Reading 1001 discussion

4 stars

I finished reading this book a couple weeks ago and if I had reviewed it immediately I would have given it 3 stars, maximum. However in the intervening days the book has grown in my esteem. I cannot explain why that happens -- books grow or fade in my esteem as time passes and I often cannot explain why that is. But this book in particular has made me think about the themes and motifs which is something I don't always do. Stoker played a great deal with my impressions of life in the 1800s, with the views of people in the west of those living in eastern Europe and the Far East. He made me think about the views of Christians regarding things of a gothic nature. He made me think about how writers in the Victorian era could paint images that tell so much of the story with little need to have a plot-heavy story. He made me think about how we can use voice and tense and the intricacies of language to tell a deeper story. I am often not a fan of the epistolary form of storytelling and yet it seems the perfect form for this book as it gave so many viewpoints of Dracula.

If you had asked me the day after finishing this book whether I would ever consider reading it again I would have said no, but I think I would have been wrong.

Read: 7/6/2012
Rating: 4 stars
Review: Dracula a Gothic horror novel written by Irish author Bram Stoker in 1897 has been sitting in my Nook since I purchased the Nook. Englishman Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to complete some legal transactions for Count Dracula. Dracula has a plan. He will go to England where he has bought a home in search of new prey. Dr. Van Helsing from Holland, Dr Seward, Quincy P. Morris from Texas and Arthur Holmwood, along with Lucy Westenra, Mina Harker and her husband Jonathan Harker join forces to destroy the vampire. The story is told through letters and diary entries including some recorded messages on a phonograph. The reader knows this story from the movies and all the vampire lore that has continued through the years. It also has been over analyzed to the point that people just don’t read it and may feel a little cheated if they do. In the standard of horror, this may not please today’s reader but for me, it was my first vampire book and it was a good place to start. I was and am a reluctant reader of vampire lit. The book is enjoyable, well researched and easy to read. I give it four stars for that reason, even if I really don’t like reading books about vampires. There is a enough technical information about vampires to bring the reluctant vampire reader up to grade. The two women are the most interesting characters in the novel. Mina is the most developed character. Of course they are the targets of Dracula. Lucy is weak and simple and an easy prey while Mina, the more desired, is stronger, smarter and a picture of the New Woman that is emerging at this time. I think the book does a splendid job of telling about vampires, creating tension and was complete in its accuracy of vampires as the Undead. And No, I will not be reading twilight but I may eventually read Interview With the Vampire because it is also on the 1001 list.

4 stars.
This is the definite vampire novel. It contains all of the vampire lore you come across in other books, and it paints a chilling picture. Yes, I enjoy the never style of vampire novel where the vampire is dangerous but alluring. They're a nice fantasy, but in all honesty they tend to make vampirism seem a bit too tempting. In Dracula eternal life as a vampire is not at all tempting. It is a fate worse than death. It is the loss of soul and self, the shedding of humanity to become a cunning and vicious monster. The vampire is alien and bear only a twisted physical resemblance to the person it was in life. The horror element is excellently done. It is surprising how immediate a story told in letters and diary entries can be. The mental image of Dracula climbing, head first and spider like, down the castle wall lingers in my mind.

5 stars

I can’t believe I waited so long to read this because it was so amazing. How did I skip over it back during my vampire phase in Korea? So much fun! I listened to the audiobook read by a British man who did an amazing job of all the accents and I was so into the narration that I was happy to do more housework as an excuse to listen to it. I was surprised to find how well the diary entries and letters format worked. The thing that amused me the most was that everyone was all best buds and madly in love with each other within minutes of meeting.

3 stars

After reading a few disappointing examples of late 19th/early 20th century genre fiction I wasn't sure if I was going to like the daddy of genre fiction but I actually did. I still don't think that this type of book is really for me but I can appreciate how this book influenced so many other books not only vampire or horror books but other genre books with the use of diary and letter entries, multiple perspectives and a 'five man band' to name but a few.

There were definitely moments when it dragged and some repetitive scenes but the style really worked with the story that was being told and it was genuinely creepy at times. No easy feat when I already know so much about the Dracula character from popular media.

I wavered between 3 and 4 stars with this. 4 stars for Stoker's talent at story telling and his influence on the horror genre but 3 stars for how I personally felt about the book and how invested in it I was. I have gone with my heart over my head but I am really glad I gave this one a go.

My review: A rather naive young man accepts a job as a solicitor that requires him to travel to a remote castle. He is warned repeatedly that the place is dangerous, but dismisses these warnings as just superstitious drivel. He meets Count Dracula, and eventually discovers that the Count sleeps in a coffin and is a vampire. We never do really work out how he manages to survive to return home, but he eventually makes it back to England, and there the real adventure begins, when the Count turns up and has fixed on the young man's fiance as his consort. The man and his friends have to figure out how to defeat the Count and protect the women that the vampire is trying to corrupt.
It took me a while to get into this book, but once I got into it, the story was pretty good. The action is well paced, and I liked that the female characters are actually fairly decent. In fact, Mina is considered a valued part of the vampire-fighting team, not just a potential victim.
I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.

A re-read for me and I enjoyed it more on my second read.

I do like epistolary novels which is good because this is my second in two weeks. When done well, as here, it draws you into the story so well. The atmosphere here is very well done and you can feel the horror of the characters about the prospect of potentially turning into a vampire themselves; the soul is lost but it is made clear that returning them to their "natural" state (ie dead) brings them back into God's embrace as the bodies look relieved or smile after being staked.

But the behaviour of the men is sometimes very disturbing, with poor Lucy effectively being the puppet of both the "heroes" and Dracula. Mostly without consent. Mina fares better and proves crucial to the final resolution but is constantly belittled, sorry I mean put on a pedestal, but they could not have won without her and her "male brain". Of course, having drunk Dracula's blood maybe her offspring Quincey as a blood heir of Dracula will continue the line of vampires...

Seriously the sexual tension in this book was immense. All the imagery of puncturing and holes. It becomes apparent early on Lucy will be a fatality as she wanted to marry all three of her suitors. But this is the Victorian period! Pass me my smelling salts! I'm not sure that a dubious consent blood gangbang was quite what she had in mind. And then there is the tension between Dracula and the male characters...

I enjoyed myself immensely.

4 stars.

To read this book finally (well, I listened) I was transported back to a different time, not because of the setting of the story but as a reader. Epistolary exchanges and journal entries were such a great way to maintain the tension - we get bursts of the story but never know what is coming, who will survive the ordeals as the perspective shifts. And yet, so quaint, that I was relaxed and thrilling with the wonderfully descriptive anguish and awesome encounters with the supernatural. High body counts and killing off all your heroes (like at the red wedding in the game of thrones) is a modern trope. And when I compare it to this, with all the pathos that even one loss creates, it does not even come close. Those mass murders do not induce the thrill of horror, but a horror of disgust. And there is also a wonderful sub-theme with the men all at first trying to protect the "vulnerable" woman, at which they fail, and then realizing that her input and help is needed to succeed. There is a lot of religion too, which is also as might be expected, and the medicine/psychology is funny and dated. But overall this was a great summer book.

Read in 2012

“When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves, and, saying that they knew nothing at all, simply refused to speak further.” I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. It was very cerebral and unlike the Hollywood portrayal. Reading a story through diary entries was unique and enjoyable. I liked all the characters in the story but especially Mina. For the time period is was refreshing to read about an intelligent woman. The beginning and the end were the best parts of the book for me. I liked being in Dracula's castle with Jonathon Harker and the chase at the ending was exciting too. A well worth October read. “For the dead travel fast.”