A review by madameroyale
Dracula by Bram Stoker

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. 😂