Dracula
by Bram Stoker
If you thought that vampires were sexy creatures, hunting only at night, sparkling under the sun ray, with a kind human heart; you should stop reading Stephenie Meyer and get your hands on Bram Stoker Dracula!
Reading this classic for my English literature class, I was quite surprised how much I ended up liking it and about how ignorant I was about the original plot. After Interview With the Vampire by Anna Rice, the way we perceive these nightly creatures was totally changed from the one that Bram Stoker's contemporaries had. She made being a vampire a lifestyle, something cool, that everyone would like to experience. But we couldn't be any farther away with Dracula. He is a mean villain, ready to conquer the whole world, starting from London to create a vampire's pandemonium.
The whole book is framed within letters, diaries and journal's entries, telegraph's text. In the begging of the novel, we are introduced with Johnathan Haker, a young lawyer who is traveling from England to Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase an estate in London. Dracula wants to immigrate to England and would like Johnathan to help him with all the legal matters. Once he arrives in Dracula's castle everything turns out to be very peculiar...
And the rest is legend!
What I loved most about this book, was Dracula description. Contrary to popular understanding, Stoker has his Draculsportingng a large, bushy Victorian mustache and having a profuse head of dense, curly hair, massive eyebrows, and peculiarly sharp white teeth, especially the canine teeth. The first time that Johnathan sees him, he notices the overgrowing hair on Dracula's hands. He is often described with features that belong to animals; moreover, he is a shapeshifter: he can transform into a wolf, a bat, mist/vapor. He doesn't appeal like a sexy character in the book; instead, people are constantly disgusted and scared in his presence.
Finally, a vampire that looks and behaves like a vampire, a real monster inside out!
The writing style is good but antiquated and redundant making the novel a heavy read. I took me a lot to finish the book - two weeks - while I'm usually a quick reader, but the story is worth the pain, so push on until the end!
4.5/5 STARS
Dracula 1931 movie trailer:
Did you know there is a sequel to this book called Dracula the Un-Dead? It is written by Bram Stoker's great grand-nephew Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt.
RispondiEliminaReally!? I didn't know! Cool, I'm gonna check it out, thanks. Did you read it?
EliminaNo! 😂😂 :)) But I bought it in Romania when it came out.
Eliminaahahah well I gave it a look, I have to say that the plot it's kind of odd. It diverge from the original quite a lot XD. If you read it, please tell me what you think ;)
Elimina