a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal.' - Bram Stoker, Chapter 2, Dracula 'As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me.But other than that, the book landed fairly flat for me, and I think I’ll read a few adaptions instead of seeking out the original, unabridged novel.

I did like that the story is told from all the different character perspectives, and Minna has a very active role in a very male storyline.

We have no idea what motivates him to imprison Jonathan Harker in Transylvania or why Minna is his victim. We never fully understand why exactly Dracula wants to move to England or why he only seems to turn young women. In typical Victorian writing style, the story meanders around where the baddies are ‘bad’ and the goodies are ‘good,’ and there’s no clear motivation or complications plaguing the characters other than the plot itself. But while I didn’t enjoy this book, it’s not lost on me that the source material is often nowhere near as good as the millions of adaptions that it inspired. Was there anything spooky about it? Not really. Minna is saved and everyone goes home shaking their heads about how weird it all was. Now that the men-folk know what’s what, they go after Dracula and chase him all the way back to Transylvania, where they get into a fight with some locals and then stick a stake in Dracula and call it a day. But while that drama’s going on, Dracula finds Minna, Jonathan’s wife, and turns her next. She dies, she rises, they stick a stake in her and call it a day. Van Helsing, who’s apparently into the occult, and they try to save her.

Lucy’s old boyfriend calls in his friend, Dr. Dracula arrives in England and immediately turns Jonathan’s wife’s friend, Lucy, into a vampire. Jonathan realizes Dracula is a vampire and escapes, but doesn’t get to England before Dracula has moved. The client is a creepy dude named Count Dracula who basically traps Jonathan in his castle. Long story short, A real estate agent, Jonathan Harker, goes to Transylvania to meet a client before his move to England. I never had to read “Dracula” in school, and while, like most people, I’m aware of the general premise of the story, my goal of reading at least one classic a year put this on my spooky-reads list for Halloween. Full disclosure, I had no idea I’d ordered the edited and abridged version from the library, but I decided to give it a go anyway since the abridged version was still some 400 pages.

Bram stoker's dracula book