Rating: 
Summary: Often imitated "Dracula" is still THE book about vampires
Review: "Dracula" is not a great novel, it is just a great story. Stoker's device of trying to let all of the characters tell their own story in the first person gets a bit trite after a while, but what is important here is that he sets the rules for what everybody knows about vampires. The first half of the book, while the Count entertains Jonathan Harker and first comes to London and preys upon Lucy and Mina, is the best part of the book. The final chase and staking of Dracula ends up being somewhat anticlimatic. Still, I think this book reads better than "Frankenstein." Oh, and I do know enough about science to recognize that someone drained of blood cannot receive a transfusion from everybody. A minor error given the times, but it still makes me smile. "Dracula" remains the standard by which Anne Rice and the rest who have followed in his footsteps are necessarily judged.
Rating: 
Summary: Harrowing at times; boring at others
Review: "Dracula" is not a great novel, it is just a great story. Stoker's device of trying to let all of the characters tell their own story in the first person gets a bit trite after a while, but what is important here is that he sets the rules for what everybody knows about vampires. The first half of the book, while the Count entertains Jonathan Harker and first comes to London and preys upon Lucy and Mina, is the best part of the book. The final chase and staking of Dracula ends up being somewhat anticlimatic. Still, I think this book reads better than "Frankenstein." Oh, and I do know enough about science to recognize that someone drained of blood cannot receive a transfusion from everybody. A minor error given the times, but it still makes me smile. "Dracula" remains the standard by which Anne Rice and the rest who have followed in his footsteps are necessarily judged.
Rating:
Summary: Often imitated "Dracula" is still THE book about vampires
Review: "Dracula" is not a great novel, it is just a great story. Stoker's device of trying to let all of the characters tell their own story in the first person gets a bit trite after a while, but what is important here is that he sets the rules for what everybody knows about vampires. The first half of the book, while the Count entertains Jonathan Harker and first comes to London and preys upon Lucy and Mina, is the best part of the book. The final chase and staking of Dracula ends up being somewhat anticlimatic. Still, I think this book reads better than "Frankenstein." Oh, and I do know enough about science to recognize that someone drained of blood cannot receive a transfusion from everybody. A minor error given the times, but it still makes me smile. "Dracula" remains the standard by which Anne Rice and the rest who have followed in his footsteps are necessarily judged.
Rating: 
Summary: Patrick @ Richview Middle School
Review: Dracula is a dark story of historical horror. It is a fiction book based on journals, letters, and thoughts of the people who are linked together by one another. It gives the diaries and journals of Dr. Seward an English man that owns an insane asylum, Jonathan Harker an engaged man who witnesses Dracula's evil secrets before any other major character, Lucy Westenra a young girl who is bitten Dracula and is a dear friend to Mina Harker, who is engaged to Jonathan Harker. It also has a collection of letters sent by a well informed professor who has studied much on the undead, this man is Professor Van Helsing. It also has tells the story of three men that are connected by their love for Lucy, Dr. Seward, Arthur; Lucy's fiancee, and Quincey Morris an American that owns a Texas ranch. These men along with professor Van Helsng set out and kill the vampire, that was once the beloved Lucy, to later team up with Jonathan and Mina Harker to kill Dracula. While in the pursuit Mina is bitten, increasing the hatred against Dracula. Dracua is eventualy killed and Lucy returns to her old self. This book is wonderful and should not be called gothic although it does describe a great evil. Instead it should be left simply as a horror/ love/ adventure/ historical fiction/ and finally beloved classic.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST EDITIONS OF THE NOVEL
Review: Everything I've read in the Norton Critical Editions is always very good. It of course includes the text of the work, usually complete (Herodotus was an exception). But most useful is a selection of critical opinion over time so that the reader is able to compare his own evaluation with that of others. And it is amazing what a non-professional (like me, in the field of literature) misses and how professional critics can deepen understanding. But read the novel first, and then the critics.
Rating:
Summary: A worthy Read!
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: a great edition
Review: I own several copies of 'Dracula" and this one is definitely the best. I love footnotes which provide additional information about literary works and experiences inspiring Stoker while he was writing his wonderful book. Another great thing is the appendix with excerpts from academic books devoted to "Dracula" and its author. Franco Moretti's article is excellent and there are also many other interesting interpretations of this book and its main characters here. This book is definitely for people interested not only in old scary stories but also in the academic interpretations of horror and gothic novels. A must have for all people loving Dracula.
Rating:
Summary: a great edition
Review: I own several copies of 'Dracula" and this one is definitely the best. I love footnotes which provide additional information about literary works and experiences inspiring Stoker while he was writing his wonderful book. Another great thing is the appendix with excerpts from academic books devoted to "Dracula" and its author. Franco Moretti's article is excellent and there are also many other interesting interpretations of this book and its main characters here. This book is definitely for people interested not only in old scary stories but also in the academic interpretations of horror and gothic novels. A must have for all people loving Dracula.
Rating:
Summary: Boring book, nice edition
Review: I started reading Dracula when I was 14. I am now 43 and I just finished it. In some ways, I wish I hadn't bothered. The book is both boring and badly written--I can forgive one, but not both. The movies, plays, and other novels which can claim Dracula as an influence are more interesting than Stoker's novel. Certainly the growth of the vampire myth in the 20th century owes an awful lot to this book, but it's not necessary to read it in order to understand what symbols and metaphors vampirism has tucked under its cape. If you must read it, read this edition. It has lots of footnotes (some of which are very interesting, a few of which are petty and tedious), excerpts of contemporary reviews, and a nice collection of academic articles about the novel, most of which are more interesting reading than Dracula. And if you can get a hold of David Skal's out-of-print book Hollywood Gothic, a history of the Dracula story, by all means, read it. It, too, is more interesting than the novel. Wherever Stoker is, I'm sure he's having a chuckle over being a part of the Norton Critical Editions series, right up there with Twain, Dickens, and his buddy Oscar Wilde.
Rating:
Summary: Full-Featured Critical Edition for Fans and Students.
Review: I'll comment on the features of the Norton Critical Edition of "Dracula", as reviews of the novel can be found elsewhere. The novel, itself, is reproduced from the 1897 British edition that was published by Archbald Constable and Company and is preceded by a short but useful Preface that discusses the contexts in which "Dracula" was written and received over a century ago. The text of the novel is amply footnoted. Not only are terms defined, but allusions are explained, and passages of particular interest are treated with some commentary. The footnotes are worthwhile, but easy to ignore if you prefer. I had reservations about the footnotes in the early chapters of the book. Too many of them referred to points later in the story, acting as minor spoilers. I found this stopped after the action moved to England, so it only applies to a small portion of the book. Following the text of the novel are sections on Contexts, Reviews and Reactions, Dramatic and Film Variations, and Criticism.
"Contexts" includes some 19th century source material on vampires, Bram Stoker's working papers for the novel annotated by Christopher Frayling, and "Dracula's Guest", which was originally to be the novel's opening chapter, before Bram Stoker decided to situate the novel in Transylvania. The working papers are thoroughly uninteresting, and "Dracula's Guest" is not as chilling as the introduction that replaced it. "Reviews and Reactions" includes 5 reviews of the novel written shortly after it was published, in 1897 and in 1899, three of which are favorable.
"Dramatic and Film Variations" contains an essay about "Dracula"'s theatrical adaptations, including a list of major plays, by David J. Skal, who wrote "Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen" and is one of this edition's editors. An essay by Gregory Waller discusses Tod Browning's 1931 film "Dracula". Editor Nina Auerbach gives "Dracula" a feminist reading in her essay about the later film adaptations of the novel: the Hammer films of the 1950s and 1960s and John Badham's 1979 film. There is also a list of major film adaptations.
"Criticism" includes 7 essays that represent widely varying interpretations of Bram Stoker's novel, including Oedipal, Marxist, sexual, gender reversal, xenophobic, and homoerotic interpretations. These essays vary in quality a great deal. The best, in my view, are Christopher Craft's "Gender and Inversion" and Stephen D. Arata's "Reverse Colonization" essays. But, taken together, all of the essays give insight into "Dracula"s continuing -in fact, ever-growing- popularity. The novel can be interpreted through virtually any doctrine. There is a chronology of events in Bram Stoker's life at the end of the book.
If you plan to purchase a copy of "Dracula", this Norton Critical Edition provides the most material for your buck and the best footnotes that I've seen in any edition currently in print.
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