Dracula (Penguin Classics) by Bram Stoker Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Dracula (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: "No book since Mrs Shelley's Frankenstein....."
Summary: 4 Stars
"No book since Mrs Shelley's Frankenstein, or indeed any other at all has come near yours in originality, or terror-Poe is nowhere..."-Charlotte Stoker (Mother of Bram Stoker 1847-1912) "Dracula" the word just has an ore of wickedness, evil, death and "Vampire" The author tells the story in journals, letters, and paper articles, which gives you a feeling of realism, and a sense of modernisation coming from an old classic book. This addition of "Dracula" is far more comprehensive than the others; with notes and a very well written introduction it puts you in good steed to read the book. I must admit, I do enjoy reading, however in parts of this book I did find it a little tedious. Some stages I found forcing myself to carry on reading in hope of a better part. I also felt that the ending was a little abrupt. All in all, an amazing book, an amazing author and a text, which I'm sure, I'll be reading in many years ahead. Thanks for reading my review, I hoped it help, Rebecca JonesBook Review: Exploding the myth
Summary: 4 Stars
OK, let's be honest about this. We all think we know the story, and this book can only help us bypass the mire of speculation and sensationalism that normally clogs up the story of Dracula. However, it's quite easy to lose faith. Why? Because Stoker tries to make the story as realistic as possible, and in doing this almost shoots himself in the foot. This 'realism' is accomplished by telling the story through journal entries and newspaper cuttings, which seem a little too convenient - Mina Harker jotting down her next entry on top of a moutain in between demonic visitations, and Seward recording his entries whilst another inmate bashes his own brains out against a dented asylum wall. Stoker also seems to have studied 'authentic' regional accents, and things like this can slow down the novel's pace, such as wading through Van Helsing's dramatic monologues, which tend to become a bit of a chore as the story progresses.Also, there's sometimes a part in a horror book where you're with the author up to a point, until something completely unreasonable happens. In this book that point is where there's a huge debate about how to keep Dracula in a crate he's stowed himself in, lest he burst out and eat people. The answer comes - by laying the branch of a wild rose on top of the crate, as is suggested by superstition. I mean, come on. This is supposed to be the King Vampire, four century's worth of cumulative evil - the Prince of Darkness! Stopped by a twig? I wasn't impressed.
Apart from this, the writing itself is good, though not as extravagant as I would have liked [vis-a-vis Poe], and the dialogue gets a little fluffy and bogged down with pseudo-religious tat [that's the only way I can think of describing it]. In spite of my cynicism, do go and buy it because I found it fascinating to read throughout - and never got bored, which is the acid-test of any good book.
Book Review: Truly exceptional piece of British literature
Summary: 5 Stars
After being a fan of the now rather hammy looking Hammer Horror Dracula films in my youth I finally decided to buy the original novel and, to be honest, was startled at its brilliance.It is dark, brooding and powerfully atmospheric - more so than any horror novel I have ever encountered. In its genre it is rightly regarded as one of the premiere pieces of literature of all time.
I would certainly rank it along with greats like Wuthering Heights and Sense and Sensibility as one of the most outstanding reads in British history.
Everyone is familiar with the legend, but Stoker's original is so interesting in that it is written solely in the form of personal journals and press reports, rather than describing the actions as they happen.
Things start piecing themselves together gradually as readers can compare one piece of evidence from Dr Seward with the events of Mina Harker's life and the sad diary of Lucy Westenra.
This allows the reader to get closer than is usual to the characters, an environment that is truly gripping from beginning to end.
Quite simply it is a book that everyone should own and at this price it is an absolute steal.
Book Review: Gripping, multi-layered novel retains the power to chill
Summary: 5 Stars
Dracula may be an iconic figure in film and television, but his appeal is not diminished in print. This truly is a wonderful, absorbing read; I enjoyed it far more than I expected to. Stoker's prose is pleasantly easy to read (although the footnotes do come in handy for some of the more obscure references to medieval eastern European history). The narrative is generally well-paced, only occasionally sagging under the weight of unnecessary scene-setting and backstory. It is told from a multitude of viewpoints with an almost postmodern attention to point-of-view distortions. This device also goes a considerable way towards breathing real life into the engaging characters.
The story is a familiar one, of course, particularly to anyone who has seen the 1992 film version. With Coppola's slightly salacious additions stripped away (Lucy is a giddy charmer here rather than a perpetually-tipsy flirt, for example), this is an often stark tale, redolent with folkloric eerieness, as fin-de-siecle scientific triumphalism battles vainly against an older, altogether darker set of laws.
However many versions of the story you've seen, _Dracula_ remains a surprisingly rich and unnerving read - all the richer, indeed, for the cultural resonance it has picked up since it was first published. We have seen Jonathan Harker reach his slow realisation of the true nature of the Count countless times, yet this knowing shiver only adds to the creeping unease when Harker first enters Dracula's castle.
This a gem of a novel, waiting to be rediscovered.
Book Review: The grandaddy of an entire genre
Summary: 3 Stars
Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' is probably one of the most influential (and therefore possibly one of the most important) books ever. Apart from the numerous direct imitators (from Anne Rice to 'Count Duckula') the seeds of 100 years of the horror genre are sown in this book.The story is familiar to everyone, although perhaps not in all its details, but this doesn't in any way detract from reading the book. It is incredibly atmospheric (especially the first half, when Dracula is still a somewhat mysterious and seemingly invincible foe). The scenes in Transylvania and Whitby are genuinely spooky and although we know that the vampire Dracula is behind it all, the ignorance of the characters leads to a feeling akin to the helplessness you feel in the cinema when you just want to warn them what is coming next, but can't. This cinematic feeling runs through the book, perhaps because it has been so imitated, but also because of the slightly hammy feel of the whole thing. This is not a book with a deep underlying philosophy (such as 'Frankenstein') but a very simple David versus Goliath, good versus evil theme. The only message is that dead people who walk around killing live people are bad. It is truly the progenitor of all schlock horror.
No-one would accuse Stoker of being a great writer. The book does lose some atmosphere when Van Helsing starts to plot Dracula's downfall (i.e. as soon as the vampire becomes less than invincible) and tries clumsily to maintain it by Mina Harker's slide towards undead status and the resultant race against time. Stoker's characters are also heavily romanticised, with the men repeatedly declaring their platonic love for the 'wonderful' women (who don't do feminism a power of good) and breaking down in tears at the beauty and horror of it all. His attempts to report local dialect are awful, saved only by the fact that because the story is told in diary form, we can blame the diarists rather than Stoker himself. The diary entries also stretch credulity but sumltaneously lend a little gravitas as Stoker pretends that they are real records of the events. Finally the ending is huge anticlimax, with a protracted chase lasting nearly 100 pages finsihing up in a confrontation between Dracula and his pursuers which lasts barely 2 pages.
This is a real B-movie of a book but, like a good B-movie, it sucks you in to its style and ends up being more satisfying than a badly done A-movie. It should be read for the first 100 pages alone, and so that you discover where all those myths come from. It is deservedly imitated, and a classic because of its style, rather than content. Read this, then go and watch 'Evil Dead', or anything starring Vincent Price and you can see instantly where it all came from.