Dracula (Penguin Classics)

Rating:
Summary: Poor me!
Review:
I haven't read this very novel, I mean, I read Dracula but not in the here Penguin edition, and of course I am upset now because I would have loved to have had this Munch painting on it! Anyway, I'll get over it don't worry.

As to the novel itself, I'll say that it is very interesting in its structures (characters writing the book themselves), epistolary stuff and diaries. However, there are things that are incoherent in this novel, things that were intelligently corrected in Coppola's version of it. I am talking about the incredible LUCK Dracula has that he should run into exactly this guy's fiancee when he comes to England and all the other not-so-coherent things there are. In the movie that flaw is filled. In fact, I was very disappointed in Dracula's treatment as a character, there is virtually nothing about his origins, that was a bummer to me because I was very much expecting some deeper stuff on this issue: why he came to be what he is, the reasons behind it, etc. Instead there is just nada. In the movie you get the idea that love is behind this, love turned bitter but at least there is a reason, Dracula denies God and life because he has lost what was dearest to him, his love. There is no such person in the present book, sadly. As a result Dracula in the book is your basic evil guy without a cause, very flat. That was my big big disappointment to me.

Rating:
Summary: The vampire novel!
Review: Actually Dracula does not need a lot of explanation. Everybody must have experienced at least once the myth of Count Dracula in any form: film, television or book. No character has ever ignited so much imagination than the Chief Vampire of Transylvania. It is absolutely no surprise that this book is still read by thousands of people worldwide.

The narrative unfolds itself by combining letters, newspaper clippings, journal entries and even phonograph records. This certainly adds to the mysterious atmosphere that dominates the first half of the book, but turns a bit against the story when the action really starts. Simply by reading a letter written by Miss Mina Murray, you are already informed that Mina will survive the struggle described by her. Technically this method also puts extra constraints on the author. Knowing this, it is fun to see how many tricks Stoker needed to keep the flow of letters going. At one point in the story he has to send Doctor Van Helsing back home, just so he can respond with a letter. Of course, it would have been quite silly to have two people writing each other letters while they are living in the same house.

The story itself is very powerful, but to modern readers it is often perceived as being dense and overcrowded with details. This is typical to Victorian novels, in which the women are always tender and caring and the men brave and intelligent. It seems that these conclusions have to be underlined on every page of the book. Still Bram Stoker succeeds in winning the attention of the reader by supplying an unprecedented richness to the story. The plot is filled with unexpected twists, remarkable action sequences and rather eerie -sometimes almost erotic- confrontations with evil entities. No situation is left unused to heighten the mystery. Even for the spoiled modern reader, some lugubrious scenes can still be experienced as hair-raising; a treat that most modern novels can't claim so easily.

Keeping in mind that this is a typical Victorian extravaganza and that the story suffers a bit under its form, one can but only admit that Dracula must be 'the' classic vampire novel. Although there is a lot of 'derived' work on the market, no one can truly claim to know the legend of Dracula without having read Bram Stoker's novel.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Riveting Tale!
Review: I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I, of course was expecting to read something similar to the movie 'Dracula' that I had seen. While there are some similarities, the book is immensely better. I guess that it would be hard to convey all the emotions of an individuals character 'on screen'.

This extremely well written tale is written in a series of diaries. Everything that we read is someones diary, relating all of the events that are unfolding. I found myself unable to read this novel at night, as I was 'fearful'. I do not think that a novel or movie has to be 'gory' to convey a message of 'horror', it can be done with suggestive words and the type of enviroment that a character is in.

Unlike the movie, we are not made to feel for Dracula. We see him for the bloodsucking fiend that he is. There is no love or romance between him and the dedicated Mina. The 'slayer' Van Helsing is as witty as ever as are all the rest of the important characters. This tale unfolds quite nicely and is very enjoyable.

If you are looking for an interesting and well written read, then I recommend this riveting tale.

Rating:
Summary: One of the SCARIEST novels ever written
Review: I will you, this has to be one of the scariest novels I have ever read...and reviewed! The beginning, for those who live on the '30's film, begins as JONATHAN HARKER, not Renfield,
goes to Trans. On a bussiness trip to Count Dracula's home,
he discovers the horrible truth of his host.
In the city of London, or Whitby, the effects are taking thier
place on Mina Murray, Harker's fiancee. Not to mention
her friend, Lucy Westenra falling ill mysteriously.
They call upon Van Helsing, and as John comes home,
The set out to exterminate the vampire,
but not before he takes another victim....

MINA.

Now the story is deep. Eventually, the kill him, (stake, etc.)
And after an Afterward by John, the book ends.
Truly scary. READ THIS BOOK, people.

Rating:
Summary: Someone sucked the blood out of the second half of the book!
Review: Let's just say that Brad Pitt was right in "Interview with the Vampire" when asked about Dracula in saying "Vulgar fictions of a demented Irishman".
I am giving it three stars because Stoker in the first part of the book estabilished himself as a pioneer in the genre, with the atmospheric description of Transylvania and Dracula's castle.
There he was clearly describing his nocturnal fears in a sublime uninfluential way, but when events transfer to England then he gets into such a confused mix of Christian morality and a rambling of personal issues (especially when describing women-men relationships) that i could hardly get to the end.
Overall the rotten apple in the end ruined the whole bunch, for me at least.

Rating:
Summary: Someone sucked the blood out of the second half of the book!
Review: Let's just say that Brad Pitt was right in "Interview with the Vampire" when asked about Dracula in saying "Vulgar fictions of a demented Irishman".
I am giving it three stars because Stoker in the first part of the book estabilished himself as a pioneer in the genre, with the atmospheric description of Transylvania and Dracula's castle.
There he was clearly describing his nocturnal fears in a sublime uninfluential way, but when events transfer to England then he gets into such a confused mix of Christian morality and a rambling of personal issues (especially when describing women-men relationships) that i could hardly get to the end.
Overall the rotten apple in the end ruined the whole bunch, for me at least.

Rating:
Summary: Believe it or not...
Review: PHONOGRAPH DIARY
SPOKEN BY VAN HELSING
November 8 - Ooh...for a long time during my old age he remain yonder, as Friend Quincey would say, but now he swell up at thought of Madam Lucy and Madam Mina together. He...Mein Gott! I did not realize I was recording!
This is the story of couragious men, woman with man-brain, and undead with child-brain. From Transylvania to London and back on ship, our heroes traverse much to rid the world of unabiding evil, a most fractious beast. However, I stop now, though my impulse tells me to disclose more, I tell him no.

Rating:
Summary: The one that started it all
Review: This is the original Dracula, the one that started it all. However, after years of Hollywood movies showing us what the Count "should" look like, reading this book can come as a little bit of a shocker as there are many (and I do mean *many*) differences from this story to the ones that the movies portray.

The Count is physically very different from the debonair looking, eyebrow rising, cow-licked hairstyle, tuxedo wearing vampire that Bela Lugosi made famous. He looks more like Count Orlock from the F. Murnau film 'Nosferatu'.

If you have seen Francis Ford Coppola's film, you have seen the closest approximation to the story the novel tells, as many of the events are portrayed similarly to those on the book, yet, the usual 'creative liberties' are taken in order to make the film more fluid.

Be warned that the book is written as a number of diary entries or letters from the different characters of the story, and that this being a book written at the waning years of the 19th century, the language used can sometimes seem confusing.

It's not as fluid a reading as you would expect from the first vampire story, but nonetheless a great book and certainly one of the classics that everybody should include in their collection.