Your Opinion Requested
Thursday, October 26, 2006 at 07:01AM 
So, I'm reading Dracula for the first time. I'm thinking: this is a classic tale, written in the 1800's. How evil can it be? It's the "story telling kind of evil," right? Look, Dracula even has his own stamp!
I have read Frankenstein and it has a Christian world view. Frankenstein is shown to be a man who would be God, and his monster is a sympathetic character; misunderstood, maligned, abandoned. Moral of the story: God is God, man is not God, when man tries to be God, wickedness prevails along with all manner of pain and anguish. There is no happy ending to that story. That is as it should be.
As I read the first three chapters of Dracula, I thought: Wow! This Bram Stoker guy can really write! I was drawn in immediately. And then I got to the end of chapter three and (even though I knew that vampire antics were coming) I was totally unnerved by the description and am uncertain now whether, regardless of the compelling nature of the writing, I should continue to read this book.
Has anyone read it? What do you know of it? What was your opinion? Is there anything redeeming about it in the end? Is this a classic struggle between good and evil or simply evil?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Related Tags: Dracula, Bram Stoker
Reader Comments (8)
I have not read it, but would be very interested in knowing your thoughts should you decide to continue. It's a book that has long been on my "I Would Like to Read That" list.
Oh, I've read Dracula. I think, though, that if you're finding it unerving or upsetting, you shouldn't read it.
But yes, it is a conflict between good and evil book - how evil, even when it's obvious, can still be attractive, how we're vulnerable.... I think that for all of it's creepiness, it is in the end a deeply moral book.
The funny thing for me is that the writer of Dracula was a man of traditional values, while the writer of Frankenstein led a (ahem) morally disorded life. But she still wrote a dandy book
I did the same thing. I strted readin, got unnerved, then stopped. I have done the same with other "popular" classics, including everything by Stephen Crane. Pray about it, then decide.
I can't bring myself to read anything creepy at all, not because I think it's wrong to, just because I'm a little sensitive that way.
So I haven't read Dracula, and I'm pretty sure I never will. So, if it were me, I'd be quitting the book right now, just because I'm lily-livered.
I've read it about two times, Abraham (Bram) Stoker wrote what could be considered the classic gothic novel. It is very disturbing in parts without a doubt. However, there is a distinct view between good and evil. Although it is obviously portrayed in a Roman Catholic view.
As to whether you should read it or not well if it is edifying do so if not then don't.
I'm with those who are lily-livered. Anything scary gives me nightmares forEVER!I can't read scary, gruesome, or violent.
I haven't read Dracula. I am tempted to have a little look at it but I may not read all of it unless I am forced to in order to teach it because I couldn't stomach it. There are lots of other great gothic novels without the vampire-ishness.
I figure that there is so much out there that I want to read and don't have time to, that if I don't like something I think it is a sign of strngth to put it down, acknowledge I don't like it and choose something else. I am not afraid to abandon books as much as I love them.
Let us know what you decide.
I've decided not to read it.
Just too creepy for me. I read a little bit more and I couldn't shake the feeling and there are lots of other books waiting to be read.
Fair enough. There are so many good books to read. I admire your choice, Kim.