Because of HPPodcraft, I dipped into Dracula... the audiobook, 'cos I'm lazy. (There are a lot of books on LibriVox, so I might be back there soon.)
This book is oddly balanced. The initial part is Jonathan Harker in the Dracula Castle, then we slip over to London where Lucy falls prey to him. This is most of the book, then Mina starts to do the same thing, but now the heroes are gathering for the strike. It's almost like Lucy is a Disposable Woman, and doesn't get to really serve a function in the plot but to give the guys a reason to fight and to practice fighting against. Not that women in general get a fair chance in this book, but hey, 19th century.
Overall, it's a decent monster story (although the structure did remind me a lot of New Century), and a good foundation for when I start watching the Hammer Horror movies (which I will at some point). Bram Stoker is fairly free wheeling with vampire mythology, and it feels like he makes up what he needs as he goes along. (Although I do have a possible plot continuity point I might have missed. If Dracula hasn't been in London/England before, where does Renfield come from to get crazy and put in an asylum before Dracula turns up?)
My breadth of classic novels grows, and I see (or rather, hear) they have Lair of the White Worm there...
[END]
Monday, 30 March 2015
Dra cool la
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I must give this audio version a spin. Stoker's sexual hang-ups and the general prevalent distrust of 'Johnny Foreigner' abound in the book - but somehow these themes have managed to morph to stay relevant through the many, many years since it was published.
Post a Comment