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Dracula (Enriched Classics)
by Bram Stoker

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17238.Dracula?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Dracula (Enriched Classics)" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1166805308m/17238.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17238.Dracula?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Dracula</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6988.Bram_Stoker">Bram Stoker</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18994509?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>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.
<br/>
<br/>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.
<br/>
<br/>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.
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/875001?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Corinne's review
rating:
bookshelves: ward-book-club

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 c...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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