Bram Stoker: Dracula (Hardcover, 2003, Barnes and Noble Books)
Hardcover, 526 pages
English language
Published Nov. 7, 2003 by Barnes and Noble Books.
Jonathan Harker, a young solicitor, is summoned by the mysterious Count Dracula to his castle in Transylvania to finalize a property deal. Little does Harker suspect that by signing over English property to the count he is unleashing a terrible evil on the countrymen. Against this threat, Dr. Van Helsing forms his team of vampire slayers, pitting telegrams, trains, and revolvers against Dracula's army of ghouls and lunatics.
In this story of a prim and arrogant society threatened by a supernatural force, Stoker captured the fears of his age. Dracula represents everything respectable Victorians feared: the irrational, the pagan, the erotic, and the foreign. Dracula has been imitated and adapted for cinema many times. It remains as exciting and relevant today as when first published in 1897.
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.
