Dracula

I found this book to be pretty much amazing. There are, however, some issues that started to arise towards the latter part of the book. One thing that became increasingly evident towards the end was its blatant sexism. I realize the book is placed in a very different time period, so ignoring it became a bit easier though it was still fairly aggravating to continually read things such as, "Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man's brain-a brain that a man should have were he much gifted-and a woman's heart" (241). While this was probably very complimentary for the time it is now a very dated, and rather offensive statement.
This was one of the few downfalls of this novel, but there was one other problem I had. This was the foreshadowing of Mina getting bitten, I found it poorly written and tacky. "She looked heavy and sleepy and pale, and far from well"(269). This first note of her "paleness" just sets off that she has been bitten, with out a doubt, but it isn't directly confirmed for another 15 pages. I didn't like that this was done, I think it took away from some of the suspense of the book. Mina's condition had it been described slightly differently than Lucy's it may have been passable foreshadowing.

One thing about this book was its incredibly valid connection with the current times. While reading this all I could think of was every vampire movie, book, and story I have ever known. One particular movie came to mind, "Let the Right One In". This movie is a Swedish film about a very young female vampire who befriends a young boy. Throughout the movie I was very confused by the title and some of the subject matter, all which makes sense after reading Dracula. There is a scene were the young vampire bleeds from her eyes because she is not invited into a place she enters. I had no idea that this was a "rule" for vampires, but Van Helsing breaks this down as being a part of vampires limitations. "...he can, within his range, direct the elements; the storm, the fog, the thunder..."(243). I was unaware of the "ability" of vampires to control weather in any way. I always assumed that fog and thunderstorms were in pop culture representations simply for look and affect. This book gave me an insight on what the vampire is meant to be.