Dracula by Bram Stoker

[Scheherazade]

Dracula by Bram Stoker

There are too many similar stories/movies based on vampires but Dracula is one of the oldest and most popular ones. Reading a book with such a familiar theme was an interesting experience (I haven't watched the movie based on it). I had certain expectations before starting the book but I was glad to discover that the book had more merits than being yet another vampire story.

I like the story line; the way Count Dracula is introduced and also the fact that it is told through diary entries, newspaper articles and personal letter excerpts, which makes it all more plausible. I also like the fact that the characters are not presented as pure evil ones with the mere aim of spilling blood or ultimate, infallible heros, who would save the world no matter what. The whole story and characters have a human touch, which makes it an almost touching story.

Having said all this, boy, is Stoker's style verbose! Some hundred pages of the book would have been taken out and nobody would have noticed a thing! I am not sure if this was an attempt on author's behalf to write a sensational story and still be considered a recognised literary figure but it did not work for me.

6/10 KitKats!

[JCamilo]

I consider Stoker a average or bad writer that hit the moon once. He often lost himself and the timing (and the geography also :P) of the romance, perhaps it was the need to mix all the gothic vampiric stuff he borrowed and all tourists guides he used to talk about central europe.
I can only disagree about Dracula, besides evil he just stinks like a dead corpse. A Villain that is a villain - we do not even know well why exactly he is moving to england, he just wants it...

[manolia]

Definately one of my fav books 10/10

[Niamh]

Having said all this, boy, is Stoker's style verbose! Some hundred pages of the book would have been taken out and nobody would have noticed a thing! I am not sure if this was an attempt on author's behalf to write a sensational story and still be considered a recognised literary figure but it did not work for me.

6/10 KitKats!

:p maybe thats why most of his other novels are generally shorter. But what can i say! Us Irish have a general gift of the gab, and have a tendency to go off on one, and dribble out complete nonsense!:D

[Psychosis]

Liked that book a lot! Of course the movie, "Bram Stoker's Dracula", has an extra thing that the book doesn't, but it is a nice gothic/horror book.

[crazefest456]

I didn't really see it as a horror book, I gave it a 10/10 because it depicted human interaction quite nicely--basically, I didn't mind the said 'verbosity'.

[Benyameen]

I didn't really see it as a horror book, I gave it a 10/10 because it depicted human interaction quite nicely--basically, I didn't mind the said 'verbosity'.

I did!!! I really loved the book in the beginning. I thought, it could be my most favorite book actually. But I only had this feeling on the first 50 pages when Jonathan was visiting the count's castle. After this, I was just waiting for Stoker to write more about Darcula and his communication with one of the characters. Sadly, this did not happen and Dracula just remained the bad villain, a non-reasoning blood-sucking creature. I really liked the Dracula of the beginning of the book:(

And what was all that non-sense Van Helsing waffled about?? Stoker should have left this stuff out! The book would have been much better without it!

[SleepyWitch]

i started reading it a couple of months back and at first I liked it a lot. but when I was halfway through and they were still taking ages to kill the vampire (and were stupid enough to leave Mina alone) I lost interest. will finish it someday....
having said that, I'm not a lover of horror books anyway, so my opinion doesn't count for much

[Dorian Doyle]

One of my favourite books. It is a classic, and not just 'another vampire story'.


I can only disagree about Dracula, besides evil he just stinks like a dead corpse. A Villain that is a villain - we do not even know well why exactly he is moving to england, he just wants it...

If you think Dracula is 'a villain', you didn't understand the aim of Stoker at all. Dracula is damned.

[Buh4Bee]

Really disliked the writing and the style it was presented in. The change in voice from character to character made me rather annoyed. The story was commendable, but at times so SLOW. I was fascinated by the first book. I thought it was brilliant and then was shocked by the change in voice with the emergence of Lucy's diary. I thought Lucy's character lack depth. You are correct that Dracula is damned- he is a demon after all. They say it's a love story, but it lacks any real profound passion.

I give it a thumbs down. But I also dislike Dorian Gray.

[JCamilo]

One of my favourite books. It is a classic, and not just 'another vampire story'.



If you think Dracula is 'a villain', you didn't understand the aim of Stoker at all. Dracula is damned.

Yes, please, enlight me, when was Dracula 'damned" (And since when a villain cannt be damned anyways)? His origem is not explained, in fact, he is one of the less explored characters of the book, his presence and the sense of evil that his acts generate is what Stoker explores. He just invades the characters life, taking what he wants wthout even a proper motivation to the point it is shown as elaborated allegory of xenophobia. Also the literary sources of Dracula (Carmilla, The Vampyr, etc also show a similar selfish villain.)

[LookStranger]

Firstly, a word about giving any book '10/10' in a review: this would mean that it is a perfect book. Literature might as well give up now, since all of its aims have been achieved in one handy three hundred page Gothic novel. Which isn't true of 'Dracula'.

In many ways, it is a fascinating novel. It draws upon the long traditions of Gothic and Romantic writing (the oldest vampire fiction is 'The Vampyre' by John Polidori, published in 1819), but is also rooted in its own historical context: nineteenth-century technologies are massively important in the book (telegrams, phonographs), and Dracula's presence in London embodies a fear of 'reverse colonisation' that was present as Britain's importance in the world arena diminished at the end of the Victorian era.

Dracula is not a demon in himself, he is a restless spirit of an undead person. A poignant moment at the end of the novel is when the person who became Dracula finally goes to his rest.

[Buh4Bee]

True, but he can't be redeemed. I figure this marks a person as damned.