Dracula by Bram Stoker

    

Dracula by Bram Stoker

   I just finished reading Dracula last week and I really liked it. One of my favorite aspects of the book was the setting. It begins when one of the main characters Johnathan visits a castle where Dracula lives in Transylvania. This is Eastern Europe, close to or maybe Russia. The castle is on a cliff. Johnathan notices something is off pretty soon with Dracula, but soon realizes he is trapped, his doors are locked during the day. The Count Dracula does not eat meals with Johnathan, and eventually the ploy is up and he stops treating him without any regard, and imprisons him. He begins to see the Count sliver down the castle, like a spider. He  attempts to escape by retrieving a key in the Counts room, by going out the window and walking along the castle. One slip up and he would probly drop to his death. He is unsuccessful in getting a key. The Count makes him write letters saying he is ok, and Johnathan knows he may soon die.   The Count then stages Johnathan's death by pretending to be him and going to the neighboring villages dressed as him. Dracula recognizes Johnathan's fiancé Mina as a spitting image of his late wife, who died maybe centuries ago.  Dracula goes to England and preys on a friend of Mina's, Lucy. She eventually dies as she is turning into a Vampire. He drinks blood in order to survive. The rest of the book accounts for the battle between Dracula and his vampires and Van Helsing, Johnathan, and Mina. They eventually kill Dracula, Johnathan stabs him with a knife in the throat, and his friend Quincy stabs him in the heart. Mina and Johnathan marry and name their son Quincy, because Quincy their friend died fighting Dracula. The book was long, I definitely enjoyed the beginning the best, when Johnathan arrives at the castle. It builds slowly from there. It is written in diary form, with Johnathan writing in his diary, and Mina, and Van Hesling, and a doctor. It is the first vampire book written. I'm not super into vampires, but it was interesting to see the story develop regardless. A story of good and evil, especially at the end, and the good prevailed. I know there have been some film adaptions and I'd like to see them. 

*** I forgot to mention he does escape the castle through a window and crawling down the castle wall. I found it strange in the beginning when he knew he was being held hostage that he didnt try something more to escape, it was before the Count knew he knew. But I guess he was pretty trapped from the beginning. Johnathan went there because he was a lawyer or something and had some business to do for him.