Miss Shayne reviews Dracula by Bram Stoker this week. In fact, both Ms. Angie and Miss Shayne have read this book for a class for college. You hear so much about vampires in the media and through TV shows and movies that you feel like you already know Stoker's Dracula story before you've even read it. When Ms. Angie read Dracula, she found it was not at all what she was expecting. Read on to find out what Miss Shayne thought about the novel when she read it!
Before reading this novel, I thought I knew exactly what was
going to happen in this story. I didn’t. Hollywood gets it all wrong! So,
forget everything you thought you knew about Dracula! Like always, the book is nothing like the movies.
After spending a few days in Count Dracula’s castle on a
business trip, Jonathan Harker notices Dracula is up to something. Harker is
being held against his will and strange things keep happening both inside the
castle and out. He eventually escapes the castle and flees back home, where he
and his gang devise a plan to take down the Count once they discover he is a
danger to all of Europe. Chaos ensues, the gang closes in, and the Count keeps
slipping through their fingers.
This story is told from several points of view. Each
character has something to contribute to the story, and it all gets documented.
This is helpful because it communicates the thoughts and ideas that each
character has. Seeing one scene from different perspectives makes it easier to
draw conclusions both about the events transpiring and the individual
characters’ credibility. I haven’t read many stories that do this.
Though I found that aspect of this book interesting, it
still dragged on and on. In addition to being too time-consuming, this book
contained many boring details that could have been cut from the story to make
it better. I found the female characters unbearable as well. There were also
many continuity issues that were pointed out in my footnotes. I think that is
sloppy writing, and Stoker should have edited his work better. Admittedly, I
probably didn’t enjoy this book because I had to read it for a college class. (I
was forced to read about half of it over my spring break, which I did NOT
appreciate.)
I had always wanted
to read Dracula, but I may have
enjoyed it more if I didn’t have to write two essays on it. I constantly had to
take notes and that contributed to my hatred of this book. I may pick this book
up again one day and enjoy it, but being the typical lazy college student that
I am, I am not going to recommend this book.
--Reviewed by Miss Shayne
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