Paperback
English language
Published by Arcturus Publishing.
Dracula (1897) begins with a young solicitor, Jonathan Harker, on his way to Transylvania to meet Count Dracula, who is buying property in London. Harker endures a nightmarish stay at Dracula's castle, which foreshadows some bizarre events in England.
First, a huge wolf-like creature is seen to leap from the deck of a Russian ship which has run aground on the shores of Whitby, its captain dead at the helm and its crew mysteriously absent; and then Lucy—a friend of Harker's fiancée, Mina—develops a strange wasting disease and red marks on her throat.
Vampire expert Professor Van Helsing convinces Harker and his friends that if Mina is not to share the same fate as poor “undead” Lucy, Dracula must be caught and ritually killed.
На удивление, даже сейчас довольно годно. Хотя Ван Хелсинг местами явно переигрывает 😅
Самого Дракулы в сюжете, прямо скажем, довольно мало.
Content warning Spoiler minori
Sono tentato di dare il massimo dei voti perché onestamente mi è piaciuto davvero tanto: la struttura episcolare, la caratterizzazione dei personaggi, le location variegate (io pensavo si svolgesse nel castello e basta),… Però. Nel 2023, fa un po' strano credere che tutti i personaggi si innamorino della stessa donna, e soprattutto il rapporto di bromance che nasce tra i quattro-cinque protagonisti pare una versione gotica-horror di Friends.
Tuttavia il romanzo è ultra-piacevole, scorre via nonostante la sua mole, e i protagonisti sono entrati nella Storia letteraria. Massimo dei voti e posto assicurato sulla libreria: un classico. 🦇🖤
EDIT: ho scoperto che si possono dare le "mezze stelle" su Lore! Allora 4 e 1/2 sia.
Uno dei libri più importanti per la creazione del vampiro come lo conosciamo noi, con tutte le leggende, le credenze e i personaggi iconici ormai di dominio pubblico. Il pregio più grande per me è la qualità della narrazione, che riesce a costruire immagini molto forti che ti si tracciano in testa mentre leggi; sono queste il lascito più prezioso che mi rimane di questo libro.
I had never given classic horror a go before, but this one was a pleasant surprise. The original Dracula story was something I thought I knew, elements like Dracula’s castle and the power possessed by that monster make an appearance here, but despite what you might expect of the original vampire, the book is still filled with great characters and moments that were truly nerve-wracking.
I couldn’t help but read faster and faster at times where the tension raised up, hoping for it to end when it was only getting worse. But its not all bad, there is always hope, and the determination of the characters to defend their loved ones and the future of humanity from the reign of the un-dead, is just great, but a few moments of old English were a little hard to read.
I listened to different audiobooks while reading, which was quite atmospheric too. …
I had never given classic horror a go before, but this one was a pleasant surprise. The original Dracula story was something I thought I knew, elements like Dracula’s castle and the power possessed by that monster make an appearance here, but despite what you might expect of the original vampire, the book is still filled with great characters and moments that were truly nerve-wracking.
I couldn’t help but read faster and faster at times where the tension raised up, hoping for it to end when it was only getting worse. But its not all bad, there is always hope, and the determination of the characters to defend their loved ones and the future of humanity from the reign of the un-dead, is just great, but a few moments of old English were a little hard to read.
I listened to different audiobooks while reading, which was quite atmospheric too.
(Review originally written April 1st, 2022)
Dracula was actually quite nice to read. At first, the story advanced quite slowly in my opinion, but towards the middle it became faster. Sometimes the story haunted me in the night, but fortunately this was not that bad and it never lasted long.
