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willow1113's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Animal death, Blood, Animal cruelty, and Death
tayaingrid's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Medical content, Death, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Xenophobia, War, and Racism
jonwood's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Blood, Medical content, Animal death, Violence, Animal cruelty, and Mental illness
Minor: Body horror, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
ishouldbereading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The good: Fairly good plot, fantastic characters, strong faith in God, vast knowledge of nations living in Hungary at that time, absolutely amazing use of language, probably the best book in english (language-wise) I have ever read
The bad: Slower pace, plot was repetetive, at times too much information (which we didn't really need), THE END
Now let me divide this piece of literature into parts that I totally made up. We started off fairly strong, with what I like to call "Part I: Castle Dracula". I liked this part, it could have been a bit shorter but I appreciated that we got to know Dracula as a person (if I can call him that).
After that comes "Part II: Boring info dumping". As you can guess from the title, I did not enjoy this part at all. Again, I understand its importance to the story, but still too long.
Coming in strong is "Part III: Lucy". I almost devoured this part. Easily the best part of the book. Characters peaked here.
"Part IV: Plans and debates" did not take us on a wild ride, because it was the same plan repeated over and over again.
Now the last part, "Part V: The conclusion". I imagined a lot of different endings. I did not imagine that after a few failed attempts which were supposed to set a tense atmosphere and make us more excited for the grand finale (what I personally found very annoying), one would expect a big finale. But one would be disappointed. This was easily one of the most disappointing endings of a book I have ever read.
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Death
Minor: Misogyny
jelliestars's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Moderate: Death, Grief, Medical content, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Animal death, Blood, and Classism
Minor: Sexism, Alcohol, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Grief, Xenophobia, Violence, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Cursing
leonormsousa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
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: Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Blood, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Violence, Gun violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
idahol7221's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.25
Moderate: Misogyny
m_liz's review against another edition
- 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? N/A
4.75
Graphic: Death and Gore
Moderate: Misogyny
nathanjhunt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
I picked it up in Chiang Mai, Thailand and read it in Vietnam and Indonesia. I left it at my hotel in Kuta.
Uhh.. where to begin?
The first 50 pages of this book were phenomenal. There was such an amazing dark atmosphere, with tension and dreamy words. I wish so badly that the rest of the book was like the first 50 pages. If that was a short story, it would have been incredible. I would have rated this a 4.5, so that is ultimately why I didn't rate the whole book lower than I have.
The rest of the book is filled with such slow boring drivel, I had to try very hard to pay attention. It had some great, creepy ideas, but the narrative was just so dry and full of characters I didn't really care about. The exciting well-written action moments were so few and far between, I found myself far too bored to care about them in the last third of the book. I honestly ended up skimming over the last third. Just so slow and dull.
So, criticisms...
I hated the framing in the book, switching between people, newspapers and diary/journal entries etc. It meant we got repeated explanations of events and descriptions of people. It just added to the slowness and monotony of the book.
"God" and religion is laid on so thick in the last third of the book. My brain absolutely shut down every time Van Helsing spoke - constantly repeating such boring monologues. Along those lines, there is so much unnecessary sexism throughout the book! There are also hints of antisemitism, and late-Victorian psuedo sciences.
Next, the worst offender was the way that all the men are frothing at the mouth over the two women characters. Constant "poor dear Madam Mina", pet names, kissing their hands and pining over the "beauty" of dead vampires. And the women are always talking of "how amazing and brave the men are to look after me, and tell me when to go to sleep". This book was written by a man using one hand! Gross.
A major annoyance of mine, is that for a book called "Dracula", there's a disappointing lack of Dracula within. It's far, far too long a book.
So what actually happens in the book? Not a lot.
A man goes to Transylvania to meet Dracula, and gets trapped in the castle. His fiancée rescues him. Dracula comes to England and bites a woman. The woman turns into a vampire, and a group of men kill her.
Dracula bites another woman and escapes back to Transylvania when confronted. The group follows him, and kills him.
It sounds somewhat exciting, but it really isn't. I wouldn't recommend this book, I really had to force myself to get through it, especially the last third.
Graphic: Sexism, Ableism, Mental illness, and Misogyny
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Blood
Minor: Antisemitism
loveisabird's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Blood, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Violence, and Animal death
Minor: Misogyny