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A review by thegrimhobbyist
Dracula by Bram Stoker
5.0
The first part of this book sucked me in and was surprisingly easy for me to read for a classic - I'm normally slow with my reading of classics. Soon as it hit the broken english of Van Helsing and classically educated Mina and Lucy, however, my struggles started up again. It's a nod towards Stoker's ability to generate different voices for each character, despite this all being written in journal and letter format. So, this is certainly no complaint on the book, just documenting my personal struggle.
It slowed me down and I kept putting it down for more easier reads, until finally I caved and found the audiobook version. I'm SO glad I chose to do this. Van Helsing and the other characters came to life thanks to Mark Gatiss narrating it. Instead of slowing down and struggling through the classical writing, I was able to be transported into this tragic yet surprisingly wholesome tale. Found family and lovers coming together to defeat a great evil vampire, what's not to love?
Okay, so I was a little frustrated by the men being slow in learning Mina and Lucy were in trouble, but I suppose the story would have been so much shorter and so less tragic if they weren't oblivious. And without spoiling too much, I also understand why there's so many retellings of Dracula, because that ending was a bit... Well, it was definitely intense, but also mildly disappointing? I don't know, I had a lot of emotions by the end. Including tears. I was tearing up at the end, thanks to the performance of the narrator of my audiobook.
So while it wasn't PERFECT, it was still amazing enough to warrant five stars and to recommend to those who haven't read this classic yet. Just do the audiobook version. Plenty out there narrated by great voice actors for you to get transported into this story without having to personally struggle through the classic writing style. I might read all my classics this way, honestly.
It slowed me down and I kept putting it down for more easier reads, until finally I caved and found the audiobook version. I'm SO glad I chose to do this. Van Helsing and the other characters came to life thanks to Mark Gatiss narrating it. Instead of slowing down and struggling through the classical writing, I was able to be transported into this tragic yet surprisingly wholesome tale. Found family and lovers coming together to defeat a great evil vampire, what's not to love?
Okay, so I was a little frustrated by the men being slow in learning Mina and Lucy were in trouble, but I suppose the story would have been so much shorter and so less tragic if they weren't oblivious. And without spoiling too much, I also understand why there's so many retellings of Dracula, because that ending was a bit... Well, it was definitely intense, but also mildly disappointing? I don't know, I had a lot of emotions by the end. Including tears. I was tearing up at the end, thanks to the performance of the narrator of my audiobook.
So while it wasn't PERFECT, it was still amazing enough to warrant five stars and to recommend to those who haven't read this classic yet. Just do the audiobook version. Plenty out there narrated by great voice actors for you to get transported into this story without having to personally struggle through the classic writing style. I might read all my classics this way, honestly.