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A review by esorharas
Dracula by Bram Stoker
3.0
3.5 stars, rounded to 3.
I really enjoyed the start of this - especially the parts where Lucy and Mina are writing to each other and in their respective journals about what is going on in Whitby. The women in this book are so much more interesting to the men, yet we have to endure the author constantly putting women down as the weaker sex, when in reality it is plain to see that Mina outshines any of the men in the book, especially her husband!
Jonathan is a wet lettuce, to be frank. He spends much of the book too frightened to act, or suffering from shock after the events at the beginning of the book. After marrying Mina, he relies strongly on her to get through each day, and is constantly crying on her. Most of the men cry in here, and though Mina does, she doesn't do it half as much as the men do.
Overall, I found the views on the roles of men and women quite confusing, because while at times it conforms to standards (men doing the work/action, women left behind and expected to be good wives), at others Mina is clearly shown to be an independent character to her husband, with a mind of her own. She could run rings around her husband, given half the chance.
Van Helsing's speeches started to annoy me a lot towards the end, and I ended up skim-reading some of them. He just goes on and on and I have no idea why he takes three pages to say something that could be said in three lines.
I liked that Dr Seward, Quincy Morris and Arthur were all such good friends, despite Dr Seward and Morris both proposing to Lucy, Arthur's love. I also liked that they took the rejection quite well, and remained friends with Lucy afterwards.
I think I've commented mostly on the sexism and gender roles so far, rather than the actual story.
The story itself dragged a lot. There are tons of unnecessary speeches. Dracula hardly features after the beginning of the story. The plot itself is quite meandering and is over much too quickly by the time you get to the end. A lot of the book feels like a travel diary, to be honest.
I could comment on many other things, and perhaps I will if I choose to read this again with a more critical viewpoint. I can summarise my thoughts so far as follows:- slow, meandering plot, spooky atmosphere, some good characters, many long speeches, ending was too abrupt, Mina was awesome.
I really enjoyed the start of this - especially the parts where Lucy and Mina are writing to each other and in their respective journals about what is going on in Whitby. The women in this book are so much more interesting to the men, yet we have to endure the author constantly putting women down as the weaker sex, when in reality it is plain to see that Mina outshines any of the men in the book, especially her husband!
Jonathan is a wet lettuce, to be frank. He spends much of the book too frightened to act, or suffering from shock after the events at the beginning of the book. After marrying Mina, he relies strongly on her to get through each day, and is constantly crying on her. Most of the men cry in here, and though Mina does, she doesn't do it half as much as the men do.
Overall, I found the views on the roles of men and women quite confusing, because while at times it conforms to standards (men doing the work/action, women left behind and expected to be good wives), at others Mina is clearly shown to be an independent character to her husband, with a mind of her own. She could run rings around her husband, given half the chance.
Van Helsing's speeches started to annoy me a lot towards the end, and I ended up skim-reading some of them. He just goes on and on and I have no idea why he takes three pages to say something that could be said in three lines.
I liked that Dr Seward, Quincy Morris and Arthur were all such good friends, despite Dr Seward and Morris both proposing to Lucy, Arthur's love. I also liked that they took the rejection quite well, and remained friends with Lucy afterwards.
I think I've commented mostly on the sexism and gender roles so far, rather than the actual story.
The story itself dragged a lot. There are tons of unnecessary speeches. Dracula hardly features after the beginning of the story. The plot itself is quite meandering and is over much too quickly by the time you get to the end. A lot of the book feels like a travel diary, to be honest.
I could comment on many other things, and perhaps I will if I choose to read this again with a more critical viewpoint. I can summarise my thoughts so far as follows:- slow, meandering plot, spooky atmosphere, some good characters, many long speeches, ending was too abrupt, Mina was awesome.