Goodreads | The Illustrated Dracula

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Jason rated it:

(review of isbn 0393970124)

04/19/08

Read in April, 2008

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

The CCLaP 100: In which I read a hundred so-called "classic" books for the first time, then write reports on whether or not I think they deserve the label

Book #13: Dracula, by Bram Stoker (1897)

The story in a nutshell:
To best understand the storyline of ...more

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Martine rated it:

(review of isbn 0192833863)

08/05/08

bookshelves: british, film, gothic, nineteenth-century

Read in December, 1995

'Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely. And leave something of the happiness you bring!'

These are pretty much the first words spoken to Jonathan Harker, one of the heroes of Bram Stoker's Dracula, upon his arrival at Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania, just minutes after a nightmare journey through the landscape of gothic horror: darkness, howling wolves, flames erupting out of the blue, frightened horses. Within a few days of his arrival, Harker will find himself talking of...more 'Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely. And leave something of the happiness you bring!'

These are pretty much the first words spoken to Jonathan Harker, one of the heroes of Bram Stoker's Dracula, upon his arrival at Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania, just minutes after a nightmare journey through the landscape of gothic horror: darkness, howling wolves, flames erupting out of the blue, frightened horses. Within a few days of his arrival, Harker will find himself talking of the Count's 'wickedly blazing eyes' and 'new schemes of villainy' and have some hair-raising encounters with the man who is now the world's most famous vampire: '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.' Several adventures involving sharp teeth, mirrors, garlic, crucifixes, bloody-mouthed corpses and big stakes will ensue.

The above quotations should make it abundantly clear what kind of book Dracula is. It's sensation fiction, written nearly half a century after the heyday of that genre. It's a cross between an epistolary novel, a detective novel and a safe-my-wife story, and it's full of scares, horror and disgust, all described in a lurid tone that befits the subject: the living dead. Or the Un-Dead, as the book's other hero, my countryman Van Helsing, calls them.

Sadly, Van Helsing is one of my main problems with the book. While I love his heroism, his 'Let's-do-it' attitude and his unceasing struggle for Mina's soul, I find him entirely unconvincing as a Dutchman. I wish to God (with a crucifix and everything!) that I could switch off my inner linguist and appreciate the story for its narrative qualities rather than its linguistic aspects, but Stoker has Van Helsing indulge in so many linguistic improbabilities ('Are you of belief now, friend John?') that it quite took me out of the story, again and again and again. I'm aware this is not a problem that will bother many readers, but I for one dearly wish Stoker had listened to some actual Dutchmen before making the hero of his story one. Then perhaps he also would have refrained from making the poor man mutter German whenever he is supposed to speak his mother tongue. ('Mein Gott' is German, Mr Stoker. I mean, really.)

Linguistic inaccuracies aside (there are many in the book), Dracula has a few more problems. For one thing, the bad guy doesn't make enough appearances. Whenever Stoker focuses on Dracula, the story comes alive -- menace drips off the pages, and the reader finds himself alternately shivering with excitement and recoiling in horror. However, when Dracula is not around (which is most of the second half of the book), the story loses power, to the point where the second half of the book is actually quite dull. In addition, the story seems a little random and unfocused. Remember the 1992 film, in which Dracula obsesses about Mina Harker (Jonathan's wife) because she is his long-lost wife reincarnated? That conceit had grandeur, romance, passion, tragedy. And more than that, it made sense. It explained why Dracula comes all the way from Transylvania to England to find Mina and wants to make her his bride despite the fact that she is being protected by people who clearly want him dead. In the book, however, Mina is merely Jonathan's wife (no reincarnation involved), a random lady Dracula has sunk his teeth into, and while this entitles her to some sympathy, it lacks the grand romantic quality the film had. I guess it's unfair to blame an author for not thinking of an improvement film-makers later made to his story, but I think Stoker rather missed an opportunity there.

And then there's the fact that Stoker seems to be an early proponent of the Robert Jordan school of writing, meaning he takes an awful lot of time setting the scene, only to end the book on a whimper. The ending to Dracula is so anticlimactic it's rather baffling. Did Stoker run out of paper and ink? Did he want to finish the story before Dracula's brides came and got him? I guess we'll never know.

Still, despite its flaws Dracula is an exciting read (for the first half, anyway), and Stoker undeniably left a legacy that will last for centuries to come. In that respect, Dracula deserves all the praise that has been heaped on it. But I still think it could have been better. Much better....less

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Juushika rated it:

(review of isbn 0393970124)

03/06/08

bookshelves: borrowed

Read in October, 2007

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to arrange for an English home purchase for Count Dracula, he becomes a prisoner in Dracula's castle and discovers horrific and unnatural facts about Dracula himself. Not long after, strange events occur in England—a unmanned ship beaches on shore, a madman awaits his master, and a young woman with unexplained puncture wounds on her neck becomes pale and ill. These events bring together a diverse cast of characters who tell the story through their di...more When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to arrange for an English home purchase for Count Dracula, he becomes a prisoner in Dracula's castle and discovers horrific and unnatural facts about Dracula himself. Not long after, strange events occur in England—a unmanned ship beaches on shore, a madman awaits his master, and a young woman with unexplained puncture wounds on her neck becomes pale and ill. These events bring together a diverse cast of characters who tell the story through their diaries and letters and work to understand and to defeat Dracula. The diary-style narrative, although contrived and somewhat frustrating, makes the book accessible and swift flowing, and the book is of course a rich, classic horror text and a foundational vampire novel. Recommended to all readers, including those that don't generally read classics.

A horror classic, Dracula is both an atmospheric, foundational vampire novel and an accessible, swiftly flowing text. The narrative is composed of a number of chronologically arranged diary entries and sundry letters and clippings that follows a cast of approximately seven characters through one united plot. The diary-style narrative means that the book is composed largely of many short entires within average-length chapters, and these short entries make the book accessible to all readers and make it flow swiftly. As such, this is a good book for readers that don't often read classics (and the footnotes answer any question in period locations and phrases). The letters and diary entires are also personal, honest, and detailed, building realistic characters and meaningful emotions. However, the narrative style has two weaknesses: it's contrived, although there are sections that describe how and why the entires were chronologically arranged, and more importantly it puts the reader in the position of knowing much more than the characters, especially in the first half of the book. This dramatic irony becomes quite exaggerated as the reader, overlooking the entire story, can clearly see the danger, while the characters still bumble about in the dark, constricted to their own points of view—and the more exaggerated the dramatic irony, the more obvious and more frustrating it becomes. On the whole, however, the diary narrative is an effective storytelling style.

And the story itself is exceptional. Stoker intertwines the horror of the unholy undead with the draw of power, sensuality, and beautiful young women. He engages both in equal measure: his vampires are at once grotesque and amazing, from Dracula's pale face, garish red lips, and inhuman animalistic tendencies to the seductive and rawly sexuality beauty of his brides and the growing sensuality of the human women that he seduces and transforms. (Furthermore, the mythology that surrounds the vampires, from garlic to daylight, will be immediately recognizable to modern readers.) Alongside these inhuman forces is a cast of realistically conceived and motivated humans, originally brought together through love and friendship, ultimately united due to Dracula and in order to destroy him. Through the diary entires, the story moves at an equal pace through emotions and plot, the Victorian descriptions are rich and detailed, the horror elements are atmospheric and intense. This is truly a fundamental vampire novel.

I'm glad that I finally got around to reading Dracula, and I was very pleased with the text. It is lengthy, sometimes predictable, sometimes (although primarily because of the narration) frustrating, but on the whole it is also a compulsively readable, detailed, atmospheric, and core horror text. I recommend it to a diverse audience: horror/fantasy/vampire fans, classics fans, and also readers that don't often read classics, who I believe will find the writing style approachable and easy to understand. The Penguin Classics edition includes supplementary material, including footnotes that help clear up confusion, and an introduction and appendixes that provide more information for the curious reader. Very high recommended....less

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Núria rated it:

(review of isbn 0393970124)

10/03/07

bookshelves: 2006, borrowed, literatura-inglesa

Read in November, 2006

'Drácula' me parece un libro con aspectos muy buenos, pero algo irregular. Las dos primeras partes están infinitamente mejor resueltas que el final, que me ha parecido que tardaba en llegar y, por tanto, se acababa matando todo el suspense, y aún así el final-final me ha decepcionado, porque me ha parecido muy anti-climático. La primera parte, con el pobre Jonathan Harker atrapado en el castillo del Conde es lo mejor. Tiene toda la emoción que no tiene el final. Quizás sea la mejor parte ...more 'Drácula' me parece un libro con aspectos muy buenos, pero algo irregular. Las dos primeras partes están infinitamente mejor resueltas que el final, que me ha parecido que tardaba en llegar y, por tanto, se acababa matando todo el suspense, y aún así el final-final me ha decepcionado, porque me ha parecido muy anti-climático. La primera parte, con el pobre Jonathan Harker atrapado en el castillo del Conde es lo mejor. Tiene toda la emoción que no tiene el final. Quizás sea la mejor parte porque es cuando realmente vemos en acción al Conde: en el resto de la novela es sólo una figura amenazadora que está allí escondida, pero a la que no vemos directamente. Y se le echa de menos, porque es malo, sin duda, no tiene nada del glamour y del romanticismo al que nos han acostumbrado las películas, y además es tan feo que da grima, pero es casi entrañable: es un aristócrata decadente que vive solito sin amigos en un castillo aislado, alguien que ha conocido tiempos mejores y que ahora sólo le queda el consuelo de recordarlos, de recordar cuando era un gran señor respetado y temido por todo el mundo, es alguien que es un inepto social y que ha tenido que aprender el idioma inglés y las costumbres de forma autodidacta encerrado en su castillo. Venga, es incluso tierno.

La segunda parte, centrada en Lucy, también consigue mantener el tono. Es sólo después que la cosa empieza a desinflarse. Del mismo modo, lo de que sea una novela hecha a partir de diarios y cartas de diferentes personajes al principio funciona muy bien, pero luego, cuando los caminos de todos se cruzan definitivamente, la cosa deja de funcionar, porque ni siquiera puedes distinguir quién es que está escribiendo: los personajes son perfectamente intercambiables. Creo que en el fondo el principal defecto de la novela es que los personajes no son nada consistentes, son totalmente planos y están exclusivamente al servicio de la acción.

Básicamente lo que pasa es que los buenos son tan buenos que dan rabia. Aunque la personalidad del Doctor Seward al final también se acaba diluyendo en medio de la acción es el único que como personaje ha llegado a fascinarme: le han dado calabazas y tiene unos momentos emo realmente entrañables, lo analiza todo (lo que le rodea pero también a sí mismo), se refugia en su trabajo porque no le gusta su vida personal, y es el único que me ha convencido de que realmente tiene inseguridades, sentimientos y deseos que no son de cartón-piedra.

Por supuesto, también me han encantado el montón de prejuicios que tiene el libro: de sexo (porque las mujeres, por más que Mina sea muy lista y apañada, sólo son unos seres frágiles que los caballeros tienen que proteger), de raza (lo roñosos y miserables que son los gitanos), de turista occidental (cuando Jonathan va a las tierras del Conde se comporta como el perfecto señorito turista que viaja a lugares exóticos, lee muchas guías y quiere ver todo lo que se tiene que ver, pero en el fondo no le importa nada conocer realmente el país), y sobre todo de clase (como todos los de clase bajas son unos bastos que se dejan comprar por cuatro duros).

Y es que, para mí, de lo que acaba hablando más 'Drácula' es del poder del dinero. Es gracias a las propinas que van dando a diestro y siniestro que los buenos consiguen triunfar. Es una novela tan burguesa. La mayoría de personajes (Jonathan y Mina sobre todo) son personas que se han hecho a sí mismos, que con el valor del esfuerzo y del trabajo han llegado a prosperar (¡ja!); y no hay nada más burgués que esto. Y como buenos burgueses prácticos que son, los personajes incluso saben aprovecharse de los privilegios aristocráticos que da ser un Lord Goldaming. El Conde, por contra, es un aristócrata y su reinado ya está acabado. ...less

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Andrea rated it:

(review of isbn 0393970124)

06/18/07

bookshelves: speculative-fiction

Read in August, 2005

I've never been a huge goth/horror fan. I suppose werewolves and undead and all that are okay, as long as the heroes get to smack them good before the story's over. But if it gets too scary, I don't like it. I don't like being seriously scared, I guess. Suspense, that's great, and adventure, but not horror.

Anyway, I really loved this novel. I was a little leery at first, for the reasons mentioned above, and also because of the sometimes association of vampires with sex. I wanted to read it b...more I've never been a huge goth/horror fan. I suppose werewolves and undead and all that are okay, as long as the heroes get to smack them good before the story's over. But if it gets too scary, I don't like it. I don't like being seriously scared, I guess. Suspense, that's great, and adventure, but not horror.

Anyway, I really loved this novel. I was a little leery at first, for the reasons mentioned above, and also because of the sometimes association of vampires with sex. I wanted to read it because I wanted to see the source material that many modern vampire stories come from ("Van Helsing", undead in D&D, "Vampire Hunter D", vampires in other video games and movies, etc).

The novel is written as a series of diary entries by the different protagonists, which allows for a lot of emotion and different points of view, even if sometimes you wonder, "If all this stuff is really happening to you, how do you have time to write 50 pages in your diary?". Though the story started out a little cheesy (probably because it's been used over and over as the source for most vampire stories), after the first section, I was riveted.

It has that characteristic of horror stories where you want to shout at the main character, "Idiot! Don't open the window! It's so obvious you're going to be attacked!", but the naivete on the part of the good guys is believable. Van Helsing, the German doctor/lawyer/scientist/archaeologist/gunman is pretty awesome, and the married husband and wife act refreshingly real. I wasn't expecting to find realistic interpersonal relationships in a Victorian horror novel, but I was refreshed by how people, most of the time, were nice and reasonable and polite, letting most of their emotions be private, unless they feel really strongly. I guess I relate to that a little more than the present trend of just telling everybody everything that you feel.

It's kind of funny, the back of the novel talked about how it was about sexual power and seduction, and the introduction was basically an essay on how it was all about sex, but there was actually no sex in the novel at all. Yes, I agree that there are some undertones relating to sex (kind of obvious, since Dracula seems to only choose young female victims), but that's not the whole point of the novel. Deconstructions like that that ignore the whole point of the novel make me mad.

It was also interesting to see how all the characters, at one point or another, questioned their sanity, and you kind of wonder if they are really just making this all up. But, if so, it's a pretty good shared hallucination.

Anyway, if you like adventure stories, and are curious as to what The Real Dracula (tm) is, or just want a book that you will stick to like a Wacky Wall Walker until you finish it, I recommend it....less

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Nicholas rated it:

(review of isbn 0393970124)

09/03/08

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in September, 1998

I like the original Dracula a lot. I like it so much, I sometimes think I like it more then I actually like it. The reason I say that is sometimes we are not the best judge of our own tastes, so take my 5 stars with a grain of salt, for the most part.

Much like I am Legend, this book is a historical lynch pin. You may not know it, but whether you have actually read Dracula or not, you know the plot, the theme, the setting, ...more I like the original Dracula a lot. I like it so much, I sometimes think I like it more then I actually like it. The reason I say that is sometimes we are not the best judge of our own tastes, so take my 5 stars with a grain of salt, for the most part.

Much like I am Legend, this book is a historical lynch pin. You may not know it, but whether you have actually read Dracula or not, you know the plot, the theme, the setting, and almost everything else about the book. It pervades our culture that much. If you are a fan of HP Lovecraft or Edgar Allen Poe, when you read Dracula you are reading a good part of their
inspiration. The book has inspired the themes and ideas for hundreds of comics, movies, cartoons, and games. Also, it has given Western culture one of its most powerful archetypes: Count Dracula.

Sure, over the years, Count Dracula has been reduced to a cliche, but, in our media saturated culture, what has not? Yet, in his time, he was more then just some villain, or monster, he was a metaphor for everything the people of the Victorian era feared. Think about it for a moment: many monsters in tales can kill you in many nasty ways, and Dracula is no different. Dracula can conquer an person on more levels then one: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, he can get you. If he does not break your
neck with his incredible strength, he can drive you insane using his powers, then seduce your girl friend and make out with her while you sleep, and finally, if he kills you, death is no escape, you become his slave. Still, even with Dracula as a beast, there is a certain amount of mystique for the character, he is attractive and repulsive at the same time. He one of the best representative of the dark side, until Darth Vader comes along 100 years or so later.

Some readers may have difficulty with the style of writing, since the whole story is told in journal entries of
the various characters, yet this is not so strange, when you think about how many movies are done as video diaries to lend a sense of realism to ths action. I think Bram Stoker was aiming for the same thing, and the video diaries of his day were, well, actual diaries. Also, common to much horror today, giving us only one character's perspective at a time, increases the tension and fear. Finally, the voices change dramatically between the characters, to great effect.

Dracula can be read in its historical perspective, yet, I also think its a scary novel in of itself. Perhaps
our exposure to the characters of the supernatural has made us jaded, and only slow dismemberment from psycho paths, is the only thing that will get our fear rocks off. Yet, if we take the time to use our imagination and put ourselves into poor Mina's shoes, watching her friend die from an unknown assailant from another time, battling the forces of evil embodied in a mesmerizing Eastern European aristocrat, we could do what we always do with horror stories: scare ourselves....less

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Bastian added it (review of isbn 0451175816)

05/18/08

It sucks: "Dracula" was not the first vampire novel, nor was it Bram Stoker's first book. But after years of research, Stoker managed to craft the ultimate vampire novel, which has spawned countless movies, spinoffs, and books that follow the blueprint of the Transylvanian count.

Real estate agent Jonathan Harker arrives in Transylvania, to arrange a London house sale to Count Dracula. But as the days go by, Harker witnesses increasingly horrific events, leading him to believe ...more

Real estate agent Jonathan Harker arrives in Transylvania, to arrange a London house sale to Count Dracula. But as the days go by, Harker witnesses increasingly horrific events, leading him to believe that Dracula is not actually human. His fiancee Mina arrives in Transylvania, and finds that he has been feverish. Meanwhile the count has vanished.

And soon afterwards, strange things happen: a ship piloted by a dead man crashes on the shore, after a mysterious thing killed the crew. A lunatic talks about "Him" coming. And Mina's pal Lucy dies of mysterious blood loss, only to come back as an undead seductress. Dracula has arrived in England -- and he's not going to be stopped easily.

"Dracula" is the grandaddy is Lestat and Jean-Claude, but that isn't the sole reason why it is a classic. It's also incredibly atmospheric, and very well-written. Not only is it very freaky, in an ornate Victorian style, but it is also full of restrained, quiet horror and creepy eroticism. What's more, it's shaped the portrayal of vampires in movies and books, even to this day.

Despite already knowing what's going on for the first half of the book, it's actually kind of creepy to see these people whose lives are being disrupted by Dracula, but don't know about vampires. It's a bit tempting to yell "It's a vampire, you idiots!" every now and then, but you can't really blame them. Then the second half kicks in, with accented professor Van Helsing taking our heroes on a quest to save Mina from Dracula.

And along the way, while our heroes try to figure stuff out, Stoker spins up all these creepy hints of Dracula's arrival. Though he wrote in the late 19th-century manner, very verbose and a bit stuffy, his skill shines through. The book is crammed with intense, evocative language, with moments like Dracula creeping down a wall, or the dead captain found tied to the wheel. Once read, they stick in your mind throughout the book.

It's also a credit to Stoker that he keeps his characters from seeming like idiots or freaks, which they could have easily seemed like. Instead, he puts little moments of humanity in them, like Van Helsing admitting that his wife is in an asylum. Even the letters and diaries are written in different styles; for example, Seward's is restrained and analytical, while Mina's is exuberant and bright.

Intelligent, frightening and very well-written, "Dracula" is the well-deserved godfather of all modern vampire books and movies -- and arguably among the best....less

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Concannon rated it:

(review of isbn 0553212710)

07/09/08

bookshelves: classics, own, srs-bsns-aka-literature, vampires

Read in July, 2008

[Please note that this is not so much a review as it is a collection of my various thoughts upon finishing the book.:]

Okay, so, here's the thing. I was just browsing through other reviews, and most of them start with, "I don't usually read horror novels..." or something to that degree. But I feel like Dracula isn't really horror, even though it is categorized as such. Classically it is, of course it is. It's a prime example of a Gothic novel. But never at any point while I was...more [Please note that this is not so much a review as it is a collection of my various thoughts upon finishing the book.:]

Okay, so, here's the thing. I was just browsing through other reviews, and most of them start with, "I don't usually read horror novels..." or something to that degree. But I feel like Dracula isn't really horror, even though it is categorized as such. Classically it is, of course it is. It's a prime example of a Gothic novel. But never at any point while I was reading it was I horrified. I'm sure part of this is due to being steeped in the modern genre of horror, slasher movies and their dime store paperback equivalents - I've been desensitized to the subtleties of a novel over a century old. The most distressing thing I encountered in reading was the description of Dracula himself, and that was only enough to make me curl my lip in distaste.

Though really, I gotta say, man am I glad that the hairy palms thing never found a home. Because ew.

Anyway.

Something else that I find interesting about Dracula is its epistolary frame. It allows for close observance of the events within the novel, while not promising anything regarding the ending, and I give Stoker props for that. But I feel that such a frame is also an ideal way to explore characterization, which Stoker does not do. I understand that the point of Dracula is not the individual characters, but I vaguely resent the fact that he has this fantastic way to dig into the workings of these different people and he doesn’t utilize it. He could go into their different methods of coping with the situation, what they’re specifically afraid will happen, whether they feel this is retribution for something or if it’s just fate, and so on.

Instead, they’re like cookie cutter people. One of them will present an idea, and everyone else will chorus, “Jolly good!” and back the idea one hundred percent. I think there’s one occasion when Godalming suggests something, and Van Helsing immediately reprimands him, at which point Godalming says, “Oh, yes, you’re right, I was being a dumbass, I shan’t have an original idea ever again.” THIS IS NOT HOW PEOPLE WORK. Van Helsing is a strong leader, yes, and can rally them to him. But they’re not going to behave like sheep up until that point – they should get angry, they should argue. All we get are sad, tired people; did Stoker forget that when people are backed into a corner, they fight?

Despite my nitpicking, it’s a good book and definitely worth reading.
...less

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Kevin rated it:

(review of isbn 014143984X)

03/28/08

bookshelves: primary-lexical-reticulation

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: Readers

As of March 2008, my favorite book of all time.

From the onset of the novel there is a continuous flow of action that pauses only to recall the powerful emotions and controversial thoughts laden upon the characters. The events recounted by Harker in Transylvania kept me turning the pages in mad succession. I sat up for most of the night reading about the Count -– his pale, waxen face and beating red eyes, the hair on the palms of his hands, his inability to throw a shadow, and all the habit...more As of March 2008, my favorite book of all time.

From the onset of the novel there is a continuous flow of action that pauses only to recall the powerful emotions and controversial thoughts laden upon the characters. The events recounted by Harker in Transylvania kept me turning the pages in mad succession. I sat up for most of the night reading about the Count -– his pale, waxen face and beating red eyes, the hair on the palms of his hands, his inability to throw a shadow, and all the habits and stigmata that accompany the vampire life. It is a truly harrowing narrative.

I had to laugh at one of the most gruesome points in the novel, when Van Helsing entreats Mina Harker to allow him to free Lucy from the curse of the vampire: “May I cut off the head of dead Miss Lucy?”

Dr. Abraham Van Helsing is my favorite fictional character of all time. Besides having such an intense name, his initial appearance is almost as a deux ex machina when Dr. Seward invokes his vast knowledge of the arcane to aid the still living Lucy, whose vampiric features begin to assert their salience. He’s that foreign “friend from the past” who I can imagine locks himself in a darkened laboratory (much like Victor Frankenstein) to read ancient books and perform dangerous experiments -– and besides this he embodies what centuries before would have been the quintessential alchemist.

There is a reason why Bram Stoker is the father of horror fiction. From cover to cover there is nothing but suspense and intrigue, and there is no drawn-out resolution. Dracula himself is not killed until the last two pages, on which appears a gruesome description of the simultaneous throat-slashing and heart-stabbing by Harker and Quincey Morris that releases the Count’s soul and turns his body to dust.

Sorry for that.

Perhaps my favorite part, however, is Dr. Seward’s account of the strange procedures undertaken by his pet inmate Renfield in the mental institution he runs. Renfield spreads some sugar on the windowsill and catches the flies that it attracts. He then catches some spiders to eat the flies, and after amassing a veritable colony of spiders catches sparrows to feed on the arachnids. During this time he makes little tick marks in a notebook -– he’s keeping track of lives. He eats all of the sparrows by the same principle that compels him to stab Dr. Seward (though only superficially) and lick up the blood from the floor: the absorption of life. “The blood is the life,” he repeats.

It may be a very long while, perhaps many years, before I find a book to surpass the excellence of Bram Stoker’s Dracula....less

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Corinne rated it:

(review of isbn 0743477367)

03/30/08

bookshelves: ward-book-club

Read in January, 2006

I didn't know so much what to expect. I have never read any "horror" novels before, frankly because I'm not into horror and gore. I like thick, intricate plot and good characters, but not so much blood and guts. But, for my offline book club this month we are reading The Historian which, I heard, is a companion book to Dracula. I thought that this was as good a time as any to give Dracula a try.

I loved it. LOVED it. Found it completely en"gross"ing. Ha. Yes, it's bloody. ...more I didn't know so much what to expect. I have never read any "horror" novels before, frankly because I'm not into horror and gore. I like thick, intricate plot and good characters, but not so much blood and guts. But, for my offline book club this month we are reading The Historian which, I heard, is a companion book to Dracula. I thought that this was as good a time as any to give Dracula a try.

I loved it. LOVED it. Found it completely en"gross"ing. Ha. Yes, it's bloody. Creates super graphic images in your mind - vampires really do chomp the neck and suck the blood. That part was gruesome and people die horrible deaths or "un"deaths and it's not a pretty picture. BUT, that being said, there is so much redeeming about the book. It is SCARY. I bet I put it down momentarily about 5 times because my brain just needed to take a break. I am sensitive, I admit, but Dracula is a seriously crazy dude with savage superpowers. I learned all about what vampires can and can't do at different times of the day - as well as the various ways to ward off vampires and how to kill one if you ever find yourself around one.. I do recognize that vampires are not real - but they seem such a staple of our cultural fabric that I am glad to feel a bit more informed now. The plot moved at a great pace for me and I like the journal/letter/newspaper article format - with several different narrators.

I also found that the book was WAY more Christian than I had anticipated. Not only do typical Christian symbols (crosses, the sacramental wafers) ward off vampires, but I felt like the discussion between characters turned so often to faith in God and faith in the eternal soul of man. The job of ridding the world of a centuries old vampire was terrifying and often it was only a faith in God and his will that helped the characters to keep attempting the task. I know the book is heavily symbolic with Victorian Era themes, especially about the role of females in society. But one thing I took away from the book, purely my own symbolism, is that of Dracula as a symbol of sin and Satan himself - how he can't come into a place without being invited and how in order for us to have eternal life with God, we have to erase him from our being (when a Vampire is killed, any scars he left on the living disappear). I could never recommend this book to my mother, but I really liked it....less

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Eric rated it:

(review of isbn 0451523377)

07/20/07

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in July, 2007

All cliches were once new. Yet even in Bram Stoker's day, vampire lore had already been around for centuries (indeed, Stoker plundered earlier, though more forgotten, writers on the subject). It is all here in "Dracula": the dark and stormy night, the castle, the funny Eastern European accent, the sexualized nature of vampirism. We've seen it so many countless times by now that we forget that the horror of it all was once fresh...and still is.

"Dracula" remains fresh. ...more

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Leli rated it:

(review of isbn 0316014818)

06/09/08

bookshelves: classic_lit, fiction_historical-fict, thriller

a great adventure, gak sehoror yg diharapkan, 3,7 *

bram stoker bercerita lewat jurnal dan surat2 yang dibuat tokoh2nya.dekriptif dan mengalir.

dracula, buku impian
vampir, mahluk impian juga
munkin obsesi.., gw sudah kenal mahluk ini sejak umur 4 tahun (pake proyektor keluarga) dan mimpi buruk gw selalu ttg vampir (kualat)

count dracula, tokoh yang diadaptasi stoker dari vlad tepes, pangeran transylvania dari ordo dragul (naga)yang sangat "berdarah" di dalam...more

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Meagan rated it:

(review of isbn 0393970124)

02/29/08

What can I say about this book? Wow, is one word. Holy crap, another couple.

I've never been interested in horror/suspense books - in ANY capacity - mostly because the times I've tried that genre, I've been immediately and viciously disappointed. But Dracula is like what I'd hoped those previous disasters would've been - incredibly well-crafted, subtle and strong enough in all the right parts - and well, SCARY. Seriously.

The journal-style works amazingly. It drags you down into the narrat...more What can I say about this book? Wow, is one word. Holy crap, another couple.

I've never been interested in horror/suspense books - in ANY capacity - mostly because the times I've tried that genre, I've been immediately and viciously disappointed. But Dracula is like what I'd hoped those previous disasters would've been - incredibly well-crafted, subtle and strong enough in all the right parts - and well, SCARY. Seriously.

The journal-style works amazingly. It drags you down into the narrative so you have no choice but to be swept along for the ride - and furthermore, it gives you no reassurance as to the survival of the narrators through the end of the book. It seems like you're piecing together events from a file of artifacts recovered from this whole drama - but without the messy part of putting everything in chronological order and figuring out who comes from what. It's simple, powerful and effective.

But, being an English major, it's always the hidden issues that catch me. Mainly, Mina vs. Lucy. Mina is almost the embodiment of a female - intelligent, capable, strong, and not exactly...well, the prettiest of women. She's almost masculine in comparison to Lucy, the flirty, flighty virgin who is captured by the vampire. Mina is also sorted in wiht the males of the group in protecting the innocent women who will be corrupted by Dracula should he be let loose - in effect, separating Mina out not as a potential victim, but as a complication to Dracula's plan. But if a typical male from this era were given a choice between Mina and Lucy - who would he pick? Not hard to figure out. Yet Lucy is the one corrupted by Dracula - all kinds of implications there.

Also, I love the insertion of the 3 brides in the beginning. It's a strong plot device - a warning to the reader. Their presence is throughout the book, even if they physically are not - a sort of "this is what's going to happen" warning. Masterful.

A brilliant plot, incredibly crafted; color me impressed. Don't read it at night, but do read it....less

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katrina rated it:

(review of isbn 0393970124)

03/04/08

Read in March, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Upon the suggestion of a friend, I picked up my old copy of Dracula and gave it a shot. Actually, I borrowed the copy from my sister, who cringed when she saw what i was picking out. At first, I thought she was just being a dumb teenager because it had been one of the books assigned to her 10th grade English class, and she hates reading. Upon getting a hundred pages into the story, I totally understood.

If I had needed to read this for a class, in a certain number of hours, it would have kill...more

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Werner rated it:

(review of isbn 0393970124)

04/11/08

bookshelves: classics,

The Illustrated Dracula

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