I struggled a lot to write a review for this! It was a bit of an undertaking to simply read a novel that is such an iconic classic, so now what can I say that hasn’t already been said one hundred times?

It makes total sense why this book is what it is. I see how and why it inspired so many vampire stories we love today! I obviously missed out on a bit of the tension and mystery because… well… spoiler alert… I knew Dracula was a vampire! I knew Lucy would become one! This is obviously no fault of the book, just a funny side effect of reading a classic that has been recreated so many times.

Biggest takeaway is that I loved Mina and Van Helsing the most. And I ship Mina and Lucy! I wish it was scarier and less like, adventure-y? I expected it to be a little more poetic I guess? I think my gothic horror expectation was leaning more Shelley/Jackson? I liked the epistolary style, it was fun and intriguing to have the perspective changed so frequently by diary entries, letters, newspaper articles, etc. I wish I had read it with Dracula Daily!

I’ve been reading articles and essays and watching videos breaking down the history of Dracula, Bram Stoker’s history, and the themes explored in/interpreted from the story. I find it fascinating that so many themes are explored in what appears to just be or is thought of as Vampire Book. Xenophobia, colonization, antisemitism, racism, gender, sexuality, good and evil… there are so many different ways to look at what Bram Stoker wrote and I agree with so many of the different takes! It’s no wonder this story had such staying power.

(But I liked the book that inspired it, Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, more! Hehe)