Bram Stoker's "Dracula"... (i will be comparing it to the movie adaptations because I was once a depressed film major) I think the more I read the more I liked the book and the more I HATED the movie adaptations. I do think this is related to how the film industry is ruled by mostly white men and this movies are directed by those same men, but it gives me great discomfort how in the original story there's *no way* to romanticize Dracula. He's a simple representation of the dark era, the atmosphere that makes the romance goth, the fog above the town, the rats bellow, the monster. He is someone that wants, needs and takes, with no regrets like an abuser, not trying to connect it too much with real life but it's so clear to me how men see that figure and think "that's something I want people to think is the epitome of romance" when in reality I think the romance in Dracula is on a bunch of different people coming together because of the sickness, and later the death of someone as loved as Lucy, in the strength of *Mina*, that was such a pleasant surprise as a protagonist... She's intelligent, sensitive, real in a way that makes the book so easy to read, her letters were genuine, she collaborated (and started) all of the investigations around what happened and in the end when she was the victim she used that fragility, the connection to Dracula to finally kill him. She's the best part of the book and it's really frustrating how her character live to be turned into the confused, sexualized,weak version we see in the movies. That being said, "Dracula" was such a pleasant experience that it motivated me to start reading more, even if I'm very slow at it.