Dracula - Bram Stoker

“How good and thoughtful he is; the world seems full of good men--even if there are monsters in it.” 

If you ignore all of the sexism and the incredible coincidences, Dracula is an epically addictive novel. It is story telling at its finest. It is sensational. It is the ultimate page turner.

Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to meet with a client. On his way he receives a series of warnings from locals about his destination. Nobody thinks to tell Jonathan that his client is actually a dead monster, though. Obviously.

Jonathan realises very quickly that all is not well. He is quite instantly a prisoner within Dracula’s castle, where he spends his day times wondering what the hell is going on and his evenings avoiding the clashing gnashers of three sexy, female vampires.

Count Dracula leaves Harker at the mercy of his menacing minxes and travels by boat to the United Kingdom, jumping on land at the port in Whitby. Here, Harker’s lovely fiancé Mina happens to be staying with her beautiful friend, Lucy. (Note: One of the massive coincidences you need to forgive).

Dracula reigns terror on the seaside town, infecting Lucy with his deadliness and making her ill. The local Doctors and noblemen are perplexed by her sickness, and call on the help of Dr Van Helsing of Amsterdam, who quickly realises that the United Kingdom is under the attack of a vampire.

A nail biting, hair raising hunt then begins for Dracula. Together with their other friends, Harker, Mina and Van Helsing swear to hunt down the Count and kill him, or to die trying.

This book is strung together through a series of diaries written by its main characters, which is slightly weird to comprehend at first, but about half way through you realise it’s a clever and effective way of creeping you out. The characters learn things at separate rates, so whilst some of them are aware, for example, that Dracula can transform into mist, others are reporting waking up to find a thick cloud of foggy stuff hanging over them when they woke up that very morning. It is very disconcerting at times.

As previously mentioned, Dracula is a hugely sexist novel. The women are all flowery and obedient and frequently described using words like ‘loyal’ and ‘soft’. The men proclaim, more than once and with surprise, that Madam Mina has a ‘man’s brain’. Usually these proclamations are made after Mina has made a revelation or thought up a cunning plan. If you are a modern woman you need to get yourself into the habit of constantly reminding yourself that this book was written in 1897. Therefore, for her time, Madam Mina was quite unusual in her bravery and behaviour. (Note: If she were alive now she would be one of those Facebook girls. You know the ones who ‘found’ themselves when they met their boyfriends? The ones who now feel complete and don’t need anything else anymore?)

The pace can be quite slow throughout, which is fine, except it progresses really quickly towards the end. It left me feeling a little bit overwhelmed. I missed this book when I was done reading it, though. It felt weird not having it in my life everyday anymore, which is exactly how I like to feel after I have read something. As though it has dumped me, I suppose.

Highly recommended, though be warned that the book is a little bit unsettling. I don’t believe in vampires, but I found that this story regularly left me unnerved. It is not as fluffy as Twilight and nowhere near as obvious as Lost Boys. Its eeriness is very clever and magically subtle. I do most of my reading in bed before I go to sleep, and I have to say that this is probably the only way that Dracula should be read. Put on some candles, let some shadows creep across your room and settle down to read this. If you like a story you can sink you teeth into (ha!) you will be really, really glad you did.