I have a
confession to make, this is the second time I read this story. The
first time I read it was back in 2002 or 2003 (again in winter) and I
remember being overwhelmed by it. I've always related this novel to
those winter cozy readings, maybe because of the beautiful winter
descriptions of Transylvania presented by Stoker. I started reading
the novel and listening to the audiobook at the same time, but at
some point I gave up on the audio thing. Overall though, there are
definitely lots of things I liked about this novel. I liked the
epistolary format in the use of letters, diaries , memoranda, ship's
log and newspaper articles. It also provides multiple points of view
from a multitude of characters. The descriptions of characters and
places are wonderful and this makes it a turning page novel.
However, there are also some weak points. For example, the newspaper
articles are not very convincing and the use of the melodramatic long
speeches just made me collapse. More than once I found myself wishing
they would stop talking and just get on with it.
Although I
wasn't properly terrified of Dracula, I did find the narrative quite
suspenseful, or at least I thought I did until towards the end of the
novel. The climax when it finally came, it was over in a flash.
Overall,
this was lots of fun. It hasn't exactly converted me to vampire
fandom, although I'm thinking about reading its predecessors,
Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla"
and
John Polidori's
"The Vampire Tale.". Not
anytime soon, though. For now I'll happily go back to avoidng horror.
