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A review by tl_white
Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, the Man Who Wrote Dracula by David J. Skal
2.0
This is not really a Bram Stoker biography. As others have mentioned the author spends a LOT of time on Oscar Wilde and Henry Irving as well as various other people who are in any way related to Stoker. And then after Stoker's death, he continues to discuss everything that is in any way related at all to Dracula. The author seems incapable of giving a succinct summary of who a person is and writes mini biographies for almost everyone. This is interspersed with random bouts of imagination.
"We don't know what words Wilde exchanged with the Stokers that night, but we can assume he always thought of Stoker as something of a prig-the priggishness covering a submerged self Wilde could imagine all too well. It would have been so very easy, at the interval, while complimenting Florence on what a newspaper described as her "marvelous evening wrap of striped brocade," to discreetly slip a carnation into Bram's pocket to be discovered later. When he undressed."
These little flights of fancy seem to occur at random and seem out of place. The people covered in the book are interesting, which made it readable despite the flaws. But if you're truly interested in Bram Stoker, I would suggest looking for a biography with better reviews.
"We don't know what words Wilde exchanged with the Stokers that night, but we can assume he always thought of Stoker as something of a prig-the priggishness covering a submerged self Wilde could imagine all too well. It would have been so very easy, at the interval, while complimenting Florence on what a newspaper described as her "marvelous evening wrap of striped brocade," to discreetly slip a carnation into Bram's pocket to be discovered later. When he undressed."
These little flights of fancy seem to occur at random and seem out of place. The people covered in the book are interesting, which made it readable despite the flaws. But if you're truly interested in Bram Stoker, I would suggest looking for a biography with better reviews.