by Bram Stoker
Even though I\’d been warned that Dracula would not be what I expected, it still surprised me. I thought it would be well, more frightening. But it wasn\’t. Maybe I just didn\’t get far enough. Or maybe it\’s that I don\’t read much horror and haven\’t learned to appreciate the genre. Dracula is certainly very creepy, moody and ominous. The characters themselves are frightened, but I couldn\’t manage to feel it myself. And the story moves so slowly, building up the suspense piece by piece of isolated mysterious incidents which by themselves aren\’t enough to alarm the characters into action, but seen as a whole by the reader, obviously point to what\’s going on… well, insofar as 112 pages told me. That\’s as far as I got before my eyes just began glazing over and I couldn\’t hold attention on the page. I was rather disappointed in myself for not being able to finish it, but I also don\’t try to force myself through books anymore… I found it interested that Dracula is told through letters and journal entries, rather similar to Frankenstein (which I did read in its entirety).
I have to credit Jena of Muse Books Reviews for advising me in the comments on my Sunshine post. She said: \”re: Dracula–it\’s a very slow read. I took it on when I was 16 (had to start it twice, \’cause it was hard to get into). If you\’re not into vampire lore, I don\’t think I\’d recommend Dracula. Maybe an abridged version…\” When she left that comment I got my feathers all ruffled because I used to pride myself (in high school) on reading fat books like the unabridged Don Quixote. My apologies, Jena. I should have listened to you!
My husband even talked me into watching Interview with a Vampire last night, to see if I\’d enjoy a vampire story more in film version. Nope. It was interesting, but still didn\’t really do it for me.
Abandoned 430 pages, 1897