I like epistolary novels, but they can get very dry after a while, so I got an audiobook to listen along with while I read. And honestly? Nothing about this novel is scary without it. I think that a large chunk of horror as a genre is based on Dracula or delineated from later work inspired by it, so the source material seems generic to us when it might've been groundbreaking (and terrifying) when it was released. Also there is so much more blood and gore and so many more (and much weirder) monsters in horror movies and literature today than in Dracula, so the original novel seems toothless in comparison. But, as I often find, a good narrator can breath life into even the most tired-out stories imaginable, and I have to acknowledge that Dracula in and of itself isn't tired-out. We as a society have just beaten the concept of Dracula to death. Give the Count a break (even if he is.... ya know.... an absolute monster).
All the same, I think it's really cool to read a book that has had such a significant impact on the way we consume horror and thriller literature (whether through film, print, podcasts, etc.) and depict different kinds of monsters. I love horror movies (even if I am a big coward), so I'm very excited to see where this goes!
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| This is both me watching horror movies and a gif from my favorite 80s horror movie, An American Werewolf in London. |
It’s easy to be upset over Jonathan Harker’s stupidity (I know I am), but we as an audience feel similar things towards idiots in horror movies today, and our poor, stupid Jonathan Harker didn’t have over a century of vampire literature and film to put him through his paces and prepare him for unsettlingly religious villagers, howling wolves, spectral fires, creepy counts, the kidnaping and murdering of children, and generally dangerous women. If we can be mad at the dumb blonde that is brutally murdered and still enjoy a horror movie, then I don't see why we can't be mad at our dear idiot Harker and still enjoy the book.
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| Shout out to Buffy for smashing that dumb blonde in a horror movie trope. That's my girl!! |
Lastly, I didn't like the mess with Lucy and her suitors, but can I just say how much I love how ridiculously and stereotypically Texan Quincey Morris is? He's so funny to me. I hope he doesn't drop off the face of the earth. Or get turned into a vampire. I think True Blood gave us all more than enough Southern vampires to last a lifetime (or several lifetimes, as the case may be).
I wasn't sure what to expect out of this and like a lot of people I am really enjoying it. I agree that it is cool to see where all of our newer versions of vampires originate from. Unfortunately, having a oblivious main character is crucial in any horror movie or book due to the fact that without it, the person would be smart enough to walk away when they saw a dangerous situation. One thing I don't enjoy all that much is the amount of seemingly meaningless information we are give. Its almost like the author wanted a cliffhanger with the part of Jonathan so he just added a lot of more useless information to fill up pages. But overall the story is still great and I am excited to keep reading.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the stupidity of Jonathan was intentional on Bram Stoker's part, but something that I realized as I read further in the novel is that as because the idea of vampires has been beaten to death many of the other characters seem stupid and clueless too (Not including Van Helsing). I feel like when the novel was written these characters would have been normal, but given the contemporary reader's familiarity with vampires, it all seems like dramatic irony now. So this novel is like half scary, half funny to me because of that fact.
ReplyDeleteI'll agree that the idea of vampires in fiction in all mediums has been so overused, but I'm not gonna lie, they are just so much fun to write. Still can't pinpoint why, but they just are, as are werewolves.
ReplyDeleteAlso, lol agreed. You really can't make Quincey Morris any more Texan and it was really well done with pinpointing exactly what a stereotypical Texan would act like.
Also, when you brought up podcasts, I don't know why, but I just remembered a vlog series I saw a while ago that was about a vampire in college called, Carmilla. It was actually pretty good. The main character notices there's something odd about her roommate, Carmilla, and tries to figure out what's going on (students had been going missing as well), and finds out that Carmilla's a vampire. They fall in love. I ship it.