Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 59
 Good book January 26, 2004
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
As far as the story line goes you've seen some of the films you must have some idea. This book is sad and full of tension. It's stood the test of time. The binding is a nice durable Hardback. It's durable and the print quality is much better than the various £1.50 classics around. It is however a small book so don't buy it for large print.
Chilling Listening... November 10, 2003
Mr. C. Coker (Oxford, Oxon United Kingdom)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
The audiobook by Naxos is more like a radio play than a conventional reading of a book by one narrator, but this has been well done, and I found myself absorbed by it. I have been listening to this in my car as I commute and I could feel a slight sense of fear as it got dark and Count Dracula started to make his presence in London felt...
It has been slighty annotated, but not so much as to detract from the story, and I would highly recommend this.
"For the dead travel fast" October 5, 2007
bernie (Arlington, Texas)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Surprisingly "Denn die Toten reiten schnell" or "For the dead travel fast" is more than an opening line to this tale of love in the dangerous moon light. After watching several Drac movies and a few Nosferatu's, I pretty much though I had a handle on the genera. Little did I know what a wonderful world of mystery and suspense that Bram Stoker opened up for me.
The story is told mostly third party though the papers, diaries, and phonograph recordings (on wax calendars) of those people involve in a tale so bizarre that it almost defies belief. The general story line is that of a Count that plans to move to a more urban setting (from Borgo Pass to London) where there is a richer diet. There he finds succulent women; something he can sing his teeth in. Unfortunately for him a gang of ruffians (including a real-estate agent, asylum director, Texas cowboy and an Old Dutch abnormal psychologist) is out to detour his nocturnal munching. They think they have Drac on the run but with a wing and a prayer he is always one step ahead.
Of more value to the reader is the rich prose chosen by Stoker as he describes the morals and technology of the time. We have to come to grips with or decide if we can perform the rituals that are required to eliminate vampires verses the impropriety of opening graves and staking loved ones. The powers in the book differ from the movie versions in that they are more of persuasion and capabilities to manipulate the local weather. At one point the Dutch Dr. Van Helsing, is so overwhelmed by a beautiful vampire laying in the grave that he almost for gets why he is there and may become vamp chow.
All in all the story is more in the cunning chase. And the question as to will they succeed or will Dracula triumph. Remember "For the dead travel fast."
The most atmospheric book I have ever read March 12, 2003
N. D. Maidment
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
After being a fan of the now rather hammy looking Hammer Horror Dracula films in my youth I finally decided to buy the original novel and, to be honest, was startled at its brilliance.
It is dark, brooding and powerfully atmospheric - more so than any horror novel I have ever encountered. In its genre it is rightly regarded as one of the premiere pieces of literature of all time.
I would certainly rank it along with greats like Wuthering Heights and Sense and Sensibility as one of the most outstanding reads in British history.
Everyone is familiar with the legend, but Stoker's original is so interesting in that it is written solely in the form of personal journals and press reports, rather than describing the actions as they happen.
Things start piecing themselves together gradually as readers can compare one piece of evidence from Dr Seward with the events of Mina Harker's life and the sad diary of Lucy Westenra.
This allows the reader to get closer than is usual to the characters, an environment that is truly gripping from beginning to end.
Quite simply it is a book that everyone should own and at this price it is an absolute steal.
Dracula - restricted diet (no vegetables please) July 21, 2004
Sally-Anne (Leicestershire, United Kingdom)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Most weekends when we were teenagers, my friend and I took the early evening bus (you can tell it was a long time ago because there was a regular and reliable bus service) into the local market town to watch whatever film Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were starring in at the cinema - usually some variation of Dracula. More recently I've enjoyed Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula". It's high time I got round to reading the original book. So now I have and I listened to the audiobook as well. It's a great story: very imaginative, creepy and atmospheric. To my surprise, I enjoyed the book more than any of the films - and I enjoyed the films a lot. Bram Stoker's Dracula story isn't very much like Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" - as good as that film was, and I had imagined that he'd called it "Bram Stoker's Dracula" because he'd followed the original story closely, but nothing of the sort.The book has aged rather well, I think. The style is unlike any modern book I've read and is written as a series of journals, diary entries, letters, memoranda and newspaper articles, so the reader sees the events from various angles. Great use is made of the modern technology and scientific theories of the time. Dr Seward keeps his diary using a phonograph, Mina and Jonathan Harker use shorthand, Mina transcribes all the diaries on her typewriter and "knits" them into a sensible order. Use is also made of the very peculiar and sometimes dangerous medicine and psychology of the period. Dr Van Helsing is a medical doctor. He performs blood transfusions (blood groups are not an issue it seems) and the blood is pumped straight from the arms of no fewer than 3 men into the body of one anaemic girl. Really, it would be surprising to us if she didn't die - what a stroke of luck if the blood groups all just happened to be compatible. This sort of thing really did happen in the early days of blood transfusions though. She was fortunate to get human blood - dogs, sheep, horses and all sorts were tried experimentally in earlier, real-life cases. Dr Seward is a psychologist and his analysis of his patient, Renfield is pretty strange. But man of medicine, Dr Van Helsing, also dabbles in psychology and his analysis of Dracula is even more peculiar. He concludes that Dracula has a child's brain and this whacky analysis helps them to work out what the old devil's up to and how they can best hunt him. Again, as nutty as this might seem to the modern reader, it worked well enough in a Gothic horror. In any case, readers of horror stories should already have suspended their disbelief in preparation to enjoy the story and I don't think this story will disappoint anyone who enjoys a good horror story. The audiobook was good too. I thought the actors performed very well and, with the music, they managed to generate a very sinister atmosphere. My only criticism of the audio version is the editing and that's just a small criticism because it must have been difficult to edit this book down to slightly less than 4 hours. Some of the scenes that were missed made a few other scenes that were included, seem puzzling. I listened to the audiobook before reading the book and I found it a bit disjointed until reading the book filled in the gaps for me. Other than that, I think Naxos did a splendid job. I recommend both the book and the audiobook.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 59
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