"Dracula" by Bram Stoker (1847-1912)

 

Publisher: Nelson DoubledayBook reviews
Copyright: 1982
ISBN: 9780307593856

It has been a long time since I read this novel,so I figured that it would be a good idea to read it once again. What urged me to do this was that I recently watched "Bram Storker's Dracula" by Francis Ford Coppola and wanted to see how close he got to the actual story. Surprisingly he was fairly close, but as is typical in Hollywood he made a few rather strange changes such as making Renfield a coworker of Johathan Harker, and making Mina Harker want to become a vampire, (neither of which were in the book). Mind you he didn't make anywhere near as many changes as some other directors (such as making Renfield the servant/butler to Dracula), which I commend him for. I also just found out that there was another movie made in 2021 directed by Jonny Campbell, so I'm anxious to see what he did / didn't do. While I am on the subject of movies there are three excellent versions "Love, At First Bite" starring George Hamilton & Susan St. James, "Dracula, Dead & Loving It" starring Leslie Neilson & Mel Brooks, and "Nightlife" starring Ben Cross & Maryam d'Abo. Both "Love, At First Bite" & "Nightlife" are modern retellings of the story, while "Dracula, Dead and Loving It" is a comedy in the classic Mel Brooke's style. "Love, At First Bite" is also a comedy.

I'm relatively sure that most people know the general tale of Dracula, either from the various movies, or other media so I won't review it here, but for those of you who haven't read the actual story, please do so before you watch any of the movies (if you can), so you can get the uncorrupted version of Mr. Stoker's famous novel. It is well worth the read. If you haven't read it then the format may be somewhat different from what you expect as it is written in the form of a series of diary entries from the various characters. This in no way detracts from the story, and in fact enhances it as you are brought right into the narration.

A delight to read, highly recommended.