Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Dracula by Bram Stoker

53 reviews

la_lela's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, Kidnapping, and Grief

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

rory_john14's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Classism

Minor: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and War

ageckocalledachilles's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Racial slurs

sunny_not's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.5

At times it was very very bleak and I really didn't wanted to continue it. However, as I read more of it I became more invested in the story and I cared about some of the characters which also made me enjoy the story more. Still I really didn't like the ending, it felt super rushed and I felt like even Bram Stoker himself was like "Let's finish this I'm bored".

It was like boom Dracula dies boom Quiencey also died, boom years have passed and Jonathan and Mina have a boy called Quincey now. The End.

After all that epic build up I would've wanted a lot more pay off. Also this was definitely of its time with all the racial stereotyping and gender roles. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism

mme_carton's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cannibalism and Gaslighting

Minor: Gun violence

yavin_iv's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Antisemitism

seanml's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

4.0

I have finally finished one of the pillars of terror. I am always delighted to find out how original so many “classics” really are. The note-taking narrative was unexpected and very well done, and I love how little we actually saw of the Count himself. But of course, this praise has already been said thousands of times since the late 1800s. 

Literary Quality: 9/10. 

Spook Factor: 6/10. 

Overall: 8/10. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Grief

Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Medical content, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

thevampiremars's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Body horror, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, and Vomit

jowmy4's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia and Xenophobia

I've put homophobia and xenophobia as mild because they are implied rather than explicit. Also worth being aware of: Victorian sciences and psychology.

wordswoods's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Murder