Book Review: Dracula
Hey, all.
So, I can't believe it's taken me this long to read this book. So now we get the review!
Needless to say Dracula is one of the seminal works of horror in the world. It gives us the classic image of the vampire: the suave count who lives in a castle on a darkened mountain deep in the forests of Europe, speaking in accented English, although we realize he speaks many other languages. He's obviously wealthy, well-mannered, cultured, well-groomed, hospitable. Although he does seem a bit creepy, but that could have to do with the fact that he lives alone in this castle. But who are we to judge? And he seems to always be out during the day. Well, he's a busy guy. The people in the town seem to have a weird relationship with him and the castle. That's odd. He's such a nice guy. But we only see him during moonlight hours, and that's—HOLY CRAP, WHAT'S GOING ON?
If you haven't read it, it's written in a very unique style. It's written as letters and journal entries. It sounds stale and weird, but it's a lot more interesting than one would initially realize. Each character is fully realized through their own writings and style, and we can get their personal thoughts, because they wrote them. There's no need to consider what the point-of-view is in the book, because it literally switches with each correspondence or entry. In the beginning, we are reading letters or journals from Jonathan Harker. Later, we might be reading a letter from Mina Harker. Each gives an account of theirs, as well as their thoughts on the matter. This gives us a deep-dive into their mind and experience.
I was surprised at the mythology of the vampire. And how different it is from what we think of now. There is no mention of a vampire bursting into flames or dying when exposed to sunlight, for one. That tells me that even though this was the starting point for vampire mythology—in mainstream literature, at least—it has evolved and grown significantly.
No sparkles, though. No sparkles, Stephanie Meyer. They'd be walking disco balls.
Things I didn't like were that sometimes things seemed to drag. You can certainly tell that Stoker's audience was from Britain, because the locations are all around England, and no context is given—much like any geographical information in books. That always bothers me, just because I can't imagine distances and how everything fits together without knowing where things are. But hey, it was a long time ago, and how was he supposed to know Dracula was going to be one of the world's greatest books?
Pros:
Moves fast
Unique style
The original
Deep characters
No sparkles
Cons:
Geography without context
Older style of description
Overall, I can't recommend this to everyone, just because it's an older book and because it's a vampire book. I know those two things will eliminate a chunk of the populace. Also, there are a few things we'd consider sexist nowadays (I didn't list them because it was written in the Victorian era), like phrases stating women are weaker. If those things bother you too much, don't read. Otherwise...
4.5/5
No sparkles. No nocturnal disco balls. That would be impractical at best, a reverse-evolution at worst.
So, I can't believe it's taken me this long to read this book. So now we get the review!
Needless to say Dracula is one of the seminal works of horror in the world. It gives us the classic image of the vampire: the suave count who lives in a castle on a darkened mountain deep in the forests of Europe, speaking in accented English, although we realize he speaks many other languages. He's obviously wealthy, well-mannered, cultured, well-groomed, hospitable. Although he does seem a bit creepy, but that could have to do with the fact that he lives alone in this castle. But who are we to judge? And he seems to always be out during the day. Well, he's a busy guy. The people in the town seem to have a weird relationship with him and the castle. That's odd. He's such a nice guy. But we only see him during moonlight hours, and that's—HOLY CRAP, WHAT'S GOING ON?
If you haven't read it, it's written in a very unique style. It's written as letters and journal entries. It sounds stale and weird, but it's a lot more interesting than one would initially realize. Each character is fully realized through their own writings and style, and we can get their personal thoughts, because they wrote them. There's no need to consider what the point-of-view is in the book, because it literally switches with each correspondence or entry. In the beginning, we are reading letters or journals from Jonathan Harker. Later, we might be reading a letter from Mina Harker. Each gives an account of theirs, as well as their thoughts on the matter. This gives us a deep-dive into their mind and experience.
I was surprised at the mythology of the vampire. And how different it is from what we think of now. There is no mention of a vampire bursting into flames or dying when exposed to sunlight, for one. That tells me that even though this was the starting point for vampire mythology—in mainstream literature, at least—it has evolved and grown significantly.
No sparkles, though. No sparkles, Stephanie Meyer. They'd be walking disco balls.
Things I didn't like were that sometimes things seemed to drag. You can certainly tell that Stoker's audience was from Britain, because the locations are all around England, and no context is given—much like any geographical information in books. That always bothers me, just because I can't imagine distances and how everything fits together without knowing where things are. But hey, it was a long time ago, and how was he supposed to know Dracula was going to be one of the world's greatest books?
Pros:
Moves fast
Unique style
The original
Deep characters
No sparkles
Cons:
Geography without context
Older style of description
Overall, I can't recommend this to everyone, just because it's an older book and because it's a vampire book. I know those two things will eliminate a chunk of the populace. Also, there are a few things we'd consider sexist nowadays (I didn't list them because it was written in the Victorian era), like phrases stating women are weaker. If those things bother you too much, don't read. Otherwise...
4.5/5
No sparkles. No nocturnal disco balls. That would be impractical at best, a reverse-evolution at worst.
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