Book #16: Dracula by Bram Stoker
Number of pages: 440
This is a book that I read when I was at school, and decided to read again following the BBC's adaptation earlier this year.
I'd forgotten what a hard book this was at times, but remembered its unconventional, and post-modern writing style. Instead of a standard narrative, the book takes the form of a series of journal entries; for the first four chapters, these are all from Jonathan Harker, who is invited to Dracula's castle, not realising his host is a vampire. After chapter 4, there are several narrators, whom Bram Stoker gives different writing styles, and some (chapters from the point of view of Dr. Seward for example) are written densely, to the point where I was occasionally having to go back a few pages to check that I'd not missed anything.
One thing that struck me, upon re-reading this, was that Dracula himself barely appears at all, but his presence is felt throughout the whole book. The only way that I can possibly fault this novel is that, with Dracula now being synonymous with vampires, anyone who reads this will know exactly what the book is about, and also that you can guess how it will end. I was glad I gave this another read, though.
Next book: Seashaken Houses (Tom Nancollas)