bit dumb, they would come to the obvious conclusions too late and act like it was the smartest thing ever and not right in front of them the whole time. Although I can accept that it is representative of its time, my feminist side could not sit super well with the book. Similarly, there were sections of the book that felt prejudiced and bothered me a bit, although one could say it was once again representative of the mindset of high class people of the time.
As usual with classics though, I am nonetheless happy to have read it and looking forward to reading articles about the significance of this book and to better understanding its motives.
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Misogyny
All in all, this book has changed who I am as a person and how I will consume all subsequent vampire media. I fully recommend to anyone who wants to check it out, but I also acknowledge that this is not everyone's cup of tea. While some characters were really easy to understand
I'm already looking forward to rereading (and crying my eyes out again) next year!
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, Torture, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Colonisation
Minor: Child death, Alcohol
Und ich finde, dass es ein unglaublich interessantes Experiment war. Ich habe "Dracula" in der Vergangenheit schon etliche Male gelesen, das letzte Mal allerdings ist über zehn Jahre her. Vieles habe ich vergessen. Vieles fiel mir vielleicht einfach noch nicht auf, weil ich nicht dafür sensibilisiert war oder mir nicht viel dabei dachte.
Woran ich mich überhaupt nicht mehr erinnern konnte:
- Dass im Grunde genommen die Katastrophe, die die Handlung signifikant vorantreibt, durch Sexismus verursacht wurde.
- Wie lange Lucys Verwandlung gedauert hat.
- Wie lange im Allgemeinen die ganze Lucy-Handlung gedauert hat.
- Wie unfassbar viele Ismen das Buch enthält. Mal eben dahingeworfene rassistische Vorstellungen, das Propagieren von Eugenik durch Van Helsing. Wann immer Mina gelobt wird, passiert dies in Form von "not like other girls" - seltsamen Vergleichnissen von einem männlichen Gehirn in einem weiblichen Körper (Transfeindlichkeit, anyone?) Und Gadje-Rassismus. Wenn ich nun außerdem an einen Artikel in der Jüdischen Allgemeinen über den Roman denke und mich an die Stelle erinnere, an der Dracula mit einem Beutel voller Gold durch die Gegend springt... Autsch.
Ich will nicht sagen, dass ich überhaupt keinen Spaß hatte. Das Konzept eines Romans ausschließlich aus zusammengetragenen Medien (Zeitungsartikel, Tagebücher, Briefe, Telegramme) finde ich immer noch charmant und es wäre was, das ich selbst mal ausprobieren könnte.
Die diversen englischen Dialekte, wenn auch teilweise mühsam zu lesen, fand ich interessant eingebunden und es ist ein sehr ... globalsiiertes Buch? Eine wichtige Nebenfigur ist ein Amerikaner, Van Helsing kommt extra aus Amsterdam und Sewart ist sein Schüler. Jonathan macht eine Dienstreise nach Transsilvanien, was aus England heraus zumindest gefühlt eine halbe Weltreise ist. Aber ähnlich wie in anderen Romanen aus dieser Epoche hirschen die Figuren durch die halbe Welt und das ist gefühlt sogar normaler als es für uns wäre.
Und auch sonst ist es historisch interessant, ein so altes Buch über ein so zeitlos gewordenes Thema wie "Vampirismus" zu lesen.
Aber meine Güte, ist das schlecht gealtert ^^
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism
Minor: Rape, Antisemitism
Graphic: Misogyny, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Mental illness
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Blood
Moderate: Death of parent
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Religious bigotry
The characters however, have much more depth than I expected and it has made me question the later interpretation of some characters. If you are a horror fan and haven't read this one, I recommend putting it on your list just to understand some of the beginnings of our supernatural tales.
I do want to add that for the times Mina seems to be a particularly strong female character. The way she is described by the men is annoying "fair but having the brain of a man" but I understand that for the time that was likely a huge praise. It is her and Van Helsing that put it all together, find all the pieces and track down Dracula. Without her the men would have been lost and that is proved in a major plot point when they try to lock her away for her safety.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Alcohol, Colonisation
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail