Dracula

Dracula by Bram Stoker

When I received my new Kindle Fire for Christmas 2012, half the fun of owning the device was discovering all of the bargain books that could be obtained digitally, some were/are even free.  When I came across Dracula, I figured “why not?”  I’ve never read this nineteenth century novel before, but like most people somewhat immersed in pop culture, I had at least heard of the Transylvanian terror.

I knew it was about a vampire who lived in Transylvania that did what vampires did and, like probably most people, the first image that comes to mind is the Bela Lugosi character from the 1931 film - although I never saw the picture.  I did see, and thoroughly enjoy the 1992 version directed by Francis Ford Coppola.  Oddly, this is more of a deterrent for me when choosing a novel to read.  I don’t like reading a book when I’ve already seen the film.  A bit ironic since when I started reading novels back in high school, having seen the movie was actually a prerequisite for me.  I guess I was just too intimidated by books way back then.  Too many miserable experiences since, whenever I read a book, it was always “assigned to me by an English teacher”.  

Anyway, not to dwell too much on the film, but I was a bit surprised that the Coppola film took several liberties with the story and added many of his own subplots to the story.  To be fair, they worked in the film and I was a bit disappointed not to find them here.  Especially since the movie was billed as “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”.  Somehow having an author’s name in front of the title of a movie would lead you to believe that it’s pretty faithful to the original novel.  Although it’s a bit awhile since I saw the film, I remember it spent time focusing on how Dracula became the evil monster, several centuries before the main story occurs.  I also remember the fiend having a “crush” on Mina (played by Winona Ryder) since she reminded him of a lost love oh so long ago.

Anyway, back to the book.  I must say that I was surprised how much I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I don’t read many books that are over a century old, and i was a bit scared since I wasn’t sure how my literary palette would digest such a work.  Again, intimidated by the horrors of High School.  Strangely, it’s the language that actually works in the novel’s favor.  I felt completely enriched by Stoker’s wild and fantastic (so it seems in 2013) imagery of people and places.  He never once loses you with his use of outdated dialect (even the Kindle dictionary couldn’t tell me the definitions of several of the words you encounter), and you manage to be creeped out even though the horror genre was obviously much more tame.

The whole story is told in diary form.  Each of the characters (there are about 7 or 8 “main” ones) keeps a diary, and it’s from these chronicles that the entire story unfolds.  It aways surprises me how many people actually would spend so much time actually writing back then.  I imagine it would take several hours per day to record such entries with nothing but quill pen and parchment but, really, what else was there to do back then? 

Really, though, describing the plot in detail is a bit pointless since most are familiar with the basic premise.  Those who dislike the horror genre shouldn’t be put off, however, as the story is spared most modern vampire-cliches and the blood letting, violence and grave robbing is all very low key.   As a matter of fact, by today’s standards, the conclusion is a bit anti-climatic, but the disappointment is very minor.  

And, hey, the story was free.