Customer Reviews

Dracula, with eBook (Tantor Unabridged Classics)

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Some of the more supernatural elements of Dracula---bats flapping against windows, his ability to control and turn into mist, etc.---strike today's reader as rather more silly than terrifying. Stoker seems aware of this, as he includes a lot of nonsense to the effect that there are things of which science is not aware, and we can only rely on faith and tradition in dealing with them. Still, Dracula is in my experience of higher literary quality than the vast majority of the many vampire novels that have come since, even those that downplay or at least try to explain the supernatural aspects of vampire mythology.

There are several interesting characters here, including, of course, Van Helsing, and also the Texan Quincey Morris (who was absent from all of the adaptations I'd encountered before actually reading the original novel), but particularly Mina Harker, who in some respects is almost a sort of proto-feminist character. And the scenes with Renfield in Seward's insane asylum are genuinely creepy.

John Lee's narration in this audio edition isn't his best work, but he's almost always worth listening to, and his voice is well suited to the material.

Three and a half stars.