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Review: "Dracula" by Bram Stoker

From Goodreads: 
The aristocratic vampire that haunts the Transylvanian countryside has captivated readers' imaginations since it was first published in 1897. Hindle asserts that Dracula depicts an embattled man's struggle to recover his "deepest sense of himself as a man", making it the "ultimate terror myth".

My Thoughts: 
How have I put off reading this book for so long???  For some reason, I thought it would be boring and super lame.  WRONG.  This was a great book and it’s no wonder it is considered a classic.  The creepy factor reminded me a lot of The Woman in White and the story hooked me right away.  The characters were silly but lovable and I found myself completely engrossed in the story.  It was really hard for me to get the picture of Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing out of my head because the original Van Helsing is nothing like that.  Madame Mina seemed to be the smartest one of the bunch though she tried to play herself off as an unintelligent woman.  For being a ‘classic’ it was pretty fast paced; the end kind of dragged but other than that, it really kept my interest.    It is kind of crazy to think that this is the original vampire book; if it weren’t for Dracula would we have ever had The Vampire Chronicles or Twilight?  I also liked that this book had a fairly happy ending, I was worried that everyone would be dead in the end.  Overall, a great book that I would recommend to anyone.  4 stars.
I read this book as part of a readalong hosted by A Literary Odyssey.  You should head over there and check out the other great Dracula reviews
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Comments

  1. AnneOctober 17, 2011 at 8:57 AM

    I have been thinking about reading this one. Thanks for the review, it sounds like I would like it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beth D.October 17, 2011 at 1:22 PM

    It has the Gothic feel nailed though. That was always my favorite thing about Dracula.

    Beth ^)^

    ReplyDelete
  3. Roof Beam ReaderOctober 18, 2011 at 3:52 PM

    I agree with you about Mina - she was my favorite character and I was very, very impressed with Stoker for including her. To have such an important, powerful role reserved for a woman, at this time, must have taken a lot of guts.

    Congrats on finishing and linking-up - you'll be entered in the participant giveaway!

    Did you read Inferno? I enjoyed that as well (I read the original American English trnaslation by Longfellow).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Danielle ZappavignaOctober 19, 2011 at 2:57 AM

    I've always really wanted to read this, I've got an abridged version for children - not the same thing at all I'm sure!

    ReplyDelete

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