Dracula

By: Bram Stoker

Narrated by: Alan Cumming, Tim Curry, Simon Vance, Katherine Kellgren, Susan Duerden, John Lee, Graeme Malcolm, Steven Crossley

Audie Award, Distinguished Achievement in Production, 2013

Audie Award, Multi-voiced Performance, 2013

Audie Award Nominee, Classic, 2013

Because of the widespread awareness of the story of the evil Transylvanian count and the success of numerous film adaptations that have been created over the years, the modern audience hasn't had a chance to truly appreciate the unknowing dread that readers would have felt when reading Bram Stoker's original 1897 manuscript. Most modern productions employ campiness or sound effects to try to bring back that gothic tension, but we've tried something different. By returning to Stoker's original storytelling structure - a series of letters and journal entries voiced by Jonathan Harker, Dr. Van Helsing, and other characters - with an all-star cast of narrators, we've sought to recapture its originally intended horror and power.

This production of Dracula is presented by what is possibly the best assemblage of narrating talent ever for one audiobook: Emmy Award nominees Alan Cumming and Tim Curry plus an all-star cast of Audie award-winners Simon Vance (The Millenium Trilogy), Katherine Kellgren (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), Susan Duerden (The Tiger’s Wife), John Lee (Supergods) and customer favorites Graeme Malcolm (Skippy Dies), Steven Crossley (The Oxford Time Travel series), Simon Prebble (The Baroque Cycle), James Adams (Letters to a Young Contrarian), Nicola Barber (The Rose Garden), Victor Villar-Hauser (Fun Inc.), and Marc Vietor (1Q84). These stellar narrators have been cast as follows:

Alan Cumming as Dr. Seward
Simon Vance as Jonathan Harker
Katy Kellgren as Mina Murray/Harker
Susan Duerden as Lucy Westenra
Tim Curry as Van Helsing
Graeme Malcolm as Dailygraph correspondent
Steven Crossley as Zookeeper’s account and reporter
Simon Prebble as Varna
James Adams as Patrick Hennessey
Nicola Barber as Sister Agatha
Victor Villar-Hauser as Arthur Holmwood
Marc Vietor as Quincey Morris
John Lee as Introductory paragraph, various letters

Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Listening to this full-cast performance turns out to be remarkably suspenseful and chilling…The superlative cast lends this powerful production the diversity that is required by the structure of the novel…Each actor employs various accents, infusing into the characters vibrant emphasis, urgency, and dread." ( AudioFile)

Mina: A Heroine for the Ages

Insomnia is my thing lately. Don’t sleep; stay up forever. Might as well write, right? So here it is, a book review. I know you’ve been dying for it, and I gotta say, I’ve been dying to write it.

Dracula was one of those books that I pretended to read in high school and then glossed over in college. Horror isn’t really my thing (Although Stephen King is probably one of my favorite writers ever. His genre of choice is unfortunate). Recently, I decided that I wanted to read more classics and so I bought a few on Audible. Audible is the bomb.

They had an Audible Studios edition of Dracula narrated by a full cast and oh, my. It was perfection. Alan Cumming was Dr. Seward. Katherine Kellgren was Mina Harker, Simon Vance was Jonathan Harker, and Tim Curry was Dr. Van Helsing. The narration was spot on. The narrator who did the voice of Lucy was irritating (her name escapes me at the moment), so I found Lucy irritating, but I think I would have anyway. Audible did a terrific job producing this.

The story is told in a series of diary entries, letters, and telegrams (the official word for those are epistolary novels, fyi). I didn’t know that before, or I might have read it sooner. I have an affinity for stories told in this manner. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is one of my favorites for that exact reason. It credibly shows what each character was thinking or feeling without putting the reader in the omniscient perspective. It was perfect for the chilling story which was told.

The plot differed widely from the Dracula I had come to know through popular culture. Dracula is truly creepy and super old. He’s not redeemable, not good, but pure evil. And ridiculously smart. This isn’t Frankenstein’s monster or some mindless Edward-like vamp. This is a genius who pits his wits against a motley crew of Britain’s finest.

Dr. Van Helsing is also brilliant, but definitely needs the help of his little band.

The story starts with Jonathan visiting Dracula’s castle and realizing what he is. It’s very creepy and I had to stop listening for a time so I could reasonably get over it. Then Lucy becomes a vampire and thus the Band of Awesome is born. That’s just the title I gave them in my head. You’ve got Arthur, Lucy’s former fiancé. He’s a bit squeamish, but willing to undergo any trial to pay Dracula back for changing his darling girl. Then there are her two other suitors who were rejected: Dr. Seward (my personal favorite), and Quincy. Seward runs an asylum and Quincy is an American Cowboy. I love that Americans are represented in this tale. Seward calls Van Helsing, who knows more about Lucy’s “disease”, to help heal her. However, they fail and she is transformed into a child-eating vamp. Then Jonathan and Mina join the group as they discover they have all endured similar circumstances and that a grave danger faces England should Dracula move to London, as is his intent.

I have to say, Bram Stoker wrote women rather well for a man of his time. Wilhelmina is no delicate flower in need of rescuing. She is rescued, but she’s strong and contributes to her salvation by keeping spirits high and organizing all the information and, in the end, going with Van Helsing to Transylvania. I admire her relationship with Jonathan so much. He trusts her to do her own thing and respects her strength, mentally, emotionally, and morally. And she loves and respects him and his passion for his work. She wants to be a part of his life and he wants to be a part of hers. It’s a really awesome relationship. They are basically the perfect couple and were it not for the pesky vampire they would have had a delightful life.

I don’t want to tell all that happens because I enjoyed listening to it so much. Even if you’ve read it before, the Audible version is golden; you should go listen to it. It’s intense and beautiful. It’s intensely beautiful. This book is definitely on my favorites list.

Well Read, Throughly Enjoyable!

Would you consider the audio edition of Dracula to be better than the print version?

I feel the audio version makes the characters truly alive!!! When I read a book, I

What did you like best about this story?

Alan Cumming's Dr. Seward and Katherine Kellgren's portrayal of Mina Harker.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn???t experience if you just read the book?

They brought this characters to life. I felt I was experiencing the story first hand with all it's horror and nuances.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I listen in my car because my commute is long. I had to force myself to turn off the car and get into work. I didn't want to stop listening!!!

A Performance, Not Just a Reading

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would definitely recommend this book because of the incredible performances. I read the book several years ago and liked it, but listening to it...I LOVE it! If you've never read Dracula, this is the version you want; if you have read or listened to Dracula before, you still want THIS version. This is sure to be considered the definitive version of Dracula.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Mina Murray was a stand out character. As performed by Katherine Kellgren, Mina was a strong female character who managed to remain feminine. Further, Kellgren voiced the other characters in Mina's narratives very distinctively.

Who was the most memorable character of Dracula and why?

I was particularly struck by Renfield's characterization in this version. In the movie versions and even in my own reading, I had envisioned Renfield as a victim. In this version, Renfield is clearly a manipulative madman, quite creepy even before we find him influenced by Dracula. Looking back, I was surprised to see that no single person voiced Renfield because his character was so well-defined and cohesive across different narrators.

Any additional comments?

The cast of narrators is like a list of my own favorite narrators. Each one is so good at his or her job that this novel comes to life.

Maintains the integrity of the story

Simon Vance, John Lee and Simon Prebble are among my favorite narrators/performers in the world of audiobooks. However, for me, Katherine Kellgren is just the most spectacular of all. I was introduced to Ms. Kellgren in the Bloody Jack series which, by another performer, I do not think I would have enjoyed nearly as much. She plays a prominent role of Mina Harker. The [audio-]book is not exactly structured as a real time dramatization of events.

If this is a genre you gravitate to, then this is certainly the classic to read. The integrity of this particular iteration is maintained as it has not always been so over the decades of its different incarnations. It is a return to Stoker’s original storytelling structure, that of reading the protagonists’ journal entries. It works great.

As much as I enjoyed the performance, and as much as Katherine Kellgren is my favorite, I still give the book and performance only 4 stars. It is a classic work and an excellent production but just not the very best of all audiobooks that I have listened to. In fact, even with this all star cast, I have rated single narrator performances more highly because they were just that... better. But again, if you’re looking for Bram Stoker Dracula, I don’t think you’ll find a better audiobook production than this one. I haven’t. As a sideline, for best movie production, I’d recommend the 1992 “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” with Gary Oldman, Winona Rider and Anthony Hopkins. Now there’s another all star cast and a great production that I did give 5 stars to.

Brilliant narration suiting the epistolary style

I was a little skeptical when I saw the long list of narrators. But it turns out that this perfectly suits the style of the book, written as a series of letters.

There was some parts where I had difficulty following the narrator. Turns out that those parts (spoken by 'common' folks) are equally unintelligible in the book. Apparently, Stoker used some local dialects for some characters

Overall, a superb production. Need these kind of productions to get people to 'read' the classics