Summary from GoodReads:

The aristocratic vampire that haunts the Transylvanian countryside has captivated readers’ imaginations since it was first published in 1897. Hindle asserts that Dracula depicts an embattled man’s struggle to recover his “deepest sense of himself as a man”, making it the “ultimate terror myth”.

My Review:

It’s not often my 17 year old brother tells me I have to read a book.  So when he does, I put it on the short list.

I’ve had Dracula on my list for a while though.  I thought it’d be a fun read after reading Frankenstein earlier this year, but Frankenstein did a number on me (it was not nearly as gripping as I had hoped it would be) so Dracula got put to the back burner.  I should have known better.

First of all – for those of you who have not experienced Dracula yet – it’s an epistolary novel.  Yup, all letters.  These letters grow in intensity as the story progresses, making the book somewhat unique, especially when compared to other vampire novels.

I grew up reading Anne Rice novels – none of this wimpy sparkling-vampire stuff for me.  I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer (bonus points if you can name the season in which the good Count shows up there!), I enjoy a good, thrilling story that has me wanting to leave the lights on, and Dracula gave me everything I was looking for and more.  Y’all, I actually dreamed of spider-like men crawling up my walls.  It was awesome.

Reading Dracula is kicking off a year of intense exploring of a genre I’ve always shied away from.  Horror.  I figured I had to kick the year off with a review of a class horror and fully plan to explore the genre more in 2012.  It should be interesting – especially if this is the type of novel from which inspiration is taken.

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