Dracula

By: Bram Stoker

Narrated by: Marc Nelson

Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

Although Stoker did not invent the vampire, the novel's influence on the popularity of vampires has been singularly responsible for many theatrical, film and television interpretations since its publication. Required listening for any fan of the genre!

Public Domain (P)2011 Trout Lake Media

Captures Anxieties/Stresses of Proto-modernist Age

Listened to with the kids on the way to school for a month. I could probably write a whole piece on how Stoker's treatment of women ticked off my 10-year-old daughter. Mina Harker and Lucy's wedding fixation and Victorian helplessness drove my own little Emmeline nuts. My daughter also couldn't stand the whole: Mina was as 'smart as a man' attitude.

Otherwise, Dracula is still a fascinating piece of gothic fiction that captures the anxieties and stresses of a proto-modernist age (sex, feminism, technology, scientific method, xenophobia, colonialism, etc).

Marc Nelson's narration captures the characters without distracting from Stoker's story.

Unique writing style

Dracula was written in a rather unique style. It is actually a series of journal entries and letters. I found it weird at first, but later I got to like. It allows the author to present the story from different point of view and make it clear from what point of view it is from. It also encouraged me to keep up my journal. (Nothing about vampires in mine though.) It is also great to see where all the popular views of vampires comes from. I was a little disappointed about the climax. Dracula just laid there, and he didn't seem like he was the enemy, just a target. I still recommend it to any one who is into vampires. It is what set the standard.

The performance by Marc Nelson was not very accurate. I like to read along in a lot of my books, as I did on this one, and for that reason he made a lot of mistakes. I know that a most readers make mistakes, but not anywhere near as many as this one did. In fact he skipped over entire lines in his reading.

A bit robotic

What a monotone. Dull reading. This was a very one note sort of narration, not dynamic in expression in any way.

Doesn't stand test of time

Premise of story is good. Narrator did a great job. However too many repetitive mushy descriptions of how great the main characters are. Would have been an excellent short story.

dry in its performance

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

no. its not the worst book by any means only that Marc Nelson read like a 90's read me file. It monotone at its best and the letter style witting take a little time to get use to.

What three words best describe Marc Nelson’s performance?

dry monotone and drab

Always wanted to know

This was a good book and it was great to finally here all of it

Classic!

Any additional comments?

Just finished this classic for the first time. Though I couldn't get Keanu Reeves out of my mind while visualizing the character I found the book to be very well written but a little tedious at times. This book would have been much better had my mind not been so tainted by all the vampire crap we've grown up with especially of late.

Unexpected story

Would you listen to Dracula again? Why?

No, I don't think I would listen to Dracula again because I can easily remember the story on my own. It was good and I liked it quite a bit; however, it wasn't so complicated that I need to listen again to hone in on key details.

What other book might you compare Dracula to and why?

I think that it is interesting to compare Dracula to current day vampire stories. Although Dracula is the source for vampire information, the actual story is much more mature and well-written than tales today.

Have you listened to any of Marc Nelson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, I haven't listened to Marc Nelson's other performances.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was really shocked when partway through the story (following the perspective of only one person) it switched to the perspectives of multiple other people! Although I'm sure the entire story is about vampires (and specifically Dracula), I expected the one perspective and story line to continue throughout the entire novel.

classic

I liked the performance, it seemed to match the story. It got a bit monotonous at times but I was eager to read more to find out what happened next. It is different than any movie adaptation, so worth the read.

Poor Narrator

Marc Nelson's narrating is very grating, so much so that I have stopped listening halfway through to purchase another version by a different narrator. Mr. Nelson's voice is high and mostly monotone with only very slight variations. He uses a slightly higher pitch for female characters. The only other distinction he makes between characters is to give Dracula, Van Helsing, and some minor characters accents. He also has odd and unnecessary pauses, which makes the reading very halting. Apparently this is so significant that his version is a full 2 hours longer than the other unabridged version I've just purchased. I'm currently only about 5 hours in, and I can't imagine spending 11 more hours listening to this. This is not worth even $3. I feel like I should apologize to Mr. Nelson for such a harsh review, but since this appears to be the only audiobook he has narrated (or at least the only book available on Audible), I suspect he already knows that narration is not his true calling.

Great classic!!

The narrator was precise and clear, although amusingly, some of his accents need some work