dracula: he's got nothing on edward cullen

4/5

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Bram Stoker's Dracula is a book that has been on my tbr for literal years and I finally decided to read it. I've been in a very gothic literature mood and figured Dracula would be the perfect way to satisfy that hunger, I was quite right. I ate this book up, was obsessed from the first Jonathan Harker's journal entry. I loved it...until the end. The last quarter of the book came with some rough territory that held back this beloved classic from being a 5/5 for me, but that being said I applaud Bram for writing a compelling & gothic laden vampire story.

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Synopsis: Dracula tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Translyvania to England to create more of his kind. A group of men and women combat this undead formidable foe.

If you haven't read Dracula you really should. Seriously, it's not as scary as everyone makes it seem. With classics I feel like there is always apprehension for the writing style or the way that people talk or even just how the book reads as a whole. I am a classical girly through and through but was surprised to find that Dracula reads exceedingly easy, mostly due to it's journal entry plot structure. Not only is the book digestible, reading the story though the eyes of so many different characters & through their journal entries invites the reader to fully participate in what's happening within the novel. I felt right there alongside Van Helsing, Mina, Jonathan and the others. The story grabs you in and tosses you quite a bit, which I inherently enjoyed. I liked getting the full picture of what was happening even when other character's weren't. It made me feel as if I was seeing everything from almost a birds eye view.

Picking up the bread crumbs that Bram Stoker was leaving and piecing them together.

All of the characters were quite fun, though Mina was my favorite. She was spunky and very well versed, also not to mention she helped the "men" out so much with figuring everything out, like without her, Dracula would still be running around and terrorizing people sooooo, let's think about that!

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Which leads me to why the book isn't a 5/5 and it has quite a bit to do with Mrs. Mina here. She was great and all of the men thought she was great...but towards the last quarter of the book Bram Stoker must have woken up and decided to write all of his characters juuuuust a bit sexist, and if you know me, that shit doesn't fly here. I do understand the time period and all of the other arguments that people love to bring up when anyone (especially women) have anything to say about anything historical.

I understand.

That being said the quote "she has a man's brain but a woman's heart" isn't heartwarming to me, sorry (I'm actually not sorry at all). They all have this appreciation for Mina, a deep one at that, and they all love her in some way but cloud it with keeping her out of things due to her "womanly nerves" or her "woman's heart". Which, again, is too funny to me because without her they wouldn't have been able to do their "noble quest because their men." Honestly giving very much "Now That We're Men" from SpongeBob's.

Like okay Helsing, let's take a deep breath, we don't need another three paragraphs on how innocent Mina is and God, let's talk about the damn vampire causing a ruckus, shall we?

To be honest, I could have probably overlooked that in some sense, and still given Dracula a 5/5, but then Bram does something to me that I just can't look pass.

He makes them travel.

The last damn part of this book focuses so much on traveling and I genuinely despise traveling in novels. I've read LOTR everyone, so before you come for me, I can't stand it there either. Like, please just tell me you got there or important details, there is NO reason we need four to five paragraph's about a boat, or a port, or the train station times, good LORD. If Bram would have cut out the traveling bit and just focused on the necessary bits of it for the actual plot, I could have overlooked it, but he doesn't.

He decides that it's time to be England's number one tourist guide and explain every little thing to me and I didn't like it.

Another tiny note, though not large, is that for a book named Dracula, he's in it for about five minutes collectively. In the beginning with Jonathan Harker we get a good chunk of the mysterious and infamous Count, but then everyone just talks about him, except for two or three scenes. Which, I'm not complaining about, I think it builds this tension that kept me wondering if they were wrong about their theories or what he was actually doing and where he was (cue spooky music). I just expected their to be more Dracula within the novel.

But alas, always the muse never the artist.

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Dracula had me by the throat and I enjoyed every second of it. It was well written, engaging, and atmospheric. Stoker did a fantastic job of creating a feeling of tension during his novel that, obviously, has inspired people for generations.

Though, the dashing and eccentric Count has nothing on Edward Cullen.

Here's to classics & vampire novels, cheers! 🦇⚰️

xoxo,

paige

booksta

Next Review: Carmilla