Source: Borrowed from the library
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
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In the week leading up to Halloween, I decided to tackle Bram Stoker's Dracula. I've been wanting to start reading the classics for some time now and I figured it was the perfect time of year to read the original vampire story. I'm a great lover of The Twilight Saga (don't judge!) and a big fan of the newer Infinite Days, by Rebecca Maizel. That being said, I never knew much about the original vampire other than the fact that he scared the living daylights out of everyone. I heard all the criticisms of the modern vampire stories saying they were not scary enough, not evil enough, and just not true to the original. So, to tell you the truth, I expected Dracula to be scary, or at least creepy, eerie, or spooky and honestly, it was none of those. I'm glad I read it because I now have a bit more knowledge of where the whole vampire genre began, but I was sorely disappointed in the book overall. It was not difficult to read or understand, but it took me a solid two weeks to finish because at times I found it quite dull. I have two boxes of classics in the basement that I hope to read someday and I fervently hope they are better this first attempt. For the time being, I'm going to stick with my non-traditional, but oh-so-much-more-interesting vampires.
Oh, I'm sorry to hear that you didn't like Dracula. I loved it. I found it mysterious and eerie myself, but I am kind of a sissy where scary books are concerned. I also loved the unusual way the story was told.
ReplyDeleteI think actually that there were other vampire stories before Dracula, but this book was the one that became famous and popularized the genre. You've probably heard about the origins of the idea of the vampire, right? Before all the novels, why people believed in them - how it was a lack of knowledge about how the body decomposed, and grave robbers would find bodies that looked life-like, or had blood coming out of the mouth, etc. And people thought that these bodies walked the earth at night sucking blood! Pretty crazy, but fascinating as well!
I hope the rest of the books in your classics club list won't disappoint :)
Thanks for stopping by Danielle! You're right, I'm sure there were other vampire stories pre-Dracula, but this seems to be the one that has endured through the years and is the most well-known, so I consider it the "grandfather" of vampire stories, if you know what I mean. I think what killed it for me was the epistolary style -- since it was written as a series of letters, it just took all the creepy out of it for me. I imagine in the days before horror flicks and such, this story would have been a lot scarier. My modern-day idea of what constitutes "scary" might have given me unfairly unrealistic expectations.
DeleteI was also pretty vague on the actual origins of the vampire legends, so thanks for sharing. :)
I took a lot of time to figure out which classics I really wanted to read instead of just ones I felt like I should read, so I have high hopes that I will enjoy my other picks better!
Good luck with your own list & I hope you enjoy your selections :)