Dracula in The Complete Idiots Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Dec 27, 2014 Akshay Narayanan rated it liked it

This is a book which has been in my wish list for a long time and I have started reading this book twice earlier and was unable to finish it as the copies were taken away by their owners. Always I have been under the impression that this is a really great book. Everyone who has given me a review of the book has always given it in glowing terms and even otherwise this is a well- known "classic". So I had rather great expectations for the book and the book really did not deliver.

First off, let me This is a book which has been in my wish list for a long time and I have started reading this book twice earlier and was unable to finish it as the copies were taken away by their owners. Always I have been under the impression that this is a really great book. Everyone who has given me a review of the book has always given it in glowing terms and even otherwise this is a well- known "classic". So I had rather great expectations for the book and the book really did not deliver.

First off, let me start with the positives about the book. The book is very well written. Both in the quality of the writing as well as in the quality of the language used the book distinguishes itself and leaves no doubt that the author has a rare grasp of the language and can use it to express himself distinctly. The descriptions, of people, characters, places and of scenes are well well crafted and you can distinctly imagine the story playing out in your mind's eye, which is particularly helpful in a horror novel. Another interesting aspect is the manner of narration. The entire novel is in the form of dairy entries, letters, journal entries and such documents pertaining to the story and the manner of narration as well as the point of view keeps changing and keep the novel interesting.

On the down side, I found the characterizations to be exceedingly bad. The characters are all too good and full of themselves to be true. All of the story's protagonists, all six of them, are noble, well educated, selfless, rich and free with the money, and all in all great human beings and true Christians at that. All in all they are hardly recognizable as human beings and if such humans exist anywhere, I would not want to be stuck with them, for life would them would be exceedingly boring and shallow. Another issue with characterizations is the women characters of the book. Well to say the least they are helpless, meek, noble creatures who would not survive an hour in real life, whether in the seventeenth century or today; and let me assure you, they do not have the least idea what feminism is about. Additionally, the author's treatment of all classes except the male upper class is derogatory and irritating while reading. The servants are all useless, the people outside of Europe are all lazy, corrupt and always late, as to the gypsies, they are of course the aides of dracula.

The book is chock full of Christianity, its ideas and its symbols and on the whole, reads more like christian propaganda than a horror novel. Well to be fair, my irritation with it might have something to do with my own disbelief in religion. Coming back once again to the plot, from the beginning to the very end it feels flimsy. Let me take a few examples. Dracula initially hires Jonathan Harker for planning his arrival in London and he narrowly escapes from his clutches. And then, once Dracula arrives at London, of all the people in London he attacks Jonathan's betrothed's closest friend and converts her. Once he is done with that then he must have his wife, and all the time, he is trying to avoid notice. I mean was London that short of people??? Several of the actions of Dracula are strange and sometimes just downright crazy. Well, I can go on. But I guess you get the idea.

To summarize, not a very original story, poor plot line and characters, but very well written and executed. ...more

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Jan 31, 2015 Creighton Brown rated it really liked it

Stoker's Dracula is well-deserving of its classic status. However, as many other reviews have remarked, the story is much less exciting after the first few chapters. It is still a great story from beginning to end, but modern readers will have trouble enjoying it as much as the audience of its first printings. If you are disappointed at the lack of real rising action and wish for a more intense treatment of the Dracula legend, read Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian. You will not be sorry. ...more

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