Dracula by Bram Stoker

First Published: 1897

Pages: 422

Rating: 5 out of 5

Introduction: My original intention was to read Dracula by Bram Stoker for Halloween and review it. Then I saw this book:

I thought, "Hmm. Why not read and review all three books?" Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were pioneers of horror tales. All their stories were very original and creative that many storytellers of today still use the ideas and adapted them to the modern standards. This is my way of reminding us to give the credit where its due.

So...let's go on with the review.

Summary: Jonathan Harker is a young lawyer who travels to Transylvania to settle a business with Count Darcula. Little does he know that Dracula is a vampire who is set on having Jonathan as his next victim. Jonathan escapes, but the Count is far from over. He is determined to unleash his bloodthirsty terror on London society.

Review: Unlike Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde, I already read Dracula. I was sixteen year old. It was one of the scariest books I'd ever read. I admit it gave me nightmares. You would think that I would stop reading it, but I didn't. The story was so amazing that it was hard to put down.

That's why seventeen years later, I decided to pick Dracula up again. While it no longer gave me nightmares, it still gave me the creeps. I do scare easily. I remember reading it this past quiet Saturday evening and familiarizing myself with the story again. While doing so, our family dog who slept next to me, got up and started barking. Startled, I nearly jumped out of my seat. Of course, I stopped there and picked up Norwegian Wood. I do have a wild imagination, and I like to immerse myself into what I'm reading...which is probably why I don't mind reading books with plenty of description.

But I digress. Like in most of my reviews, I don't really talk about what happened in the story. I like for the readers to find out about the story themselves.

Dracula is an epistolary novel. The story is told in different point of view by the characters. I didn't find myself bored or skipping through some parts. Mr. Stoker does a good job of building up one suspense after another. Even though I read it before, I thought it was exciting. I flew through this 400 plus page novel.

I love the characters here. The protagonists - Jonathan, Mina, and Van Helsing - were all very strong, and so were the minor characters who were all interesting in their own way. They are dealing with a powerful adversary here after all - Count Dracula. There are no veggie-eating vampires in this story (No offense to Twilight fans.) Just an evil, blood-sucking monster hell bent on causing his reign of terror during the night.

There are many vampires stories out there. While they are all unique in their own way, Dracula stands out as being the original and, to me, the best vampire book.

Recommendation: If you like horror, gothic, and suspenseful stories, this is the one to get especially if you are a huge vampire fan.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

EDIT: I forgot to include this in my post. I was reminded by it when Diane made a comment about the book covers. Last month while I was at the bookstore buying my copy of Dracula, I saw its illustrated version. The story, of course, was still by Bram Stoker but there were drawings made by the talented Jae Lee. For those of you who don't know, Jae Lee is a Marvel comic book artist. The drawings in the illustrated Dracula version were awesome. Anyway, below is the book cover of the Illustrated Dracula. There's Count Dracula himself on the cover.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

First Published: 1818

Pages: 280

Rating: 5 out of 5

Introduction: This is the second book I'm reviewing for Halloween. I got the idea last month when I purchased this:

Three classic horror tales compiled into one book. Perfect!

Summary: This is the story of Victor Frankenstein who pushes the boundaries of science by creating a creature made of dead human remains.

Review: This book is awesome! I can't believe that Mary Shelley wrote this book when she was only 18 years old! Pure creative talent!

I was really surprised how I came to love this book. This is the original story...not some adapted version of Frankenstein...so forget about looking for Igor here or hoping that it's like any Frankenstein films/stories you have heard of.

Frankenstein is more than just a horror story. Much, much more. It is a story of discrimination, nature vs nurture, and the creator vs. the created. It shows the beauty and the ugliness of human nature.

The story is a story within a story. The first narrator is Robert Walton. He meets Victor Frankenstein while they are in the Arctic. He discovers that Victor is chasing someone. This leads to Victor who narrates his side of the story. He is ambitious and very driven. He decides to create a being made of human corpses...and later realizes the mistake he's made and the prize that comes with it. Then the creature who Victor created tells story, and I learn the pain and discrimination he goes through.

Notice that I said creature, and not monster? Well, that's because towards then middle and end of the book...I really didn't know who the true monster was. Was it Victor who spat and hated his creation? Or was it the creature who acted on the society that feared and loathed him because of his appearance?

Since I'm all about character development, this is probably one of the reasons I love this book. I love how Ms. Shelley made Victor and the creature into dynamic characters. They were both protagonists and antagonists at the same time. I thought it was brillant, and she did it so well.

This is one of the best I'd ever read this year. While it didn't change my life, Frankenstein really made me think. It's one of the books that will stay with me.

Recommendation: Highly recommended! I think this is one of the books that should be in one's library. I'm not a horror book fan, but I enjoyed this one. Don't let it scare you because it's a classic. I found it easy to follow.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Rating: 4 out of 5

Last month, I posted that I will celebrate Halloween by reading some classic horror tales and writing reviews about them this October. Why the classics? Why not read some Stephen King novels or maybe some Dean Koontz? Well, after finishing the Classics Challenge 2009, I really began to appreciate the classics. After all, where would be the novels of today if these classics were written?

It's the same for these classic horror tales. Would we be reading the Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series, or the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice if Bram Stoker didn't write Dracula?

My book review for today is on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. It's a novella published back in 1886. The story is about Mr. Utterson, a lawyer and an old friend of Dr. Jekyll who decides to leave everything (money and all his possessions) to Mr. Hyde. Mr. Utterson starts to investigate after Mr. Hyde murders a man after beating him with a cane that Mr. Utterson gave to Dr. Jekyll as a gift.

I'm not going to talk about what happens next since I don't want to spoil it for you. I'm huge on characters so I'll talk about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll is a well-respected doctor who's very mild-mannered and described as "tall, fine build of a man." On the other hand, Hyde is short, deformed, cruel, and very violent. The differences stop there.

In the story, Mr. Hyde tramples on a little girl without much thought and not caring whether she's hurt or not. I think Mr. Hyde has a bit of a superiority complex where he thinks that he is going to get away with what he did by just giving the girl's family some money. Dr. Jekyll has that same reaction after he's told that Mr. Hyde is wanted for murder. Instead of telling the truth, Dr. Jekyll lies about Mr. Hyde's whereabouts. He doesn't care that Mr. Hyde has murdered another man.

At first, I thought I would feel some pity on Dr. Jekyll. In the end, I really didn't because he's very much aware of his actions but did nothing to stop them or claim any responsibilty for them.

Was the story scary? Well, not really. It was creepy. It's more of a mystery/thriller type of story to me. I think the only time I felt there was some real suspense in the story was when Mr. Utterson and Dr. Jekyll's servants were about confront Mr. Hyde.

Would I recommend this? Absolutely! I had fun reading it. The story was simple and straight-forward. It's a good story to read if you're in the mood for some classic mystery.

Richard Mansfield (shown in the picture above) was the actor who played Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde in one of the plays that was adapted from the story. This was taken in 1895. (Source: Wikipedia)

Classic Monstrous Tales

Ever since I finished The Classics Challenge, I've fallen into the classics phase. Lately, I found myself wandering to the classics aisle or section whenever I'm at the bookstore. With Halloween coming up, I thought it might be best to re-read and review Dracula by Bram Stoker. That changed, however, when I went to Hastings. Much to my delight, I recently discovered that Signet Classics decided to publish three classic horror stories of Frankenstein, Dracula, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde into one compilation with an introduction by Stephen King. All it cost me was a measely $7.95.

Sweet!

This altered my plans a little bit. I decided to read all three books and review them in October for Halloween. I get to satisfy my classics cravings and look forward to read these scary tales. Perfect!