The Lair of the White Worm

By: Bram Stoker

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

In a tale of ancient evil, Bram Stoker creates a world of lurking horrors and bizarre denizens: a demented mesmerist, hellbent on mentally crushing the girl he loves; a gigantic kite raised to rid the land of an unnatural infestation of birds, and which receives strange commands along its string; and all the while, the great white worm slithers below, seeking its next victim....

Bram Stoker, creator of Dracula, is one of the most enduring and masterful influences on the literature of terror.

Public Domain (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Good vs. Evil

Great book!
Love Bram :)
I appreciate how he incorporates elements of faith into his novels

Spookier than Dracula!

Where does The Lair of the White Worm rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This one is average, which is very good. That is why I am a Platinum Member. Very few disappointments with audible books. Wonderful narrator. Interesting story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Lair of the White Worm?

Lady Arabella gliding along. Creepy. Can't say more or give away the story.

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

I don't recognize his name, but his Australian accent was right on for Adam.

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

When Caswell tried to mesmerize the two sisters Lilla and Mimi and Lady Arabella and Oolanga try to help them, but Adam is able to stop them from hurting the girls. Wonderfully atmospheric.

Any additional comments?

I had read Dracula and listened to the Audible version (which is excellent). I wanted to try more Stoker and was delighted to find this one. Next year, I will probably invest in his shorter stories. He was quite an author. A new favorite of mine.

Well Aged

A bit hard to follow at times, but altogether captivating. Stoker gives us an interesting window of the times along with an excellent narrative of beasts and man alike

Not sure why this is supposed to be so bad

It wasn't as good as Dracula, but I don't really understand the hate for this book. it was unique and unnerving, and the characters were interesting.

Just not very good

The story was convoluted and awkward. The narrator had a terrible Australian accent that would have been better avoided. The racism was just terrible as well.

Not literature; just a gothic story . . .

and finally, so uncomfortably racist as to offend.
I'm not interested in every piece of fiction as historically significant. I recommend that you pass on this!

Super Racist

I lost a lot of respect for Bram Stocker reading/listening to his stories and encountering all racism and sexism.

freak show

complete freak show. the story, the narrative, performance, the fact it exists is all just mind bending. the readers performance is good given the material he has to work with. To me he sounds like he is aware of all the problems in the text such as continuity, believability, idiosyncrisies but makes a serious effort to be clear because much of the book triggers the desire to back up and make sure you heard it right the first time.

the subject matter is a plodding Gothic monster story, as you would expect, but there's so much crazy that it become fascinating as a study on its own. for example : multiple scenes put the protagonists face to face with terror, and minutes later they decide to go to bed for the night or just not address what has happened because it's not pleasant. It borders on satire but its unclear if its intentional.

finally, the "racism" is not casual. it rises in pitch as the intensity of the story increases. it does seem to be intentional. the characters voice the racism and the narrator simply allows it. it's representative of the time and of stoker one would assume but it feels self aware. would like to investigate this more.

can't RECOMMEND it, unless you like a good mystery... of the "how did this get made?" type...if you do this is a can't miss.

There's a good story here, but it didn't come out.

I understand this was written after Stoker's stroke, and it shows. The book drug on strangely in some places and the interpersonal situations just don't add up properly. The characters go together like oil and water, and the turns of events just aren't right.

However I saw a story that he was trying to tell and thought it was a good one. I saw very interesting characters and situation, that just didn't play out well here.

I think a very good screen play could come of this book. I checked - there was a movie made (sort of) from this book - well, that wasn't the right one. I honestly think I could probably sit down and make one from it, and if I had the time I would, I think there's a very good Van Helsing type story here, and the number of liberties I would have to take with the story to make it work are surprisingly small.

3 Stars Because it’s Bram but…. Yikes

A lot of potential for a really REALLY cool story, but alas that potential was completely unrealized. The resulting mess that is Lair is as inconsistent as it is illogical and nonsensical, the severely disjointed story gamboling from scene to scene with no sense of time or cohesion or logic. It defies explanation that it was published in such a state. Another reviewer said this was written after he’d had multiple strokes- I don’t know if that’s true, but it would explain how he could go from the cohesive brilliance that is Dracula to this. Read only as a curiosity.
Trigger warnings:
Animals deaths, one particularly gruesome
And beware a truly, deeply offensive ongoing racial depiction from that character’s entrance to his death. He was a villain, so I dont think it was intended to be as horrifying as we are bound to take it now, but as a lover of Victorian literature, I’m used to giving some leeway to allow for the times, but this portrayal and the language surrounding him made me feel ill. I don’t know how the narrator got through it.