Reviews

Dracula by Bram Stoker

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lelo_501's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

madameroyale's review against another edition

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4.25

Given it’s such a classic, I expected this book to be totally impenetrable, but it ended up being such a fun read! The epistolary format is always a favorite of mine, and I liked all the various ways it was employed here. I knew nothing of the plot going in, so it was a surprise just how quickly our first narrator jumped to the vampire conclusion (really thought it would be a long road to that discovery). I definitely enjoyed the first quarter of the book the best, because it’s the most time we spend face-to-face with Dracula and I found his characterization surprisingly touching at times. I especially loved the ship captain’s log later in the book—that was an exceptional bit of horror writing that actually got under my skin a bit while I was listening in the middle of the night. The Duke Classics version is a great audiobook for this one—just don’t let that Texan accent throw you for too much of a loop like it did me. 😂

erikeckel's review against another edition

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1.0

Never a true vampire aficionado, I found Bram Stoker’s classic, Dracula, tiresome. I suspect the gothic novel’s enduring fastness is due in part to the many movies it inspired (the book’s never been out of print since the 1931 American movie released). That said, the book proves more intriguing when the antagonist is interpreted as an embodiment of the Freudian id or an indictment of capitalism.

eleanorblythe's review against another edition

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slow-paced

3.0

What a BITTER disappointment! The first 5-7 chapters are truly incredible. I was loving the setting, how weird The Count was acting, Jonathan exploring the castle and slowly piecing together what was happening. However…chapters 8-26 is a whooooooollllleeeee lot of absolutely nothing! It takes 18 chapters to say what could have been covered in 3-4. I appreciated the different perspectives and the background that builds, but oh my lord! I don’t need to hear the same conversation happening over and over and over again! Also all of these strangers sure did spent a lot of time saying how much they loved and cherished each other!

Where I became enraged though, is the final chapter (27) where I was listening to the same day repeating over and over I wasn’t entirely sure my audiobook wasn’t just rewinding itself, but the big confrontation, after all this build up to face down with Dracula…it’s in the final 5 minutes of the story and it’s SOOO ANTICLIMATIC. Considering how dangerous and powerful they’ve said Dracula is, all it takes is a quick stab and he disintegrates. I was livid. The book ended and I was genuinely confused that I’d missed something or there was another chapter that was missing from the audiobook. But, nope. He dies like a dog and then it’s over.

Also as a side note: I chose this audiobook because of the allure of Tim Curry (he does have 2nd billing) I will tell you now. He is barely in it. Van Helsing is in the book a lot, but the times we actually hear Tim Curry speak I think amounted to maybe 10-15 minutes…out of 15.5 hours… (and that’s me being generous) also a lot of his lines sounded like he was saying them for the first time?? It was just very odd and gross mis-advertising! I did enjoy Simon Vance as Jonathan Harker, I did not enjoy the voice actors for Mina or Lucy though, at all! (Lucy especially), I also feel like there wasn’t any coordination amongst the actors. The accents they were doing for different characters were all over the place, only one voice actor managed an American accent for Quincy, which was odd. All I can say is thank god I listened to this as I would have grown very bored and frustrated if I had to read it, knowing page after page is just filler and I would have given up very quickly.

In conclusion, if Dracula had been a short story about a man who gets trapped in a creepy castle in the middle of nowhere and slowly gets driven mad then killed/turned by a vampire, it would have been an excellent short story, as it was, it was an incredibly overwritten and far too repetitive, incredibly long story. I found myself saying “just get on with it” a fair bit throughout and it was very disappointing that the titular character is barely a presence in this book at all, it’s mostly about 5 strangers faffing around and saying how lovely and wonderful each other is. Such a let down!

dev_renae's review against another edition

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5.0

When I got to the halfway point, I was unsure how Bram Stoker was going to extend the story for over 200 more pages. He couldn’t possibly have transformed the slow-moving introduction into a suspenseful, edge-of-the-seat, page-turning conclusion.

I was mistaken.

I love books told from many points of view that are later melded together to create the full story. The intertwining of Jonathon Harker, Lucy Westenra, Mina (Murray) Harker, and Dr. Seward’s diaries gave the story depth. I believe that supplying the reader with several characters’ points of view helps to break up the monotony of a long tale.

The diary entries were chronologically entered and added a series of emotions to the story. During the last 150 pages or so I was hanging on ever word. The entries began to end more abruptly in preparation for the final scene.

Stoker’s “Dracula” is a captivating story of conquering fear to destroy an enemy for the ones you love.

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.