Read it for the first time in 2005 and I really enjoyed it. Stoker was a formidable writer. The novel must have shaken the rafters when it was first written. It explores evil, but does not challenge the church, as were some writers during that time. If anything, Stoker's faith is confirmed in the book. I liked how you never knew the complete outcome of the story until the last two pages. Extremely fun read.

My only difficulty was that I had trouble reading the Van Helsing character, because Stoker wrote his spoken lines with a Dutch accent. Because of this, there were often words missing or tenses incorrect and it always threw me off. But Van Helsing himself was thoroughly enjoyable.

I recommend this book particularly because so much about Dracula has been dumbed down or caricatured through the years. It is a suspenseful horror story with sexual overtones (recalling that it was written during Victorian times, so there's nothing graphic.)

RELEASE NOTES:

Off to SqueakyChu. Enjoy!

I got the book today! I'm so happy to receive it, and hope it's not too long before I get to read it. After working my way through The Historian, I'm happy to have the opportunity to read *the* classic novel about Dracula. Thank you, CynthiaA for sending it to me. I really do appreciate it.

I'm reading this book now for the (Take It or Leave It Challenge) (on LibraryThing) to read a book with a one-word title.

Excellent book!

Here's my review (cross posted on LibraryThing):

Vampires and classic novels are not my thing. The odd part of this equation is that I just finished reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula and loved it! Epistolary novels, in this case a novel told in diary and journal entries, don’t thrill me too much either. What was it then that grabbed me right from the start and wouldn’t let go?

Perhaps I was just in the right mood, since I’d just finished another novel that put me in gear for something mysterious. Maybe it was that this book had been recommended to me a while back after I had read The Historian. Whatever it was, this book was the right choice at the right time.

This is the story, not of Dracula, but of Jonathan Harker and his girl-friend Mina. Jonathan is a solicitor (lawyer) who was sent by his boss to the home of Count Dracula to complete a real estate transaction for a property in England. Jonathan travels alone to the castle of the Count in Transylvania, discovers that all is not right in the home of his host, and ends up imprisoned within the castle. Meanwhile, back in England, Mina becomes worried when Jonathan does not return.

The pacing of this book is phenomenal. It’s not scary or gory or anything that I’d imagine a Dracula story to be. It’s a well thought out mystery that pulls into play much Dracula lore that is still used in literature and other media today.

This is not a particularly easy read. It is detailed and moves from the writing of one person to the next. The story takes place through the narratives of its various characters. One of these, a psychiatrist from the Netherlands who comes to England to help resolve problems that have developed, speaks a broken English. Throughout the book, I was careful to read very slowly what this Dr. Van Helsing had to say. I didn’t want to miss any of his expertise.

For my careful reading, I was richly rewarded. I could not guess the outcome of this story even when I was within a few pages of its end. This was an entirely satisfying read. Now, for the first time ever, I can say that I’ve enjoyed a classic novel about a vampire. How unlike me!

Picked this up at today's meetup in Baltimore. I read another copy of this a few years ago, and this is what I had to say then:

After reading this, I realize that I've never seen a Dracula movie in my life. I dimly recall seeing the play in high school - my sister played Mina - but the plot of that escapes me. I was surprised at how little of the book takes place at Dracula's castle. I also was a touch confused by the plethora of vampiric restrictions: sunlight is evidently a hindrance only some of the time, one becomes a vampire by drinking a vampire's blood or sometimes just by being killed by a vampire, a vampire needs to rest in sanctified soil but cannot touch anything blessed, a vampire can turn into a bat and a dog and mist and who knows what else... I'm just glad subsequent vampire stories kept it simple: no sunlight, no Christian stuff, no stakes through the heart or decapitation.

Anyway, all griping aside, I really enjoyed this book. The plot moves well. Often books over 100 years old are written in a difficult dialect, but this was easy, to the point where I was even able to hear Van Helsing's thick accent in my head. Mina's portrayal as a strong, intelligent woman was refreshing as well. The ending was quite abrupt, even jarring, but the story did not feel at all unfinished.

I hope to continue its journey soon.

I plan on releasing this while on my trip to Illinois this week. I will make release notes when I get back.

Left on the pump.

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