Wednesday, June 15, 2005

The 306 Greatest Books #38 - Dracula

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Dracula by Bram Stoker. This book can be found on the Sybervision Book List. 



Like Frankenstein, which I had read prior to this novel, this novel brings the horror genre back to the beginning. This is essentially the one that started it all. I assumed I was familiar with the plot, having seen snippets of takes on the character for decades. However, I don't think I've ever seen a straight out adaptation of the book. Reading the original novel, though gave me perspective on how the character of Dracula has changed through time, from his very first incarnation, through the many movies, novels, and TV series that vampires have been inserted into. The story is written as a series of  letters and journal entries, very much like Frankenstein, however these are all from several different characters that interact with the vampire. Due to this method of storytelling, the story ends up not being very fluid at times, but it is still enjoyable nonetheless. I would have to say that it is a definite recommend for those who want to read the original.