Dracula

Rating:
Summary: Stoker's Dracula
Review: Bram Stoker uses the journals and letters of his characters to outline the plot and make the reader anticipate with curiosity what will happen next. Stoker also uses dialect that corresponds perfectly to the characters. He moves from the distinguished wit of the Dr. Van Helsing to the humorously ignorant tone of the minor characters and then captures the innocence and feminine dialect of Mina Harker and Lucy Westenra. Stoker describes Dracula's mansion in Transylvania with an impeccable brilliance. He explains every detail from the dark morbid corridors to the dusty banisters. When Stoker leads the reader into the character of Dracula he does so by painting a precise and horryfying image of Dracula. He captures every thing from his red eyes to his sharp pointed teeth. Dracula is an unusually evil and yet mysterious all the way through. Despite the novel being obviously fiction, Stoker keeps the reader hanging on every detail to make the novel seemingly real. In what is one of the most influential novels ever, Stoker haunts the reader with his most famous creation, Dracula.

Rating:
Summary: Started great and then sank!
Review: When the main character was in the Count's castle I had a great time! I thought, this book is great, it can only get better, boy was I wrong. It went to London, and stayed there too long, the dead woman thing dragged on way to long. I didn't even finish it. I'm willing to give it another chance latter but for now, forget it.

Rating:
Summary: Dracula--Good to the Last Drop
Review: After finishing Bram Stoker's Dracula, I was satisfied I had just read an excellent novel. Although it was a very lengthy twenty-seven chapters, I worked my way through it without a lot of difficulty comprehending the storyline. After reading Dracula, I felt the need to get up, lock the doors around the house, check the windows, and bury my head beneath the covers. Dracula has no central narrator. Instead, it brings together a number of different perspectives by combining newspaper clippings, letters, telegrams, and the diaries of various characters. Jonathan Harker, a young English lawyer, is the first character to meet Count Dracula, the novel's main villain who is a wealthy Transylvanian nobleman. The Count is also a vampire. Harker keeps a journal written in shorthand, but his entries are very meticulous, keeping exact details of what went on during the day. For example, on "3May. Bistritz.--Left Munich at 8:35 p.m. on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late . . ." His journals record the essential facts of his journey from Bistritz to the Borgo Pass,where he is met by Count Dracula's carriage, as well as recording the facts of his arrival and stay at thge Cast Dracula. He also records what he thinks, sees, and eats, even jotting down a couple of reminders to himself to get recipes for Mina Murray, his fiancee. From reading Harker's journal, it is clear that he is a very logical and organized thinker. He arrives in Transylvania to do some legal work for Count Dracula, but soon finds the behavior of his host threatening. Dracula casts no reflection in the mirror, and when Harker cuts himself shaving, the Count makes a lunge for his throat. Harker discovers that all the castle doors are locked, and that he is a prisoner. Dracula finishes his preparations for moving to London and departs, leaving Harker alone. The novel left me in suspense about Harker's fate as the scene shifts to England and the story of Mina Murray and Lucy Westenra is introduced. The story in the following chapters is presented through journal entries of various characters, as well as by newspaper articles and even a ship's log. Westenra, Murray's best friend, is wealthier and more flirtatious than Murray, who is a brave and resourceful young woman. Murray goes to visit Westenra in Whitby, where a mysterious ship arrives in a terrible storm, with only a dead man for crew and Dracula's fifty boxes of earth on board. There are several other strange occurrences at Whitby. Murray grows increasingly worried about Harker, who has not written her for some time, and Westenra begins to walk in her sleep. One night Westenra sleepwalks and goes outside to a spot by the sea. Murray follows and, when she arrives, she catches a glimpse of a dark figure bending over Westenra. Murray gets Westenra back to the house and notices two small puncture wounds on her throt. Over the next few days, Westenra appears to contract some kind of illness. Murray receives a letter telling her that Harker is in a Budapest hospital recovering from a "violent brain fever." She rushes to Hungary and they are married. Harker can remember nothing of his terrible experience, and I never found out how he escaped from Dracula's castle. For me, the most intriguing character is Mina Murray, or, I should say, Mina Harker, since she married Jonathan. Her concern that her best friend Lucy was sleepwalking and her attempt to follow her were admirable. The night that Lucy walked into the churchyard and sat down on the bench, Mina saw that there was a dark figure standing over Lucy. Mina tried to get a better look at the figure, and its head turned toward her, revealing red, glowing eyes. To be honest, if I were Mina in that position, I probably would have been too frightened to move from my spot and go help my best friend. But Mina is brave, and she does not want her friend to get hurt, so she gets to Lucy and the dark figure is gone. Since Lucy is only wearing her nightgown, Mina takes off her slippers and lets Lucy wear them all the way back to the house so that she does not hurt herself on the gravel in her bare feet. Like any novel, Dracula has its pros and cons. The first chapters were a little slow for a typical high school student; in other words, nothing very exciting happens. The numerous characters and the news clippings were a little confusing, but the prose style was clear, although the vocabulary was a little sophisticated and Stoker probably wrote for an adult audience. Bram Stoker's Dracula is the best novel I have ever read, and it is the only suspense novel that kept my heart pumping. At first, reading the book seemed like a "pain in the neck" with over five hundred pages to go. However, I soon discovered it was worth my time. If you've not read Dracula, order a copy as soon as you have a free moment, and then on some dark, stormy summer night, build a fire, grab a blanket, and read--every word is good to the last drop!

Rating:
Summary: Good stuff!
Review: Bram Stoker is a very talented author. He displys a variety of characters in an exciting plot. I don't think Dracula is Vlad the impaler. As the book clearly states, he's one man. The movie says differently. this book is written about an exotic place, and a elegant period of time. The book has no pique. The mystery and intrigue goes through the whole story. I could hardly put it down! It finishes clearly and doesn't leave you confused. Definetly not disappointed!

Rating:
Summary: Good, but there is better out there
Review: The book certainly has its powerful moments. But I was disappointed with the cliche writing. The characters at times risk being plastic. I am sorry there are no half stars available in the rating. I would give it a 2 and a half, rather than a 2.

Rating:
Summary: A Legend Comes Alive
Review: As a literature devotee, this novel amazes me! Not only is it a wonderful read, but to think that a person can take a legend and really bring it alive is truly something to think about. Although most movies that recreate the story of Dracula on film keep it up to date with the times, nothing is like this novel written in the 19th century! Count Dracula is introduced in the beginning of the story, as Jonathan Harker comes to realize the true horror of this man (or thing?). Through the journals of all the characters, the reader comes to understand what is going on before they do, yet we are kept in suspense throughout the whole novel. All in all, I would highly recommend this novel to anyone!

Rating:
Summary: Still thrilling!
Review: The novel "Dracula" is written by Bram Stoker, in 1897. It begins with Jonathan Harker, a solicitor. He's travelling to Transylvania to Count Dracula. The Count bought houses all over London from Jonathan Harker's firm (he wants to search for new victims there, but of course Harker doesn't know that) and wants Harker to tell him all about English customs, traditions and the English language. But there are a lot of mysterious things going on at the Count's castle and Harker realizes soon, who Count Dracula really is: a vampire who drinks the blood of the living and makes them become vampires, too. Somehow Harker manages to escape from the castle, but that was not the last time he saw Dracula......... (I'm not gonna tell you the end...:))

One thing I liked was that Stoker described everything very detailed. That made it very scary and spooky and you can imagine it better. For example Chapter II, on page 28, where Stoker describes the Count precise and exact. Also the descriptions of the castle, of Transylvania's landscape and of the tombs were excellent. Although Stoker didn't describe too much, you can also use your imagination.

The book is divided into several diary entries, letters and newspaper articles. They all are written in the "Ich-Perspektive" and in a "personales Erzählverhalten", but by different persons. I like stories which are written in the "Ich-Perspektive" because you are able to sympathize with the people better. Sometimes stories which are written in this perspective are kind of one-sided or biased but this story wasn't because each letter or diary entry was made by a different person (the point of view changed with every letter, entry,...) and you read narratives from many different characters. So you could see each character's point of view even though Stoker used the "Ich-Perspektive". He wrote it really well, I never got mixed up because of the different points of view, you always had an overview and the parts weren't confusing. The reader was able to find an own opinion and was not influenced by the narrator as it often happens when just one person tells the story with only his or her point of view (in "Ich-Perspektive").

There was one part I didn't like: Why did Stoker left out Harker's escape from Dracula's castle? I think it would be very interesting to know how he ran away from there and while I was reading the book I always wondered when Stoker was going to tell about Harker's escape. Well, now you can imagine how he did that............. But this part which was left out by him could also be very exciting.

Something that was at first strange and new to me was the old/older language Stokers used ,of course. There were some words I didn't know, but of course you can make sense of them when you read the context and it was not that difficult. Difficult to understand was the dialect or accent some of the people had. For example the captain of the "Czarina Catherine" Jonathan Harker met at the end. It was not very easy to understand him, but it was interesting.

It would be also interesting to know Dracula's point of view and his thoughts and why he became the "King of the Vampires" (it's mentioned in the movie I saw, but not in the book), perhaps Stoker could have added one diary entry from Dracula!?

The story is timeless, the people read it more than hundred years ago and they also read it today, it's still frightening and thrilling. The book was hard to put down, I just couldn't stop reading, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I know that the story has inspired many movies and other stories, but I don't think they're as good as the "real" Dracula. I saw one movie (the one with Keanu Reeves) and even though it was made really good and thrilling it was not as good as Stoker's novel, which was, of course also more detailed.

Rating:
Summary: Haemosexuality
Review: This is a fictional account of a little known psychological and physiological illness known as haemosexuality. The term haemo or hemo refers to the red blood pigment hemoglobin. The symptoms described are the archetype for the illness. Besides, this is a great book to read.

Rating:
Summary: A Deathless Tale of the Undead
Review: I was introduced to Dracula as a child watching Bela Lugosi portray the Count on the late night horror show "Shock Theater". This began a semi-fascination with vampire movies which continues to this day. I've not seen all the Dracula movies, but I'd seen dozens before I read the novel after graduating college. Nothing I've ever seen on the screen compares to Bram Stoker's original story. The story, which is told in the format of journal entries, letters, and newspaper clippings, engrossed me and carried me headlong to the final chapter.

The power of Stoker's written masterpiece exceeds the power of any screen production by a power of 10. Film isn't even the second most powerful medium for Dracula. The Naxos Audiobooks production of Dracula features a full cast but retains the format of the book. Different actors speak the journal entries of the various parties, with dialog and action being dramatized. Audio plays have been called "the theater of the mind", and that description well suits the Naxos production of Dracula. All in all, the audio play gives a satisfying way to experience the legend of Dracula.

Rating:
Summary: One of the top 20 greatest novels!
Review: I think Dracula is one of the greatest novels ever written! I love the diary format as well.