Dracula (1897)

Suprisingly good ( )

The original vampire story ( )

I really enjoyed this one. I knew it wasn't going to be anything like the movies, so I was prepared for that. I will say that while I wasn't expecting so much to be about Lucy, I truly enjoyed her nonetheless. I do want to know what the heck happened to Jon Harker between leaving Castle Dracula and showing up at a hospital. Why didn't Drac kill him? The world may never know. ( )

I can't believe it's taken me so long to finally read Dracula. I'd gotten it into my head that it would be boring, I suppose, but it was not at all boring. It's scary. All the little tricks you expect in horror now -- seeing flashes of a face outside a window, hearing a scream, trapping someone in a room -- they're actually legit scary. The book is more complex than I realized too, with five or six diarists telling the story. It creates a spooky, intelligent atmosphere as you compare what each person is saying. Not a modern "unreliable narrator" story, but something that creates a kind of reality since more than one person is saying it.

Well-written in general, with excellent plotting and pacing, and y'all know I'm a stickler for that. It's slow, but again that lends itself to the realism of travel and planning in that era. And, although sometimes coincidence intervenes, and the group was unbelievably dumb to not give Mina garlic etc. the first time she's excluded from their plans, other than that it's not stupid horror-movie stuff that gets everyone into trouble. Some of the symbolism is obvious... It's a book about the power of Christianity restoring order to the world. It's a book nervously asserting heterosexuality and whiteness. Other parts seem a little more complex -- the book's relationship to science and scientists, for instance. The role of Renfield, which was not at all what I expected either.

Deeply enjoyed both reading and having read this classic, and looking forward to more research into its historical/literary role as well as its adaptations. ( )

I am really not a fan of vampire fiction but I have to say that this forerunner to the modern craze is quite good. Of course, it helps that Simon Vance narrates. He is amazing at giving the different characters accents and intonations that distinguish them from each other.

A young British solicitor, Jonathon Harker, travels to Transylvania to acquaint Count Dracula with the details of a property that he has purchased in London. He keeps a journal and writes letters to his employer and his fiancee about everything he experiences. Although Dracula intended him to fall prey to three women vampires in his castle after he left for Britain, Jonathon manages to escape and flee to a hospital in Budapest. He cannot remember anything about his sojourn but he knows it was horrible. His fiance, Mina, goes out to him and they marry. In the interim Mina has had her own vampire experiences. She was staying with her friend Lucy in Whitby when a mysterious ship comes into harbour. Every member of the crew has been killed. Only a large black dog was seen jumping from the ship to shore. Of course, this was the Count and he hangs around Whitby long enough to infect Lucy. Lucy was loved by three men who banded together to save her after bringing in a Dutch doctor, Van Helsing. They are unsuccessful and they, together with the Harkers, decide to hunt down and finish off the Count.

Pretty typical gothic novel from the time but it was probably a sensation when it came out. ( )