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adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cannibalism
Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, War
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
469 pages of loving mina-o'clock. genuinely cannot stress how full of women-loving this book is. the gothic horror takes a secondary seat to the overarching narrative of the power of love and trust between dear friends. also worth mentioning that bram stoker, a man in 1897, managed to write complex, three dimensional, fulfilled female characters in a way that some modern "feminist" authors still fail to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore
Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder
dark
hopeful
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Gaslighting
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Antisemitism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
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
Amazing voice acting and sound design that really enhanced the story
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicide, Antisemitism, Medical content, Murder
has content warnings in the beginning of each podcast episode
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
good god i love this book
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Antisemitism
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is really good, I was surprised, but 'Dracula' reads surprisingly modern and I really enjoy the prose of the journal entries. I'll say the book does fall flat a bit when characters, especially Van Helsing, deliver dialogue in a rather purple-ly prose sort of way that is hard to take seriously at times, does undercut serious moments. Most of the suspense is undercut by popular knowledge that Dracula is a vampire, but despite back, this enjoyable like any well-crafted story, and as Dracula is more of a tertiary character, that doesn't impact the experience too much (at least for me) as the book is more about these characters reacting to his presence than Dracula himself. Highly recommend, and if you aren't one for horror, I still think this is rather readable and enjoyable, it's not that scary, more a supernatural adventure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content
Minor: Body horror, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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
Content Warnings
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
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I read this as part of the Dracula Daily emails from May to November in 2023. This is an annual event and will likely continue to be available in the future.
Dracula is a book which has been around for over a century, and it's a story that has known problems of racism and antisemitism baked into its premise and its execution. What I primarily want to rate here is my experience of reading the book through Dracula Daily, where everything is emailed in order based on the date of the piece of writing, rather than being in the order Bram Stoker envisioned. I, as a person, got kind of stressed out by knowing that this book was going to take months to read. On the other hand, since I don't have a strong sense of the passage of time, it was very cool to get more of a idea of how long the characters were waiting for news or how very long all of this travel took. When the characters were waiting for word or would put in their diaries that they were still waiting on a letter or didn't have information they needed, that resonated more because I also had been waiting. Or, occasionally, I was able to read a letter that was written but had not yet reached the intended recipient.
Overall, I enjoyed it as an experience, but if you looking for a vampire story to read there are ones with fewer old-timey bigotries. The emails definitely are an easy way to get the epistolary feel, if that's what you want.
Dracula is a book which has been around for over a century, and it's a story that has known problems of racism and antisemitism baked into its premise and its execution. What I primarily want to rate here is my experience of reading the book through Dracula Daily, where everything is emailed in order based on the date of the piece of writing, rather than being in the order Bram Stoker envisioned. I, as a person, got kind of stressed out by knowing that this book was going to take months to read. On the other hand, since I don't have a strong sense of the passage of time, it was very cool to get more of a idea of how long the characters were waiting for news or how very long all of this travel took. When the characters were waiting for word or would put in their diaries that they were still waiting on a letter or didn't have information they needed, that resonated more because I also had been waiting. Or, occasionally, I was able to read a letter that was written but had not yet reached the intended recipient.
Overall, I enjoyed it as an experience, but if you looking for a vampire story to read there are ones with fewer old-timey bigotries. The emails definitely are an easy way to get the epistolary feel, if that's what you want.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Medical content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Sexual content, Suicide, Pregnancy
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
slow-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
My thoughts on the book: I can see why it was so impactful at the time and has inspired so many works in literature, but from a modern lens it was often quite... Dull. There is a lot of paperwork and planning and emotional monologuing, and Dracula himself appears very little (although that makes it more impactful when he does). There is a lot more religious emphasis than I was expecting; the characters are all doing God's work first and foremost, but there was a hint of white saviourism in the plot – it's only when Dracula dares to attack an Englishwoman that anyone cares enough to hunt him down and end his evil.
The book is a fascinating depiction of attitudes towards women and purity, and how these attitudes were changing – Mina is praised for her quick thinking and logic, but also her innocence and loveliness which must be protected at all costs. It was as if no one was quite sure what to make of her, but so long as the men did all the dangerous work no one minded. I couldn't tell if I actually liked Mina or if I was just swayed by how much the others praised her. She and Van Helsing were definitely the most memorable characters as the others often blurred together.
The ending came very suddenly, with lots of buildup and then the climax came and went within a couple of paragraphs. But if you consider when it was written, and how reading and storytelling styles have changed (and in fact how this story influenced them), the book's flaws become more forgivable.
My thoughts on the Dracula Daily format: The real-time format was a double-edged sword for me. On one hand, it made some parts more tense and exciting; when Jonathan was trapped in Castle Dracula and we didn't hear from him for a day or two, I would wonder if he was all right and why he wasn't writing. But slower, less action-packed sections which one would normally breeze through in on sitting (such as Mina's holiday diary in Whitby) were dragged out as we were drip fed the passages. Minor, mundane scenes were given undue weight because it was all we could read that day. On the whole, it was an interesting way to experience the book and feel the timeline of events in real time, but it's clear that it's not how the author intended it to be read and so it doesn't always work. From a practical standpoint, it would be good if the emails came with some kind of calendar or heads up of when the next section was coming and how long it would be, so that readers can plan ahead for the longer sections or not be disappointed when all they get is a telegram.
The book is a fascinating depiction of attitudes towards women and purity, and how these attitudes were changing – Mina is praised for her quick thinking and logic, but also her innocence and loveliness which must be protected at all costs. It was as if no one was quite sure what to make of her, but so long as the men did all the dangerous work no one minded. I couldn't tell if I actually liked Mina or if I was just swayed by how much the others praised her. She and Van Helsing were definitely the most memorable characters as the others often blurred together.
The ending came very suddenly, with lots of buildup and then the climax came and went within a couple of paragraphs. But if you consider when it was written, and how reading and storytelling styles have changed (and in fact how this story influenced them), the book's flaws become more forgivable.
My thoughts on the Dracula Daily format: The real-time format was a double-edged sword for me. On one hand, it made some parts more tense and exciting; when Jonathan was trapped in Castle Dracula and we didn't hear from him for a day or two, I would wonder if he was all right and why he wasn't writing. But slower, less action-packed sections which one would normally breeze through in on sitting (such as Mina's holiday diary in Whitby) were dragged out as we were drip fed the passages. Minor, mundane scenes were given undue weight because it was all we could read that day. On the whole, it was an interesting way to experience the book and feel the timeline of events in real time, but it's clear that it's not how the author intended it to be read and so it doesn't always work. From a practical standpoint, it would be good if the emails came with some kind of calendar or heads up of when the next section was coming and how long it would be, so that readers can plan ahead for the longer sections or not be disappointed when all they get is a telegram.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence
Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
• Primeiro livro desde que andava na escola que eu sublinhei e ainda coloquei post-its com a timeline (desliza o carrossel).
Pois, isto foi assim de confuso para mim em termos cronológicos. Eu queria perceber a história e os planos do Drácula, por isso, precisava de me organizar e ficava difícil com todos os saltos temporais e geográficos.
• O que é de criativo e inovador neste livro em comparação com outros clássicos que li foi também o que me incomodou e me impediu um pouco de me conectar com ele.
Toda a história é contada por meio de: diários, cartas e telegramas. Todas as personagens humanas têm direito a expressar-se um pouco.
Se juntarmos saltos cronológicos + cartas como meio de narração + vários narradores = muitas características grandiosas para eu gostar do mix.
Só ficou melhor quando todos se juntaram no mesmo espaço.
• Em termos de facilidade de leitura, pareceu-me ser um clássico com um passing rápido com ação constante e o vocabulário acessível.
• "Drácula" não é a história original de vampiros, aliás, conseguimos ver as semelhanças e diferenças entre este e "Carmilla". Eu queria muito ler ambos por causa do lore vampírico e comparar com o que conheço de séries modernas.
No meu Buddy Read com a bestie estava sempre a dar comparações entre o livro e as séries. Diverti-me com isso!
Ótimo manual para criar vampiros e exterminadores. O que não gostei? Os vampiros eram uns fracotes - queria luta!
• É um livro do séc. XIX e escrito por um homem branco, claro que tem aqueles elementos de: mulheres desejosas de casar; elas têm de ser protegidas e salvas; temos uma mulher inteligente, mas comparam-na a um homem, etc.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟
Pois, isto foi assim de confuso para mim em termos cronológicos. Eu queria perceber a história e os planos do Drácula, por isso, precisava de me organizar e ficava difícil com todos os saltos temporais e geográficos.
• O que é de criativo e inovador neste livro em comparação com outros clássicos que li foi também o que me incomodou e me impediu um pouco de me conectar com ele.
Toda a história é contada por meio de: diários, cartas e telegramas. Todas as personagens humanas têm direito a expressar-se um pouco.
Se juntarmos saltos cronológicos + cartas como meio de narração + vários narradores = muitas características grandiosas para eu gostar do mix.
Só ficou melhor quando todos se juntaram no mesmo espaço.
• Em termos de facilidade de leitura, pareceu-me ser um clássico com um passing rápido com ação constante e o vocabulário acessível.
• "Drácula" não é a história original de vampiros, aliás, conseguimos ver as semelhanças e diferenças entre este e "Carmilla". Eu queria muito ler ambos por causa do lore vampírico e comparar com o que conheço de séries modernas.
No meu Buddy Read com a bestie estava sempre a dar comparações entre o livro e as séries. Diverti-me com isso!
Ótimo manual para criar vampiros e exterminadores. O que não gostei? Os vampiros eram uns fracotes - queria luta!
• É um livro do séc. XIX e escrito por um homem branco, claro que tem aqueles elementos de: mulheres desejosas de casar; elas têm de ser protegidas e salvas; temos uma mulher inteligente, mas comparam-na a um homem, etc.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Grief
Minor: Suicide, Blood