As the book starts to draw towards the
ending, I find myself more engaged than ever. I have so many
questions in my head. Not knowing the conclusion, I'm curious if they
will succeed at killing the Count or not. I'm also curious about
whether or not killing Dracula undoes the vampiric effects on Mina
Harker. Will she go back to being a normal girl? Will she turn? Or
will she become something in between.
Throughout the book we get small
details about vampires and how they work, but I'm curious about the
part where Van Helsing can hypnotize Mina and she can report on what
Dracula sees or smells or hears. Is that a power that vampires have?
I've never heard of it. It also seems to appear that certain times of
day can have an effect on the vampire or whatever transition Mina is
in.
Going into reading the book for the
first time, I assumed Van Helsing would be a small but significant
character, so I'm surprised that he is really the driving force
behind all of this. What I love about him, is that he isn't arrogant
about his knowledge of vampires. He listens to the group and values
their input and truly cares about them. It's great to see them work
as a team to track down Dracula. Lord Godalming using his resources
to help locate the ship and gain privileges. I love how Van Helsing
went back to the records to figure out Dracula's plan.
The journey to Dracula's castle felt a
bit dragged out, and Dracula is not very active during this pursuit. The
ending of the book, and downfall of Dracula, was anti-climatic, in my
opinion. While, I do enjoy the story, I'll have to read it again to
really understand the story, but I will say I do wish the story would
have spent more time with Dracula and his castle.
Overall,
I did enjoy reading this book, and I'm glad that I did so, however I
think it will take a second reading to really understand and
appreciate what Bram Stoker was trying to accomplish. Now that I know
what happens my expectations will be different going into a second
reading. One thing I really enjoy was Stoker's take on the vampire
mythology, the story gives you want you need to know but leaves some
mystery for the reader. As someone who doesn't read a lot of vampire
fiction I enjoy these elements of the story. While I admit my
problems with the book, I do think that it is a must read for any
avid book reader, especially those interested in horror and
supernatural. Someday I'll read this again, and even though it wasn't
what I thought, I enjoyed Dracula very much.
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