Dracula (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics Series)

CLASSY...WORTH THE EFFORT!

Although not as elaborate as most of the other offerings in the "Leatherbound Classics" series, "Dracula", and its companion pieces, is well made and well appointed with an attractive red leather cover, nicely embellished with classic styled imprinting, color-stained end pages, colorful, marbled end papers, and raised hub spine. The story is the standard fare in a classy package, offered in the typical "octavo" 8-inch book size. It is timely offered in the present economy, and is appropriately priced. It will be at home on the book shelf amongst other fine, collectible books and classic literature...it has my "two thumbs up"!

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

doesnt fit the collection

I own 10 books in the leatherbound classics collection and couldnt be happier with them. However I received 3 new books this morning, books that were advertised as part of this fine collection and was sadly disappointed. Dracula, Huck Finn, and Pride and Prejudice, or at least the way they were published, are not worthy of this collection.
They are of smaller demension, have no cover illustration, are lacking the gold page edging and are of a much more standard quality than the other books of the series. Absolutely disappointed the publisher decided to go cheap on us.

4 out of 11 people found this review helpful.

LOVE IT - A Leatherbound Classic for Less Than a Paperback

I am thrilled they picked Dracula for one of their single titles, and it's a lovely little book. These single versions of the larger leatherbound collected works are smaller because they are single titles instead of a bound volume of collected works, but they are gorgeous in their own right. You're getting a leatherbound book for less money than a paperback of the same title; I think the value is obvious and they look just as pretty on the shelf as the rest of the larger series.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Amazing Beautiful Book

I love the leather bound classics that B&N has released and these are no exception.... Beautiful cover, tightly bound, clear medium size printing on heavier pages. Also , they are much easier to read then the larger collection, not as bulky and heavy. I am very excited to add the books to my collection. The best thing is even thought are not Easton Press books they have the same allure. Definitely worth the very little money and the amazing read. The add to you home library so your kids/grandkids can admire and enjoy this magnificent book.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Amazing!

Dracula is one of my favorite books; it's original and inthralling. I've got to say, I couldn't put it down! So, since I enjoy it so much, I was very excited when Barnes & Noble came out with this leather bound edition of this classic novel. The mystery and the thrill in Dracula is first class. If you're a fan of the supernatural, or vampires, this is the book for you!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

eclipsemoon

SOO SORRY!!! MY NOOK BROKE!!!

cant go wrong!

Dracula is a timeless classic!

Still Rel­e­vant Today

Drac­ula by Bram Stoker is a clas­sic hor­ror book writ­ten in 1897. The book was part of a genre called inva­sion lit­er­a­turein which mon­sters tries to take over the United Kingdom.

An Eng­lish solic­i­tor named Jonathan Harker trav­els from Eng­land to meet Count Drac­ula in his cas­tle in Tran­syl­va­nia to pro­vide legal real estate sup­port. Harker soon dis­cov­ers he is a pris­oner in the cas­tle and noticed Dracula's noc­tur­nal life.
Harker barely escapes.

Soon after a Russ­ian ship runs aground in Whitby, Eng­land. All the crew are miss­ing, only the body of the cap­tain is found. In the captain's log there are tales of strange events which took place dur­ing the jour­ney, lead­ing to the crew's dis­ap­pear­ance.
A large dog is seen jump­ing a shore.

Later in Eng­land, Harker's finacee Mina Mur­ray and her friend Lucy West­enra are being tracked by Drac­ula. One of Lucy's friends, Dr. Seward, is tak­ing care of an insane man named Ren­field who eats insects, birds and spi­ders to absorb their life force.

Unfor­tu­nately Lucy starts to waste away and Dr. Seward calls his old teacher Pro­fes­sor Abra­ham Van Hels­ing from Hol­land. Van Hels­ing rec­og­nizes Lucy's ill­ness but refuses to spec­ify because he is afraid Seward will not believe his sto­ries of vampires.

The doc­tors lose the fight and Lucy dies. Soon after, reports of chil­dren being stalked by a beau­ti­ful lady at night are being talked about. Van Hels­ing knows Lucy became a vam­pire. Together with Lucy's suit­ors, Van Hels­ing tracks her and kills her.

Mina and Jonathan get mar­ried but Drac­ula learns of Van Helsing's plot and takes revenge by feed­ing from Mina and mak­ing her drink his blood cre­at­ing a spir­i­tual bond. The group knows that the only way to save Lucy is to kill the Count.

At first I didn't think I'd like Drac­ula by Bram Stoker and I'm sur­prised at how much I did like it. The novel is com­posed of let­ters, jour­nals, news­pa­pers arti­cles, telegrams and a chill­ing ship log.

The story is told through alter­nat­ing view points, the only per­son who knows the whole story is Van Hels­ing - and that includes the reader. At the end of the novel you still don't know if you missed some­thing or if Stoker pur­posely left some­thing out. While I can cer­tainly see how that would bother peo­ple, per­son­ally I thought that was part of the genius of the book.

I was sur­prised at the many themes the novel touched, from sex­ual con­ven­tions, to immi­gra­tion and from cul­ture to colo­nial­ism and, of course, good vs. evil. The novel is extremely atmos­pheric as one would expect.

The role of Mina Harker was sur­pris­ing at most, espe­cially con­sid­er­ing this is a Vic­to­rian novel. While virtue and inno­cence are unabash­ingly hailed, Mina assumes the role of a pious woman yet rise above her pre­scribed roles in soci­ety to become a part­ner

The Best

Dracula was the first and best vampire ever. ITs a dry book but at least he isn't a mushy gushy teenaged vampire.

A thrilling journey back to the Victorian beginning of popular culture's vampire obsession

After reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - a modern day re-telling of the Dracula legend, I just had to follow it with the Bram Stoker original. It's been awhile since I read a classic piece of literature (back in January, I delved into Guy de Maupassant's Bel Ami), and it wasn't until about 50 pages in that I was able to adjust to the 19th century vernacular. While it took me longer to finish (about a week), it was well worth the extra effort to become immersed in a Gothic masterpiece.

Before delving into the pages, my perception was tainted by the Dracula caricature distributed by Hollywood, most notably the immortal 1931 Bella Lugosi performance of a wild-eyed, cape-wearing villain lurking in the shadows. I didn't know much about Stoker's actual storyline, and I was surprised at how fleetingly the count appears in the novel. Even though his motivations dictate the majority of the action, Dracula plays more of a supporting role letting a host of other characters take the lead.

It's funny, but in both The Historian and this earlier rendition, Dracula comes across as cartoonish. For Stoker's 1897 audience, the limited development can be attributed to the fact that the subject of vampires was considered quite shocking for the time period. Yet as one of the main contributors to the horror genre canon, the writing style is nevertheless quaint and antiquated for 21st century sensibilities. Much of the dialogue comes across as affected with overly exaggerated emotion. It's like watching a silent movie filled with fluttering eyelashes and arched eyebrows with melodramatic lines such as, "On your living soul I charge you that you do not die - nay, nor think of death - till this great evil be past."

I was not steeped in vampire lore and only recognized the name Van Helsing from the 2004 movie starring Hugh Jackman. Needless to say, the vampire hunter of Stoker's creation is an elderly Dutch physician who speaks in stilted English and proceeds against his foe more through trial and error than any definitive knowledge. He employs the superstitions he encounters in his research to combat Dracula - garlic, a crucifix, even wafers of the Holy Eucharist. He comes across partly as a comedic figure who is bumbling through his investigation, but in the end through happenstance or luck ends up on the right track.

Stoker excels in setting a scene. He is a master at creating atmosphere. It feels as if you are sitting in the horse-drawn carriage with Jonathan Harker as he ascends the Carpathian Mountains to the very heart of Dracula's lair. You can feel the mist in your face. You can hear the wolves howling in the distance. You can see the terror in the eyes of his fellow passengers. The aura of foreboding is palpable. Another captivating scene is the arrival of Dracula's ship at the English port of Whitby. A horrific storm heralds the vessel's appearance on the horizon. Battling the wind and waves, it runs aground of its own accord without a crew. The body of the dead captain is tied to the wheel, a crucifix in his lifeless hands. Horror writing doesn't get much better than this.

GOOD BOOK POORLY MADE

REALLY GOOD BOOK LIKE NO OTHER DRACULA AT THERE BUT THE QUALITY OF THE COVER BEING MADE POOR, I HAD THIS BOOK FOR ABOUT TWO WEEKS KEPT IT I A PLACE THAT IT WOULDNT BE THROWN AROUND OR HAVE ANYTHING PLACED ON TOP OF IT AND STILL A FEW WEEKS LATER IT GETS MESSED UP THE CORNERS WENT FROM THE PROPER COLOR RED TO GRAY AND LITTLE GRAY SPECS ALL ON TOP OF THE FRONT COVER IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON BUYING THIS BOOK TO KEEP FOR A LONG TIME TRY TO FIND ANOTHER BETTER QUALITY ONE

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.