Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Dracula

Dracula remains my favourite classic. I will be taking no further questions. The epistolary format works so well and in my eyes makes this one of the most accessible classics to read. I had such a good time rereading this and then made my partner watch the film version with me (Keane Reeves/Gary Oldman version) and it was an absolute WILD ride.

Content warnings: death, blood, sexual assault, murder, violence, mental illness, institutionalisation, confinement, medical content, body horror, animal death, racial slurs (G-slur), antisemitism, misogyny, sexism, ableism

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italian_herbs's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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

5.0

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ageckocalledachilles's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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ominous_teapot's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-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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lizzie24601's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-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

4.0

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lillythebluepaladin'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? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

This was a great, BUT LOOONG, read! I did really enjoy most of the book, even though I skipped a certain zoo scene, you can too, it's not that important.
It is a very old book, so the treatment of its female characters were... interesting. Definetly don't expect some Mulan type of badass female characters, because those poor women weren't allowed to do so, but expect to love them none the less!
It's definetly not a very scary story, but a fun one to read, and I can definetly recommend for others who want to read the classics like me <3

OKAY, MINA AND VAN HELSING WERE THE BEST CHARACTERS OF THIS BOOK! I loved them so much! Mina and her clever brain and her trains, and Van Helsing and his serious "vampire stuff is happening" face", I loved them a lot. The main men and their "oh no, you soft tiny woman thing, we most protect you from the TERROR of KNOWING THINGS oh nOOO" attitude towards Mina AND Lucy was extremely annoying at times, but I guess it was understandable.
Morris was cleeeaaarlyyy written by a man who has never met an American in his life, but the human manifestation of Texas was a fun character, and I was so sad when he died :(
One thing I'm not sure about are the Romani, the romanians, and the hebrew character... I AM WHITE, SO I HAVE NO WORD IN SAYING IF THEY'RE APPROPRIATE OR NOT, but I got some feelings, so definetly check up on that before reading, just in case <3

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brnineworms's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

If Dracula had ended after chapter four, I might have given it a full five stars. The first fifty-odd pages are undoubtedly the best part of the book. Jonathan Harker is trapped in Dracula’s castle, and slowly realising that he is trapped. The atmosphere is tense and eerie. Both Harker and Dracula are interesting and well-developed characters, and the interactions between them are great.

I want to talk for a moment about Count Dracula specifically. In the first four chapters he is depicted as (seemingly) kind, hospitable, careful, and emotionally intelligent, but there’s something sinister about him too. There’s also quite a bit of queer subtext. Dracula is a complicated and sympathetic character at this point, but later his characterisation changes drastically and he ends up being reduced to a cartoonish villain with very little depth. He also becomes a much less prominent part of the narrative – he’s not entirely absent, but he takes on more of a peripheral role. I wish we’d seen more of him. (Interestingly, this is the exact reverse of my view regarding Frankenstein’s monster)

Of course, I must address the elephant in the room – the bigotry. Dracula is a character crafted from several antisemitic tropes. His hooked nose is emphasised many times, and there are parallels between his vampirism (specifically his preying on children) and blood libel. Something else that stands out when viewing the character through this lens is the way he is presented as both an immensely powerful mastermind and a weakling with a “child-brain” – proto-fascist rhetoric, perhaps? The book as a whole is riddled with xenophobia, racism, ableism, and sexism. In many ways it’s a product of its time. Its age doesn’t excuse these problematic elements, but it does offer some context at least.

I was led to believe that Dracula is slow-paced but for a gothic horror story it’s actually very quick. It’s relatively well-written, and the epistolary format is executed well. Excellent build-up to an anticlimactic ending. There’s so much more I could say about the characters and the story (both praise and criticism) but I think I’ll wrap things up here.

Overall I did enjoy Dracula and I’m glad I finally sat down and read it. It’s certainly not without its flaws but I think it’s worth reading if you haven’t already.

“The last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his hand to me, with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that Judas in hell might be proud of.”

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