Dracula by Bram Stoker
When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the ‘Master’ and his imminent arrival.
In Dracula, Bram Stoker created one of the great masterpieces of the horror genre, brilliantly evoking a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters and also illuminating the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.
For the Reading Challenge(s):
The Classics Club
The Reason
It’s one of my online book club’s buddy reads for Halloween season.
The Quotes
“Remember my friend, that knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker.”
“The last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his hand to me, with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that Judas in hell might be proud of.”
“Doctor, you don’t know what it is to doubt everything, even yourself. No, you don’t; you couldn’t with eyebrows like yours.”
“Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain.”
The Narrator(s)
Tavia Gilbert and J.P. Guimont. I loved this narration, it was so immersive.
My Thoughts
Wow, this is one hell of a journey! I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed the book considering it’s been adapted to death in pop culture media. A lot of the story is familiar to me, of course, but reading it for the first time, I’m enjoying so much of the nuances of the individual characters and their actual interactions with each other.
Van Helsing’s reasonings and the way he speaks to and cares for the other characters really jumps off the page to me, and I can’t help but love him. Mina is also such a wonderful character, so vibrant and smart and compassionate, caring about everyone else even when she’s the one in danger. I love that the book is in epistolary form, and that it plays a part in how they document events and discover connections.
The book did go on longer than I expected, but I found it interesting how much that added to the tension; the waiting, anticipating resolutions – was Lucy going to get better? was Mina going to die? will they find where Dracula is? will they triumph over evil? I’m really surprised how much I loved reading the book! I’m pretty sure I’ll reread it again soon!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
Oh, it’s been a while! I read this one a couple of times, first in school and then again a little while after that. It’s still been a long time since I’ve read it, though, so it’s about time for me to reread it! I know a lot of people complain about the slow pace of this book, but I remember really enjoying that.