Dracula

With modern description of vampires, I wasn’t all that thrilled to read this novel. However, Stoker’s Dracula shows the true horror and suspense that vampires should have and in a way restored my liking of the horrors of vampires. With the terror and suspense Stoker implemented into the storyline, Dracula is an amazing book that would captivate the readers.

One of the unique things I liked about the book is the perspective that the book takes. Throughout the book, the “diary” entries of the characters tell the story as they encounter Dracula and their quest to destroy him. At times it feels as if the reader is the character and is experiencing the event. The only difficultly about using this form of narration is that at some times there are so many character entries switching around that it gets confusing of what is going on. However, as I said before, this form of narration is unique and opens the minds of the reader to visualize the scene and makes them think differently as if they were the character themselves and had to find a solution.

Another thing I liked about Stoker’s work is how he was very descriptive. Although it was very gruesome at some points, it added more visual aid that made the book much more exciting. I like how he wasn’t afraid to describe the death of undead Lucy or Dracula’s attack on Mina. Although he used quite a lot of objectionable elements throughout the book, they actually worked well with the story in showing how terrible Dracula was and develop the true feeling of hate toward him that I believe that Stoker wanted the readers to have. I think that without the objectionable elements, the book would be less enjoyable and horrific than it is right now.

Although Dracula is an excellent book to read, I didn’t really like how it ended. The ending was good and memorable, but I feel like it was kind of rushed. First off, I felt like there should have been more action involved before the end. Dracula barely put up a fight when the group found him. Although he was weakened, I’m sure that Dracula could have fended off his attackers and caused more death than just one person. This leads me to my second disappointment. As great as Van Helsing is, I kind of wish that he would have died in the end. Usually characters like him are the ones that die, but I guess Stoker wanted to be different and instead had a character of less importance die.

Although I feel like the ending of the story was rushed, I have to admit that Dracula is an excellent book. The books suspense and horror would entertain the reader. Although it is a horror story with some graphic scenes, I would say that reading it at night is probably the best time to read it. The darkness of the night adds to the terror that the reader reads and keeps the reader more alert. However, for those that can’t stand being scared or fear of getting nightmares, I guess it would probably be best to read it while there is still light. It takes away some of the thrill, but would still captivate the reader.