Dracula
Possibly the most famous example of Gothic novels, Bram Stoker's 1897 masterpiece is the tale of Dracula, a vampire intent on increasing his tribe. The titular character, Count Dracula of Transylvania, has his arch nemesis in Abraham Van Helsing, the doctor knowledgeable of vampires and vampirism and ardent in his quest to destroy the cursed Count. After nearly escaping death in the Count's haunted castle, Jonathan Harker reunites with his fiancée Mina and their friends John, Qunicey and Arthur, who have already been beset by the Dracula's attacks on Mina's friends Lucy. Unable to save Lucy, despite Helsing's best efforts, the group decides to eliminate Dracula forever. They undertake on a dangerous mission, as Stoker invokes history, folklore, and religious stories in this epistolary novel. The group's repeated encounters with Dracula, possible death and the worst imaginable fate, becoming vampires themselves, keep the readers on an edge throughout the novel.
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My review.
I enjoyed Dracula, though more for the lore behind it than the story itself. While I wouldn’t necessarily rush to read it again, I found the characters fascinating so much so that many of them could have had their own books. The novel surprised me in places, especially with how well developed some of the characters were.
One of my favourite aspects was how Dracula himself was portrayed. Unlike the brute force vampire villains I’ve come to expect, he was intelligent, cunning, and manipulative. He felt more like a master strategist than just a monster, which made him a more intriguing antagonist. Honestly, I think he would make a fantastic villain in a Batman story!
As for characters, Van Helsing was my favourite. He was resourceful, determined, and had such a commanding presence that I could easily see him carrying his own spin off series. On the other hand, I felt like Dracula’s three vampire brides were underdeveloped. they had potential but were more of a background threat than fully realised characters and thought it be more interesting to utilise these.
The pacing was a mixed experience some parts were gripping, while others dragged. The novel did a great job building suspense, but certain sections felt overly drawn out. Still, Dracula delivers a classic gothic horror atmosphere, and its influence on the vampire genre is undeniable.
Overall, I’d rate Dracula a 6.9 out of 10. It’s a book I appreciate more for what it represents than for pure enjoyment, but I’d still recommend it to fans of gothic horror or those interested in the origins of vampire lore. Overall I enjoyed it.
4.5/5 stars
I read this by subscribing to the Dracula Daily substack, which means that I got real time chronologically emails with the content corresponding to each day. I read this book all the way from May to today, November 7th. It was a great experience, I loved every bit of it. I think that with how many times the original story has been told what made it scary to the original intended audience does not hit the same to someone from the 21st century that is aware of Dracula. By adding the chronological aspect to it I felt more connected to the characters and worried for their well being so every plot point got to me.
One of the best things about reading this was realizing that all the modern versions of this book don't really do justice to its characters. I thought I knew what the story was all about so I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. We need a live action adaptation of this book that honors the source material! Having said that I won't round this up to 5 because of Stoker's insistence in writing down dialogue with accents that made my C1 English cry trying to descipher what the hell they were saying. That and Van Helsing's gigantic long winded paragraphs. Everything else slapped!
I read this by subscribing to the Dracula Daily substack, which means that I got real time chronologically emails with the content corresponding to each day. I read this book all the way from May to today, November 7th. It was a great experience, I loved every bit of it. I think that with how many times the original story has been told what made it scary to the original intended audience does not hit the same to someone from the 21st century that is aware of Dracula. By adding the chronological aspect to it I felt more connected to the characters and worried for their well being so every plot point got to me.
One of the best things about reading this was realizing that all the modern versions of this book don't really do justice to its characters. I thought I knew what the story was all about so I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. We need a live action adaptation of this book that honors the source material! Having said that I won't round this up to 5 because of Stoker's insistence in writing down dialogue with accents that made my C1 English cry trying to descipher what the hell they were saying. That and Van Helsing's gigantic long winded paragraphs. Everything else slapped!
3.5
The gothic atmosphere is perfect and itâs a great especially for fall but it could probably be like 150 pages shorter.
After Johnathan leaves Transylvania it gets a bit boring then picks back up. I definitely found myself skimming through some of the letters.
The gothic atmosphere is perfect and itâs a great especially for fall but it could probably be like 150 pages shorter.
After Johnathan leaves Transylvania it gets a bit boring then picks back up. I definitely found myself skimming through some of the letters.
I read this via Dracula Daily. I highly recommend it! Dracula is an epistolary novel where everything has a date, and Dracula Daily is an email subscription that sends you the entries on the date they happen. So, the story is spread out across the months that it takes place and you get to experience it in chronological order. What I didn't expect was that Dracula is actually quite funny, I wonder if it at the time it was like the horror comedy movies we have today. I think part of the humor came from my modern sensibilities clashing with the language of the past, but I also think there were many aspects purposefully meant to be humorous when they were written. As with many older works, there are some dated aspects, like the use of slurs and other stereotypes/sexist views. I also found the "sailor speak" portions where the writing is written phonetically to convey a lower-class accent a bit difficult to read and translate. Other than that though, I had a blast following along with this story, and I'm a little sad it's over for the year.
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