Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Mairi

Jonathan Harker is an Englishman who has arranged for Count Dracula to purchase a house in London. As he travels to Dracula's castle to close the deal, superstitious villagers give him crucifixes and garlic, begging him not to go. Jon makes a mental note to ask Dracula exactly what it is that they are all so afraid of, but he soon learns that the count himself is a part of the darkness- no mirror will reflect his image, and he scuttles up and down the castle walls like a lizard.

The book group at my high school chose this book to read during the month of May in answer to a request that we read a classic- why anyone would request that, I don't know. Whenever I start to read a classic I have to fight off my prior assumption that it is going to be boring and difficult to understand- that's how I have thought of classics since I attempted to read War and Peace at the age of ten. This time I worked very hard to fight off that assumption and, by the time I actually picked it up, I was rather excited- Dracula is, after all, the original vampire novel, famous for its evil vampires, not its cute vampires.

Because, honestly, who really wants to read about Edward what's-his-name when they could read about Dracula?