Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
medium-paced
The scariest thing about this book is how Stoker was obviously so insecure about his manhood that over and over he made the only two female characters wax lyrical over how wonderful men are compared to poor weak women.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
"Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?" Oh Lucy, how right you are.
Truly, a beautiful read. I love how its all letters and journal entries.
Cleanses your brain, type of read.
Truly, a beautiful read. I love how its all letters and journal entries.
Cleanses your brain, type of read.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Perhaps there is no better example of the inherent reactionary element to the horror genre. Stoker's melting pot of late-Victorian symbolism has been analysed ad nauseam, but it bears repeating just how wide his net is cast. Religious beliefs hold steadfast against the monster—Christian concepts of course, including especially the sanctity of (Christ's) blood, but also folklorish idolatry which is oddly pre-Moses. Together this seems to run counter to the Enlightenment, crucifixes and etc. placed beside the scientific method in terms of efficacy. And of course there is much to be said of how the novel plays on fears of sexuality: Harker longing to be penetrated by the teeth of a woman, plus all that sucking. (I found the description of Dracula forcing Mina to swallow blood dripping from his side, even today, to be quite disturbing, although mostly for its non-consent.)
But this latter point broadens to a fear of women's(/non-hetero) sexuality—and thus independence—in general. The novel is deeply serious about chivalry and the roles of men and women. One can sense the sardonicism with which Stoker writes, first-person via a female character: 'Some of the "New Woman" writers will some day start an idea that men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or accepting. But I suppose the New Woman won't condescend in future to accept; she will do the proposing herself.' Lucy as a vampire is the satiric extreme of the New Woman, and in being scared of her, then gladdened to see her rendered back to a virgin in death proper, destined for Heaven, we are complicit in this conservatism. Mina, on the other hand, is showered almost comically with words of admiration by all for remaining chaste.
Count Dracula himself serves as an amalgam of all of the above, in his gender-bending sexuality and anti-Christian sensibilities, but he's also a racialised figure. It's not hard to point out the vaguely Eastern and sometimes anti-Semitic aspects of his descriptions, which culminates in a panic about race-mixing and racial invasion with his multiplying army of 'Un-Dead'. Bring in nascent scepticism over a United States which has survived Civil War more than a century on from independence—'If America can go on breeding men like [Quincey Morris], she will be a power in the world indeed'—and we sense a waning British Empire scanning foes east and west. The touch of Stoker's Irish heritage remains curiously subtle.
In form, it is an epistolary novel with collages of other media. This conceit is quite clever, associating us first with Harker in an almost condensed gothic pastiche, then leaving us and characters alike with fragments—correspondences, diary entries, news reports, memories. This puzzle is made up of no primary sources, much less the accepted objectivity of most narration in fiction; in one instance, we read a journal clipping of a news report of a translation of a ship's logbook of a series of attacks by the Count. By studying the same papers as Van Helsing and the rest, we readers can be said to be in the protagonists' position more truly than can perhaps be said most anywhere else. A certain brotherhood and teamwork is established with the shared narration and alignment of understanding ahead of the final task; and by the same token, an imbalance with Mina fighting for a voice amidst the boys.
Alas it meanders after the incidents with Lucy, never quite satisfying hints towards a climax. Maybe there is a Christian message in this. But while no filmed version can capture the novel's structure and cumulative power, it may also be that Murnau's Nosferatu achieved what Stoker did not: a sustained 'symphony of horror'.
But this latter point broadens to a fear of women's(/non-hetero) sexuality—and thus independence—in general. The novel is deeply serious about chivalry and the roles of men and women. One can sense the sardonicism with which Stoker writes, first-person via a female character: 'Some of the "New Woman" writers will some day start an idea that men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or accepting. But I suppose the New Woman won't condescend in future to accept; she will do the proposing herself.' Lucy as a vampire is the satiric extreme of the New Woman, and in being scared of her, then gladdened to see her rendered back to a virgin in death proper, destined for Heaven, we are complicit in this conservatism. Mina, on the other hand, is showered almost comically with words of admiration by all for remaining chaste.
Count Dracula himself serves as an amalgam of all of the above, in his gender-bending sexuality and anti-Christian sensibilities, but he's also a racialised figure. It's not hard to point out the vaguely Eastern and sometimes anti-Semitic aspects of his descriptions, which culminates in a panic about race-mixing and racial invasion with his multiplying army of 'Un-Dead'. Bring in nascent scepticism over a United States which has survived Civil War more than a century on from independence—'If America can go on breeding men like [Quincey Morris], she will be a power in the world indeed'—and we sense a waning British Empire scanning foes east and west. The touch of Stoker's Irish heritage remains curiously subtle.
In form, it is an epistolary novel with collages of other media. This conceit is quite clever, associating us first with Harker in an almost condensed gothic pastiche, then leaving us and characters alike with fragments—correspondences, diary entries, news reports, memories. This puzzle is made up of no primary sources, much less the accepted objectivity of most narration in fiction; in one instance, we read a journal clipping of a news report of a translation of a ship's logbook of a series of attacks by the Count. By studying the same papers as Van Helsing and the rest, we readers can be said to be in the protagonists' position more truly than can perhaps be said most anywhere else. A certain brotherhood and teamwork is established with the shared narration and alignment of understanding ahead of the final task; and by the same token, an imbalance with Mina fighting for a voice amidst the boys.
Alas it meanders after the incidents with Lucy, never quite satisfying hints towards a climax. Maybe there is a Christian message in this. But while no filmed version can capture the novel's structure and cumulative power, it may also be that Murnau's Nosferatu achieved what Stoker did not: a sustained 'symphony of horror'.
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I loved this. Bram stoker you have made a fan of me from beyond the grave
Jan 2025- this book is mastery to me. The amount of commentary it tackles on different subjects so interesting to me. The way it’s written is amazing. Mina Harker is the most underrated heroine of all time. My goat. My favorite book of all time I think
Jan 2025- this book is mastery to me. The amount of commentary it tackles on different subjects so interesting to me. The way it’s written is amazing. Mina Harker is the most underrated heroine of all time. My goat. My favorite book of all time I think
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No