“Dracula” is a novel that was written in 1897 by Irish
author Bram Stoker. It tells the story of a vampire who moves from Transylvania
to England who is hunted by a group of people. The book is a gothic horror
novel written as a collection of letters, newspapers, and diary entries.
While this book is considered THE vampire book, there is a book
that predates it. “Carmilla,” written by Irish gothic writer Joseph Sheridan Le
Fanu, was published originally in Le Fanu’s short story collection in 1872. It
tells the story of a woman who was pursued by the vampire named Carmilla.
The first half of the book was a bit dry and difficult to get through. Typically, I like books written using letters, newspapers, and other similar things, but for some reason, this book was difficult to read in this format.
There were parts of the book where things seemed to be
missing. At points, I had to go back and reread a section because I thought I
missed something, but it just was not there. This made the book a bit difficult
to keep up with.
Some of the letters, newspapers, and diaries are not presented
in the order they were written, especially when they switch between authors and
creators of the writings. This can make it difficult to keep track of what is
happening. However, it does get easier to understand as the book progresses and
more things start happening.
There are also a lot of characters involved in the book. It
can be difficult at times to keep track of the cast of characters, but by the
end of the book, it is easier to see how all of the characters come together to
accomplish their goal.
People said that I would be scared while reading it, but it
was not as scary as people were saying. The descriptions of what was happening
were not as full as they could be, which made it not as gripping as I personally
would have liked.
Overall, it is clear to see why this book is a classic. However,
it did not have the impact on me that I was hoping for. For me, the writing
style and the structure of the book made it difficult to get into. The writing
was a bit dry, which made it difficult to be scared. It was probably scary in
its day, but it does not have the horror aspect as strongly as I would like.
Rating: 2/5 stars
Related Article:
-Bram Stoker: https://kiltedowl.blogspot.com/2025/10/bram-stoker.html
-Book Review: "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde: https://kiltedowl.blogspot.com/2025/09/book-review-importance-of-being-earnest-oscar-wilde.html
-Book Review: "The Summer Skies" by Jenny Colgan: https://kiltedowl.blogspot.com/2025/07/book-review-summer-skies-by-jenny-colgan.html