One of the most famous horror masterpieces from the 19th century by Brand Stoker about a terrific creature no one expected to exist besides in dark tales told to naughty children.
A frightening story told by many characters through their diary entries or letters will draw us in the dark life of Count Dracula. Quietly living in his old castle in Transylvania was not entertaining enough. After long centuries existing in the shadows of spooky folk tales, he decides it is time to return to the world of the living.
First of all, movie adaptations like “Dracula” produced by Netflix or parody „Dracula: Dead and loving it” with Leslie Nielson are great examples for your imagination throughout the book. It helped me personally multiple times to imagine the castle, Dracula´s transformations, the vampire brides, etc. The story starts with the view of Jonathan Harker, a young lawyer, who was sent to Dracula´s home to finalise documents regarding the purchase of a house in England. The chapters in the beginning are interesting, we experience multiple surprises but still, all of the story already happened from Jonathan´s point. Somehow, we are missing drama and fear in the presence, because of the journal entries of not just Jonathan but of all other characters as well. From Slavic mythology, from which this creature originated, I liked that the author kept the fact, that a vampire must be invited inside of a house to be able to enter. It was nice to read a horror and fantasy story with a hint of real old tales and myths people used to believe. Another fact, which is not true and was strongly popularized by Bram was that vampires cannot be seen in a mirror.
My favourite scene was when Jonathan looked out of the window and saw Dracula leaving down the castle wall into the forest. The way how it was written was pure talent. If I would read that part home alone in the dark, I would be probably really frightened. It is clear, that in this book there is no place for humour. It is dark, gloomy, depressive and hopeless. What confirmed this, was the small crying bundle with which the Count returned to the castle. How he handled the mother of the small baby looking for her child was another evil event. One thing that I noticed was a nice example how the village people are different to those from the city. In this story mainly because of superstitions, believing in supernatural creatures and believing in God, proclaimed that a cross would protect you against all of that. The village people from Transylvania tried to warn Jonathan, they even gave him a cross, but for Jonathan it was nothing else than a scary tale. People coming from rural places don´t believe in this tales that much or anymore, for them it was just a story of old people.
The arrival of Count Dracula in Yorkshire followed with a huge storm, which predicted the catastrophe, was phenomenal. Detail with the captain and how he stood there by the rudder with a rosery on his hands was a define touch to the diabolical events in the future. Still, my favourite part of the whole book was the journal of the captain. That was great writing with a touch of madness. In that moment you are not afraid, it is missing the thrilling part for me, but when you make a walk in the dark somewhere in the forest you start to see a dark high figure watching you. The aftermath of the book is stronger than the current feeling. The journal parts of Dr. Seward were shorter and more dynamical, than those from Jonathan. Thanks to them the story evolved faster, and we received more drama. What triggered me was the collective ignorance of Mina´s health. There was clearly something bad happening to her, and yet all of the characters somehow decided to look over it.
The book is not easy to read, the writing is complex, and the vocabulary is really what one can call fine English. The description of the world and the characters is a lot nicer, more artistical, which I liked. As the story evolves the journal part are shorter, thanks to which the author showed us the swifter and faster plot development. I appreciated the fact, that a vampire is descripted as a strong creature able to change into animal and even control not just them, but also human beings. Sadly, Dracula´s brides did not have much of screen time, that could have been interesting. All of the characters were for me neutral; I don´t have a favourite or a least favourite character, even Dr. Van Helsing or Dracula, because sometimes you can also sympathize with the bad guy. The characters are for me stoic. I would say typical for that time and location, not dynamic as it is common these days. And so is the whole book, the plot is in one length and it´s not that brutal. The ending was for me too fast written. The pursuit of Count Dracula throughout Europe was long compared to the final battle, which in my opinion deserved more words.