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Ha, that's always the problem I have with epistolary novels Darth_Katie Send a noteboard - 23/01/2011 05:15:58 PM
I am, however, conflicted about the characters. On the one hand, they’re quite nice to read: upstanding, brave, loving men, and clever, courageous women. Dracula’s evil is quite chilling. But they’re also only one-sided. There’s no depth and no contrast to them. Either they’re fully good – all of the good guys – or they’re fully bad: Dracula and his brides. The one character with ambiguity and shade is madman Renfield; he’s rather fascinating, and I think that Stoker enjoyed writing him.


Yup, the characters are definitely the weak point.


I also got a little annoyed by the way Van Helsing speaks. At first it was quite nice because that is how many Dutch people speak English (I grew up with lots of them, being of Dutch extraction myself), but would all three journal writers (Mina, Johnathan and Dr Seward) really have taken down his words exactly as he said them, complete with the errors non-native speakers make? That doesn’t feel realistic.


Who writes stuff down in the kind of detail that appears in novels? NOBODY. No one would ever write like that, it's very silly. But suspension of disbelief and everything. ;)

More than the way he talked, I was annoyed by the hugely long self-righteous monologues Van Helsing kept going on, for pages and pages. The treatment of Mina by all the men was also pretty irritating to me, but it was written in the 1800s, so what are you going to do?
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Dracula by Bram Stoker: the definitive vampire novel. Rebekah - 23/01/2011 01:09:49 PM 19887 Views
And a wee apology: Rebekah - 23/01/2011 01:11:12 PM 1963 Views
Re: And a wee apology: Camilla - 23/01/2011 01:14:03 PM 1926 Views
Re: And a wee apology: Rebekah - 23/01/2011 01:16:01 PM 2019 Views
Re: And a wee apology: Camilla - 23/01/2011 01:23:27 PM 1898 Views
I'm with Camilla, that was a very good review. *NM* Legolas - 23/01/2011 01:42:13 PM 1097 Views
Re: No no, I liked it, I thought it was thinky and evocative of thinkyness! *NM* Danae al'Thor - 24/01/2011 08:39:29 PM 986 Views
Okay. I'll have to pick this up. ? - 23/01/2011 01:14:01 PM 1965 Views
I had one bad night the first time I read it. Rebekah - 23/01/2011 01:15:22 PM 1873 Views
I've been wanting to read Dracula for a while. ? - 23/01/2011 01:18:49 PM 1854 Views
Re: I've been wanting to read Dracula for a while. Rebekah - 23/01/2011 01:21:38 PM 1968 Views
Re: I've been wanting to read Dracula for a while. ? - 23/01/2011 01:28:57 PM 1912 Views
It's pretty tame by modern standards. *NM* Darth_Katie - 23/01/2011 05:17:03 PM 1004 Views
It has been a while since I read it (should probably do something about that), but I think I agree. Camilla - 23/01/2011 01:23:10 PM 2087 Views
I have a copy here if you want to borrow. (I read it on my Kindle this time.) Rebekah - 23/01/2011 01:32:59 PM 2019 Views
Yes please Camilla - 23/01/2011 01:54:40 PM 2049 Views
Since Camilla mentioned the topic of where one reads books... Legolas - 23/01/2011 01:58:41 PM 1987 Views
Heh. Rebekah - 23/01/2011 02:01:32 PM 2170 Views
THEY WERE NEVER BRITISH!!! THEY STILL AREN'T; 36+6+1!!!!!! Cannoli - 23/01/2011 05:06:42 PM 1990 Views
Re: THEY WERE NEVER BRITISH!!! THEY STILL AREN'T; 36+6+1!!!!!! Camilla - 23/01/2011 05:23:30 PM 2050 Views
Character wise, not geographically. Rebekah - 23/01/2011 05:46:49 PM 1866 Views
Always nice to see someone advocating terrorism. Michael - 25/01/2011 04:52:09 PM 2042 Views
Terrorism is a point of view. Cannoli - 03/02/2011 04:30:39 PM 2010 Views
You know, I have to agree with Cannoli, though without the all caps and the queen-fucking. Tom - 23/01/2011 10:48:36 PM 2025 Views
Of course. Rebekah - 23/01/2011 10:54:41 PM 1954 Views
I won't be as mad as Cannoli, or pedantic as Tom but it is an Irish novel Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:11:05 PM 2107 Views
Having an Irish writer does not an Irish novel make. Rebekah - 23/01/2011 11:15:02 PM 2046 Views
yes, but Camilla - 23/01/2011 11:15:55 PM 1899 Views
Ha, that's always the problem I have with epistolary novels Darth_Katie - 23/01/2011 05:15:58 PM 1881 Views
here there are no misunderstood pacifist bloodsuckers, supernatural heroes or sparkles. j-whitt987 - 24/01/2011 08:42:54 AM 1961 Views
A fun little travel piece about Whitby, where an important part of Dracula is set. Rebekah - 25/01/2011 12:44:46 PM 1997 Views
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