From the Bookshelf of 2025 Reading Challenge…

Dracula

Bram Stoker

Start date: October 1, 2023

Finish date: October 31, 2023

Discussion: October 2025 Buddy Reads

Why we're reading this: October 2023 Featured Buddy Read
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What Members Thought

Jan 09, 2020 Suvi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: _favorites, novels, 1800s, cities_london, _book-shelf, _great-britain, _mad-men-reading-list, horror, _ireland, _europe-eastern

"You think to baffle me, you with your pale faces all in a row, like sheep in a butcher's. You shall be sorry yet, each one of you! - - - My revenge is just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side."

Small town library. Me when I'm between 10 and 12. I'm bored, but I've already devoured all the children's books that interested me. I shuffle down to the mysterious adult fiction shelves, and almost immediately I'm enthralled by the scary cover of Dracula. I take it to the desk and the slightly intimidating librarian lady asks me: "Are you sure you want this?" I say yes, but in my mind I'm going through all the times I've read the infamous Noidan käsikirja (Usborne Guide to the Supernatural World) cover to cover. How bad can it be?

Re-reading Dracula after all this time made me love it even more (a lot of it was probably too boring for a young kid). The realistic epistolary format further enhances the creeping dread (especially when we're given information that not all the characters know), and many eerie scenes are still effective today: the Carpathian mountains at night, Jonathan's experiences at the castle, the ship Demeter and its mysteriously disappearing crew, Dracula's nightly visits, the sightings of a "bloofer lady" in Hampstead Heath etc.

It's always scary to revisit literary memories, but luckily I found all the familiar things I loved the first time around and discovered many new things. For instance, it's easy to dismiss Mina as just a damsel in distress, but not only does she and Jonathan have mutual respect for each other and a healthy unusually non-19th century relationship, she's caring, intelligent, skilled, and has an active role in defeating the count. With the words of Van Helsing: "She has a man’s brain – a brain that a man should have were he much gifted – and a woman’s heart".

Dracula is so seeped into the popular culture that it probably feels both strangely familiar and unfamiliar when you read it the first time, but it's not a novel you want to skip. It deserves its status as a classic, and I would argue that Stoker's writing (beautiful descriptions, atmosphere building etc.) deserves even more credit.

And, you know, it's just fun to see the hang-ups of Victorians be blown to smithereens by a lurking vampire who enjoys slurping the blood of pretty maidens (or a pretty maiden licking his chest). ...more

18 likes · Like · see review

Feb 18, 2017 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal, audio, classic, saw-the-movie-b4-i-read-the-book, fantasy-and-sci-fi, 1001-books, vampires

I knew the story already. I think maybe everyone does. I'd seen a play based on this book (great production, too!). I've seen the movie of course (in particular: Coppola's version with Gary Oldman), but I've never read the book. I've tried a few times, but it's such a snoozefest I could never keep at it. This full cast audiobook is the perfect solution! I didn't realize it was abridged until I downloaded the audiofiles; I usually avoid abridged versions, but it is admittedly a refreshing change I knew the story already. I think maybe everyone does. I'd seen a play based on this book (great production, too!). I've seen the movie of course (in particular: Coppola's version with Gary Oldman), but I've never read the book. I've tried a few times, but it's such a snoozefest I could never keep at it. This full cast audiobook is the perfect solution! I didn't realize it was abridged until I downloaded the audiofiles; I usually avoid abridged versions, but it is admittedly a refreshing change after the two-month-long ordeal I just completed with my last audiobook. (I had wanted the Tim Curry / Alan Cumming version, but I guess my library doesn't offer that one on Overdrive. At any rate, that's not the version I got.)

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the movie was better (questionable casting decisions aside). Coppola filled in some plot holes, he gave Dracula an origin story, he explains the connection between Dracula and Renfield, and he gave Dracula motivation, and a heart that can love. Stoker gives us just an empty evil creature who must be stopped. (And Count Dracula isn't even in the book very much!!)

Pure evil is boring. But a good person who has become evil, or an evil person who tries to be good, is intriguing. We as humans are always terrifyed by our own evil impulses, and we are reassured by tales of redemption.

A few notes of interest to me about vampire rules and miscellany:
Vampires are killed by beheading or a stake through the heart, but the stake doesn't have to be wooden.
Old vampires turn to dust after killing them, but not the younger ones.
You become a vampire if a vampire bites you and you die, and the vampiric transformation (long teeth, pale skin) starts even before you die.
Vampires can transform into a variety of things, including dogs, bats, and mist.
Vampires all seem to be able to use some sort of mind control.
Vampires sleep during the day, but they don't seem to have any problems being exposed to sunlight.
Garlic FLOWERS keep vampires away, not garlic bulbs.
Lucy is staked on September 29th. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review