Book Review: Dracula

“There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights.” 

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

"I want you to believe...to believe in things that you cannot." 


We're catching up!  I just need to stop reading them as fast as I "catch up."



I didn't get vampire literature.  The entire concept of it was fairly lost on me, especially since the myths probably come from a few highly mentally ill individuals such as Elizabeth Bathory, and people with porphyria (werewolves, too).  And I especially didn't get the whole Twilight vampire romance thing, which is becoming more and more of a thing. But, I felt the need to maybe give the whole vampire literature genre a chance.  I figured if I went to someone who loved vampire literature and asked them what book I should read to give it a chance, they would choose the apex of vampire literature, which is probably Dracula. 

On top of this, last year I read a non-fiction book called Five Quarts  which was about the cultural history of blood (fascinating topic--okay book).  They talked about Dracula in the book, and I thought that, from what they were saying, it sounded like it might actually have some legitimate philosophical and literary merit.  So, I gave it a chance, not really expecting to enjoy it too much.

I was mistaken.  I still don't really get the whole vampire obsession (but I get it more than the zombie obsession and always have), but I get the point of vampire literature.  There were some serious differences between Dracula and modern takes on vampires, which I might go into in depth someday, but it really was a good book. 

I'm sure we all need very little summary of Dracula, the story that everyone kind of knows.  It follows the efforts of a team of forced-vampire hunters to take down Count Dracula, who has decided that he needs a new stomping grounds and comes to England.  

I wouldn't call it a great book, mostly because there were two types of parts of Dracula. First, there were times when you read a passage and think, "That has a lot to think about in it," or the occasion when you read a passage and say, ''That was a gorgeous sentence." 

Then, there is the second part. The thirty-five page sections of letters between Mina and Lucy and you just want to burn those stupid letters.  Or the news articles about heavens-knows-what. 

I think that, overall, it was a good analysis of so many important questions:  faith and logic, women and men, marriage, love, attachment, sacrifice, insanity, good and evil, right and wrong, the difference between good and right and evil and wrong, etc. 

It was long, and there were a couple of somewhat gory parts (though not nearly as many as most vampire novels), but I would recommend the book.

Four stars for Dracula.


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