Reviews - Dracula The Original by Bram Stoker

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Dracula The Original by Bram Stoker

“Devils or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not; we fight him all the same.”

I didn’t read Dracula in the traditional way. Instead, I participated in Dracula Daily, where you get sent an email in real time containing each part of Dracula on the corresponding day it happens. And I loved it. I’m so glad I read it this way. I got to experience the novel in the exact timeline that the characters experienced it, spent as much time with them as they spent with each other, and I honestly wouldn’t have wanted my first experience of Dracula to have been any other way.

As for that actual novel, there’s a reason it’s a classic. The characters are wonderful, and oftentimes I’d argue even ahead of their time with regard to things like feminism (only slightly though). The relationships between them are surprisingly compelling and it is perhaps fitting that in a novel so much about monsters humanity is at the fore.

The various settings of this novel are vivid, the various events realistic, the narrative immersive. It’s still a classic, and thus laborious to read at times, but it was never not compelling. I got lost in the story so many times.

After spending so much time with these characters I was so genuinely sad when the book ended, in a way I haven’t been for a long time. I’m not sure whether this is a result of great writing or the fact that I read the book over the timespan it takes place or a mixture of both, but I found myself missing them when there would be no entry for the day. I feel like these characters are my friends (and I miss them!) and, for a classic, that is an incredible feat indeed.

So, what a book! I can’t believe I’d never read Dracula before this but, again, I’m so glad I read it in this way. If you’re looking to read Dracula I can’t recommend Dracula Daily enough - it starts in May and ends in November and is such a wonderful way to experience a book like this.

cmitch819's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Continuing with my summer of vampire media by reading one of the original vampire stories, and boy was this one a doozy. I tend to enjoy classic literature and in fact I was really intrigued by the themes explored in this book (and on a meta level, what they revealed about the author), and there were parts of this I really did enjoy. I liked the format of journal entries and other relevant text-based media for a horror novel, and I got really into it after Jonathan’s initial journal entries when we had multiple points of view occurring at the same time. This edition also opens with a discussion of Stoker’s potential homosexuality as well as his views on religion and sex in general which added a lot to the experience of reading, I feel like there are many themes being dealt with in the book (both intentional and unintentional) that I find really fascinating as a look into the thoughts and values of someone from this time period.

Unfortunately, it just goes on forever. I understand that classic novels will do this (I am a Jane Austen fan), but something about the style here (or maybe the fact that it’s meant to be suspenseful in a way that Austen novels are not) really started getting to me after Lucy’s death and I kind of started skimming. I don’t regret reading this and I still think it’s a great concept and story, made even more interesting when considering historical context, but it just was a bit too much for me personally to handle.