Dracula - Bram Stoker

When Jonathan Harker is summoned to the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania for a real estate transaction, he does not know he is entering the lair of the bloodthirsty vampire, Count Dracula. What follows is a race to stop Dracula from spreading his curse beyond Transylvania. The tale of Dracula unfolds through various letters, diary entries, and newspaper clippings.

Blurb taken from Blurb.

*

When I was putting together a pile of books that I wanted to read in October, I did a quick browse through all the books I have on my kindle to see if there were any spooky novels that jumped out of me. I've had Dracula on there pretty much ever since I got my kindle about a decade ago, and I made the decision that now was the time to give it a try.

I'd heard from others (mainly my sister) that this particular novel is difficult to read, so I really felt I  needed to brace myself. However, I found that I was actually really pleasantly surprised.

Admittedly, it is a very long novel and could probably have done with some further editing, but I actually thoroughly enjoyed it. I actually kind of liked the disjointed story told through diary entries and letters, and I found it a lot easier to read than I expected. More than anything, it was fun to read about Dracula and Van Helsing in a way I've never done before.

Rating: ✫✫✫

The Story

Dracula is not your regular narrative. It's actually told through diary entries and letters taken from the writings of a range of the primary characters. I really love when fiction is told this way. It gives an automatic structure that makes a story so much more accessible for a reader. I really think if this book had followed a typical narrative, I would have found it so much harder to read. I quite enjoyed dipping in and out of the lives and thoughts of the characters and following their progress in the story that way.

The characters themselves were a pretty good group, although there weren't an awful lot of them for such a long novel. I would have liked to have seen more characters to add a bit more depth to the story, although I do appreciate that having a limited number of people really helped my ability to follow the story.

I must say though, I really enjoyed being able to read about Dracula in this book. He's obviously an incredibly famous character, but I was keen to see his presence in the novel named after him. I'm a little disappointed by how little he appears. I appreciate that as the villain of the story, our focus isn't necessarily on him, but it would have been nice to see a little more about him. However, the appearance of Van Helsing really perked me up. I hadn't realised that he had originally been introduced in Dracula, but I was really excited to see him stand off against the famous vampire.

The actual story I've often heard described as a little dull, but I have to say I don't agree. It did drag on a little in places, but I thought the different components made it very readable and definitely enjoyable. 

The Verdict

Based off reviews from family and friends, I was fully prepared to really have to struggle through Dracula. However, when I started it I was really pleasantly surprised. 

The story was fun and interesting, and I liked that the structure utilised diary entries and letters, making it easy to follow. I feel like the novel is a little longer than it really needed to be, and I would have liked to have seen more of Dracula himself. However, I'm really glad I read it.