Dracula in WACKY READING CHALLENGES

Feb 05, 2015 Jody rated it really liked it

Shelves: aty-2018, 1001-before-you-die, bbc-100, bbc-big-read, penguin-classic-100, guardian-1000, book-bub-100-classics, spooky-season

I'd been in need of a book that grabbed me and wouldn't let me go, and Dracula delivered. I enjoyed this so much. I loved the epistolary format, and I particularly liked that it jumped around between different characters - it kept it surprisingly fresh and mostly fast-paced (which I totally didn't expect). I loved the first half especially, and then the last third or so, and found it only dragged in between those two parts.

It was interesting to read one of the original vampire fictions, and, hav ...more

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Nov 05, 2014 Joy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: library, 1001-books, classics, horror

This book has been adapted in so many different ways, and in different media, so it's hard to start reading this book without any preconceptions. However, there is so much about this book that makes it unique. It's written as a series of letters, diary entries and newspaper clippings, which adds to the creepy atmosphere. The Renfield plot is usually left out of adaptations, which is a shame because it was such an interesting part of the book. Dracula himself is largely absent from the book, but ...more

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Oct 21, 2021 Elle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classic

I have to admit that I am surprised at the accessibility of the writing in this novel. Classics are usually so stuffy and pretentious. Dracula, instead, read a bit more like a modern novel, with a less formal narrative style and believable dialogue. The parts from Dr. VanHelsing were a little more difficult to read through due to sentence structure, but I still made it through these okay. I liked the epistolary style and thought it worked really well for the story. The tale was still told in qui ...more

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Oct 09, 2015 *Dawn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2015

Dracula by Bram Stoker
3-1/2 stars

Solicitor, Jonathan Harker, travels to Castle Dracula, in the wilds of Transylvania (Romania), to meet with his client, the Count, who is purchasing property in London. After being compelled to stay at the Castle, and later learning that he is actually being held prisoner there, Mr. Harker begins to see disturbing and frightening things.

There is one passage of the book in particular that is my favorite as far as the suspense surrounding it. Looking out a castle Dracula by Bram Stoker
3-1/2 stars

Solicitor, Jonathan Harker, travels to Castle Dracula, in the wilds of Transylvania (Romania), to meet with his client, the Count, who is purchasing property in London. After being compelled to stay at the Castle, and later learning that he is actually being held prisoner there, Mr. Harker begins to see disturbing and frightening things.

There is one passage of the book in particular that is my favorite as far as the suspense surrounding it. Looking out a castle window, trying to find a means to escape, and looking down at the 1000-foot drop, Harker sees Dracula exiting a lower window face-down, scaling the castle wall using his hands and feet. The way it is described gave me chills.

Yes, Dracula can transform himself into a bat. He can also use mind-control over his victims. There is no reflection of his image in mirrors. And then there's that whole drinking your blood thing.

After escaping the castle, Mr. Harker returns to London to recover. While he was away, a close friend of his fiancee' has an encounter with the Count. The end result of that encounter starts the ball rolling to eliminate the monster. A team is assembled.

Dr. Seward--who oversees an insane asylum which houses a very interesting character, Renfield, who is diagnosed with zoophagia (he's obsessed with eating creatures to absorb their life force). Somehow Renfield's odd behavior interjects a little humor into the story as he tries to barter with the doctor to bring him creatures to eat or things that will attract them to his cell. Through most of the story, he has an affinity for flies and spiders. Seward contacts his former professor and friend, Dr. Abraham Van Helsing--who was the first to understand what the Count was. Then there is the American adventurer, Quincey Morris, a friend of Arthur Holmwood (Lord Godalming), and Mina Murray (Harker's bride).

We learn about the motives behind the Count's actions along with the characters in the book, following their journal entries, conversations regarding people they have interviewed, some newspaper clippings, etc., which they are keeping a record of for posterity in case they are unsuccessful.

In their efforts to track down the location of the Count, they slowly piece together every move he has made so far, how he made the journey to London considering his limitations of needing to go to ground during the day, etc., eventually following him back to his native Transylvania, in desperation of saving not only the rest of humanity, but more personally, one of their own. ...more

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Jan 02, 2016 Hannah Peterson rated it really liked it

Shelves: aty-2022, bingo-2022

I've read Dracula before, seven years ago (how time flies!) — in fact, I'm pretty sure that it was the first book I marked as read here on Goodreads. I had borrowed it from my cousin and held onto it for an embarrassingly long time before finally reading it, but once I did, I was thrilled. Every since, I have truly believed that this is the only good epistolary novel.

This time around, I reread the book through Dracula Daily, a substack newsletter that sends you each journal entry and letter and ...more

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May 21, 2013 Nancy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, still-owned

For a Victorian classic, this novel was both creepy and a page turner. You have to expect a lot of flowery, dramatic language and excessive description, as that is characteristic of a book of its time, but the story was fabulous and I enjoyed it right through to the very end. I did like the fact that the main female character, Mina, came out as the brightest and best of the lot of them for me. Despite everyone's continued protestations at how she needed to be 'protected' and not disturbed or ups ...more

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