Take a photo of a barcode or cover
Graphic: Death, Medical content
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail
All in all, an interesting read, but a good bit of the charm and suspense is lost to the changing principals of time.
Graphic: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Colonisation
All of the characters keep a journal of some form, and it's all dated. In the standard printing of the novel, all of Johnathon's several months at Castle Dracula would have been first, then followed up by Mina and Lucy's correspondence. In this case, it's in real time, so you only see what happens on any given day. There are long gaps between Harker's entries, as he starts to realize what is really going on and how he is trapped in the castle. Lucy's death scene, a chapter or so in the book, is stretched over the almost a month Dracula fed on her until she became a vampire, making it all the more emotional when they have kill her. Or when the group heads to Castle Dracula, and it takes the same number of days for us as it did for them. Very interesting way of reading a novel, and one that several other people are putting together.
Edit: 2023-11-07: After forgetting to unsubscribe from Dracula Daily before the novel reset, I decided to reread it. Still a fascinating way to read a novel, in chronological order.
Edit: 2024-11-07: Happened again, forgot to unsubcribe from Dracula Daily before the novel reset in May. Decided to reread it. Still a fascinating way to read the novel.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Colonisation
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Confinement, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content
Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
So, with full and complete offence meant to Abraham “Bram” Stoker: this book sucked. Horribly.
And the entire second-half of the book was devoted to… you guess it, absolutely nothing! They decide that vampires are indeed real (though it takes them some time to come to that conclusion even after they see one), and then they go to Dracula’s castle. Why? I don’t know. Dracula wasn’t even there.
Then, for about the last ten pages of the novel, they have a metaphorical snowball fight and start stabbing random Romanians. Obviously the Romanians lost, because they were exhausted from spending the last dozen hours carrying Dracula’s coffin up the mountainside because the Count was too lazy to walk. But luckily “he” dies!
Who is “he”, you may ask? Apparently, it’s Dracula, because later on the characters rejoice in the fact that they killed the vampire, but Bram literally didn’t even write that it was Dracula who died. Nor did he specify if it was Jonathan or Morris who was stabbed by a Romanian. Only in the epilogue is it made clear (a dead man can’t have children, I don’t think).
Overall, this was terrible. I’ve not read anything else by Stoker, so I don’t know if this hideous novel was just a one-off or if it’s actually how he writes, but it sucked regardless. Highly don’t recommend.
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Stalking
Minor: Rape, Self harm, Death of parent, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Classism