The Bookish Island's Book Review:
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Are there spoilers?
This is a classic so I don't think a spoiler warning applies here.
But maybe there are some spoilers in this review.
But maybe there are some spoilers in this review.
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Title: Dracula
Author: Bram Stoker
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Pages: 448
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Published: 2005
Genre: Classics, Horror, Fiction, Fantasy, Vampires, Paranormal, Gothic
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Date Read: October 20 > October 2018
Rating: ★★★★☆
Bram Stoker's classic novel of suspense and horror was a bestseller in Britain when it was published in 1897. A late 20th-century biographer of Stoker has suggested that famed Victorian actor Henry Irving, for whom Stoker worked for many years, was an inspiration for some of Count Dracula's characteristics.
The Rating:
My Review:
I wanted to participate in the Spookathon and I choose to add this book to my tbr for that readathon. It fit perfectly in the challenge to read a book not set in our current time period.
I ended up truly enjoying myself when I was reading this book and when I finished I was so proud because I got to finish a huge book that was also in an older English language. Which has always been one of the most difficult for me to read.
I ended up deciding that I would split the rating for Dracula right in the midddle.
FOr me the first half of this story, where the narator is Johnathan Harker. And how he is telling Mina (and us, the reader) what is going on on his tavels to COunt Draculas Manor (or was it a castle) .Those chapters wee really good and thrilling. But when it came to the other half I was so confuzed and mixed up. Not only where thee too many htigs going on at once but Van Helsing was talking too much instead of jst telling eveyone what was going on plain and simple. And I got Mina and Luccy mixed up at first only to later get that they were completly different. And then the fact that Lucy's mom was a total dummy (and that's me writing it down in a PG sense)
The first half gets a 4 out of 5 stars.
Last half gets a 3 out of 5 stars.
Although in my Goodreads review I said the following:
I would have given it a solid four if it weren't for the last half of it is all over the place. At least for me, it was. The first half gets a good 4.5 though. The portrayal of vampires in this was amazing. But the portrayal of the female characters lacked so much. I even got Mina and Lucy mixed up more than once.
I give this spooky classic a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Still this is another book that I'm glad I read.
In regards to that review I posted. I no longer have those thoughts.
The female characters in Dracula were more than great. It was the men who overshadowed them and made them seem as lame as they were. Van Helsing alone ruined most of the book with his vague explanations of vampires and what was going on in the story. And Johnathan barely did anything constructive. It was Mina who was out there taking care of her best friend, Lucy and giving away her blood to save her. Knowing that it was probably too late and that she was already a goner. Even putting herself in harm's way to do so.
Although the whole blood transfusion thing was done so wrong. It terrified me more than the vampires. Think of the infections or diseases that were happening at the time the story is set in and then think of blood types and how if you get the wrong type of blood it can kill a person.
This made me queasy more than once as I was reading it.
So now that some months have passed since I've read it I think I'd prefer to give Dracula a 4 out of 5 stars. And would gladly read again in the future.
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