This is the second book chosen by our bright shiny new book club. Obviously we are reading it in honor of Halloween. I am so looking forward to the night we discuss Dracula partly for how much fun our first discussion night was and partly because the club member's house where the discussion is taking place always throws a good party. I suppose I am also excited to discuss Dracula with them to see if any of their opinions jive with mine.
I liked this book much more than I expected to and given the fact that I started reading it more than a month out (what with the not expecting to enjoy it and wanting plenty of time to slog my way through it) and finished it last night with three weeks to spare I'd say all signs point to enjoyment of the book. The fun really came when my husband wanted to know how the book was going and we started comparing it to other vampire books or movies we know.
First I have to admit something: I am not a fan of vampire literature or movies. I do not enjoy talk of blood, evil and death. I will submit myself to vampire stories on occasion and subsequently suffer for weeks with my overactive imagination. As much as I enjoyed Twilight, I was squeamish all the way through those 40 pages or so where Bella asks Edward question after question about his lifestyle. Ick.
However, I don't think that my general dislike of vampire stories inhibited my enjoyment of Dracula. Honestly, there were not that many true vampire moments. The first half of the book was all insinuation and speculation especially with Van Helsing keeping the juicy secret to himself. In fact, several times before it actually came out in the open, I literally said out loud, "Oh, come one! Just say it!" The vampire moments were actually more interesting to me than gross, morbid or scary with the exception of one scene in the last third of the book. Those who have read it will know to which scene I refer; I believe I had a full body shudder at the image it provoked.
Speaking of Van Helsing, he became so annoying to me that I had to force myself through his never ending monologues. I had a hard time believing that Dr Seward, Mr Harker and the others would really sit there and listen to him go on and on...and on. Not to mention how much it annoyed me that when the other characters wrote one of his speeches, they left it in his halted and broken English instead of fixing his poor grammar.
I wondered at my annoyance of Stoker's employment of the epistolary style. Is it because journal writing is, sadly, such a part of the past for most people that I couldn't appreciate the authenticity each journal keeper gave to Van Helsing's monologues? Mina did mention several times how important it was to have everything written down, but to me that didn't fully explain the thoroughness of each of them. If Stoker wanted so badly to give Van Helsing such an accent and such broken English then why did he write it in journal style?
I was also very annoyed with the fact that I had to keep looking back to see who in the world's journal entry I was reading at the time. None of the voices sounded any different to me. Unless Jonathan or Mina were talking about each other, there was no sure way to tell who was speaking. Another annoyance: all of the other characters seemed entranced with Mina whom I did like for her strength and determination, but I got a little tired of hearing her praised as the ultimate and perfect female of her time.
I do recommend this book. I can't imagine anyone truly disliking Dracula though in the same breath I can't imagine anyone really loving it even those who love vampire literature. Hey, maybe that's why I was able to read it without nightmares. Maybe all these things that bugged me about the book distracted me from the all the icky vampire stuff.
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