Rating: Summary: Dracula Falls Short of Expectations Review: I am fond of Bram Stoker's method of retelling the tale of Dracula from the vantage point of many different characters via their journals. At times however, these journal entries became rather wordy with extraneous information. I am glad that some of the characters' hopes and fears are explicity expressed, but then others' are not which is disappointing. The main female character, Mina Harker, is treated as an equal to the male characters (she was praised for her typing skills and her courage) and at the same time thought of as delicate and someone that needs protecting. It is a rather confused example for women's liberation to say the least. And my last comment deals with the fact that the ending falls horribly flat. All this suspense is built up, then in the final climatic scene (man vs monster) there's no struggle and it's all over very quickly without the extreme details given in the previous scenes. I expected something more from a "Classic" horror novel.
Rating: Summary: The book, like its namesake, is timeless! Review: I read Dracula many years ago, and the beginning chapters still haunt my memory today. While I was reading the one negative review of the book here, I was reminded of the story of the person who just recently saw Hamlet for the first time. After the play when asked how he liked it he replied, "It was alright, but it had too many cliches." To complain about how Dracula met his end in the original book, is like reading North and South and wondering who's going to win the war. Or watching Titanic and being surprised that the ship sinks. In my mind the flowery Victorian style only adds to the horror. By todays standards many will find the book lame and unexciting, but it caused a minor sensation when first published. The fact that it is still in print over 100 years later is a testament to its literary merit.
Rating: Summary: A great horror book that keeps you wanting to read on. Review: "Dracula" is a book that I think most readers will enjoy. It is filled with action, suspense, drama, mystery, even a little comedy; but above all, it is filled with horror. This book is one of the most read classics in the entiire world which all readers will appreciate. People who enjoy horror books will especially like it. Event after event is filled with action packed excitement that never stops. There is so much action and suspense that I had a hard time putting the book down at night when it was time to go to bed. I kept thinking about the book even after I had put it down for the time being. Read all about the unforgetable characters and the struggle to kill Dracula in Bram Stoker's famous book "Dracula": the lunatic in the "madhouse" who eats flies and spiders; the sweet caring Arthur who cares so much for his fiancee, Lucy, when she is sick and dying; and Dr. Seward and Dr. Van Helsing, who try to help Lucy conquer her illness. Then there is Jonathan, who stays at the Count's house and continually tries to get out. Mina is his wife who lives through the death of Lucy. Everyone will enjoy the terrific characters that Stoker has made up. The story begins at Dracula's castle in Transylvania as Jonathan stays with the Count. By the time Jonathan has left the castle, he realizes that there is something a little odd about Dracula. He tells Mina, his fiancee, and the word is shortly spread around. Meanwhile, there were some events that reinforced Jonathan's statement. Dr. Seward, Dr. Van Helsing, and Quincy Morris realize that Dracula is a vampire, and so they soon start trying to kill him. Read more to find out what the events were that lead up to the realization that Dracula is a vampire, and how, or if, they even kill him. To know, you must read!
Rating: Summary: A bit slow but excellent!! Review: i read dracula and and the first 4 chapters of Harker's journal were perfect. then it slowed down and the reader was able to catch there breath. once dracula reached england it starts up and never stops. an excellent read!
Rating: Summary: Don't read it alone and at night. Review: Stoker is and always will be the master of horror. His descriptions of Count Dracula and his menacing castle are excellent. He also draws on the reader's imagination so the characters and scenes seem to materialize in the dead of night. It is wonderful and spellbinding.
Rating: Summary: AN AMAZING MUST READ CLASSIC TO THE GENRE Review: The only Vampire book you'll ever need to read. This book is amazing. I couldn't stop reading it, and that's amazing for me. This is the first time I've ever finished a book over 400 pages in two and a half days. READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating: Summary: You get clinged to the pages! Review: Bram Stoker REALLY knew what he was doing when he wrote Dracula. It is the kind of book where you can not put it down untill you are absolutly satisfied. It really told the story well and left out boring details that some people tend to really gripe. It definitly was my favorite book this year!! Don't wait any longer... READ IT!
Rating: Summary: Intriguing for its times, but tedious by today's standards. Review: If you've always been intrigued by the Dracula phenomenon, then you'll enjoy saying you've read the book that started it all. But don't expect to enjoy actually reading it. It's nothing like the old movies, and that's not necessarily a good thing.Stoker takes what was a bold and shocking topic in his time, and, after a riveting introduction that leaves the reader hoping for more dark excitement, turns it into a wordy, sappy Victorian story of bland idealism in the face of a vague, unworldly evil. Stoker misses many of the fundamentals that provide the backdrop for a true epic. Just what does the Count look like? Where did he come from? What rendered him immortal? None of these topics are addressed in satisfying depth. Stoker's presentation of the various characters' journal entries and personal letters in chronological order holds great potential for providing numerous unique perspectives on the Dracula saga. That potential is wasted, however, as each chapter is written in the same syrupy, grandiose Victorian tone. Stoker has a poor sense of actual human speech, as the lead vampire hunter, a supposedly highly educated and worldly Dutch psychiatrist, nonetheless speaks English sans verb conjugations and tenses. And each male character launches at least once into a page-long homily that professes his undying, holy, chivalrous, and pure (...yawn...) love for the main female character, whom they have all sworn to protect. By the end, I found myself just wishing that Dracula would die already, which he ultimately does, in the most mundane and least surprising way possible. The ending was, in fact, so predicable and so clumsily foreshadowed, that reading the last half of Dracula is really a waste of time.
Rating: Summary: Best Classic Gothic Horror Ever! Review: This is such a great scary novel. It ranks up there with Psycho (the movie). Both are old and not very high-tech, but much better and scarier than any new horror novel! Everyone should read this!
Rating: Summary: Interestingly informative but a touch sanctimonious Review: On the whole it's an enthralling tale which begins well, yet ends disappointingly. The religious aspect with which the book is tinged tends to get in the way and the character of Mina is infuriatingly sanctimonious. If you can bear this, then it's a great read.
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