Dracula

Dracula
by Bram Stoker
read: 2014
Guardian 1000 Novels

The pacing in the first section of Dracula, where Jonathan Harker meets Count Dracula and stays at his mansion in Transylvania, felt outdated. A more modern take would have created more suspense, but in Dracula Harker knows that he's been imprisoned by a superhuman creature in first 30 pages or so. After his escape, however, the novel shifts locations to England, and the struggle to save Lucy's life and determine what is plaguing her had a lot more mystery and suspense.

As long as I can remember, vampires have been portrayed as attractive in popular culture. There's a little of that in Dracula, with the female vampires Jonathan encouters in Dracula's mansion, but Dracula himself is a monster. To the extent that he's able to compel behavior in others - and not just women, but men, too - it's clear that it's the result of dark powers, not super-sexiness. It's typical of Hollywood to reduce any male / female interaction to a romantic or sexual relationship, and in this case I think it's a little demeaning towards women. The influence of demonic powers have been reduced to, "that dark guy with the accent is cute!"