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SETTING: late 19th-century London, England and Transylvania, Romania.
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SUMMARY: In an attempt to increase the population in his vampire empire, Count Dracula takes measures to relocate from Transylvania to London, but is met with resistance by a group of four men and one woman.
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I've avoided e-books since their first launch, but I received a tablet as a gift from the birthday/graduation/farewell party my parents threw me prior to my departure from Los Angeles. Considering the long journey I had to DC (my sister and I took a 7-day road trip from LA to DC via New Orleans), I had to make use of it. The tablet came with a few free classics already downloaded, Dracula included. I think I may have started reading Dracula at some point in high school (or I might be confusing that with my attempt to start Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which is also on my mental to-read list), and thought this would be a great opportunity to read it. It's portable and easy to read in the car, and unless the tablet decides to crash (which it did twice), you're unlikely to lose your spot.
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Things I liked about this book:
- Mina Harker, the female protagonist. Throughout the entire novel, the four male protagonists comment on how women are of a weaker disposition and therefore shouldn't do or be involved with [fill in the blank]. Mina disproves every assumption they make regarding women's abilities, and does so in a supremely intelligent and elegant fashion. She always succeeds at everything she puts her mind to and is the strongest character in the novel.
- The story is entirely related with a series of journal entries, letters, and newspaper clippings. I've never read a book that presents its information solely using this format. It was great!
- Dr. Van Helsing is a physician, a lawyer, and awesomely brilliant. He is my new fictional role model.
- Get to re-learn all the myths surrounding vampires/vampirism.
- It's an interesting story that somehow manages to keep you attentive to all the details.
- The second-class view the male protagonists have of women. Thank goodness for Mina's character, otherwise I would have hated the book!
- For the most part, Dr. Van Helsing spoke in impeccable English throughout the novel (German is his first language); however, there were random moments where he didn't use proper grammar, and I wasn't able to pick up on any pattern as to why the author did this.
- Not quite something I didn't like, but I would have enjoyed it if the author provided an epilogue or something along those lines that expanded on the role and lives of vampires in his fictional world. The story was about a contained, singular experience, and it would be interesting to read an extensive account of Dracula's world.
I've avoided e-books solely on principle because I like the idea of reading a physical book. The smell, the texture of the pages, the overall ambiance that comes with an appropriately published and formatted book, etc. etc. This is the first e-book I've read and it actually wasn't as horrible an experience as I expected. It helped that I was reading an interesting novel, but the e-book experience can in no way replace the "traditional" book reading experience. Since I received this tablet as a present, I'll continue to use it when it is convenient (i.e. during traveling), but I can now fairly say that I'll always prefer reading an actual book versus an electronic book. Also, vampires are still as awesome in the 21st century as they were 2+ centuries ago.
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Recommend? Yes! It was a fun read.
Ok you NEED to read Frankenstein. Now.
ReplyDeleteHaha I swear I will!!
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