Dracula

Bram Stoker

Sep 2017 · Oregan Publishing · Narrated by Claire Walsh

About this audiobook

Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so he may find new blood and spread undead curse, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing. Dracula has been assigned to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel and invasion literature. The novel touches on themes such as the role of women in Victorian culture, sexual conventions, immigration, colonialism, and post-colonialism. Although Stoker did not invent the vampire, he defined its modern form, and the novel has spawned numerous theatrical, film and television interpretations

Ratings and reviews

There are a few choices for Dracula audiobooks in the Google Play store. This version is very inexpensive for good reason. The recording house, Oregan Publishing, has been in business since 2017. They select well known titles that are in the public domain, record them, and release them at low price points. This recording sounds like it has been compressed. There are artifacts all throughout it. There are unintentional sounds at points, like clanking metal and what seems to be a power saw (chapter 11 @ 16:54 for evidence). The narrator, Claire Walsh, does an okay job of reading the story. She employs no theatrics with her voice and sounds something like a school teacher or librarian reading dispassionately. This is mostly fine, but Stoker wrote some characters with vernacular, slang, and/or accents and she chews terribly through these. The story of Dracula was published in 1897. It definitely feels its age. The tale is slow and bloated with glimpses of adventure that are mostly smothered by a desire for precise scene building. However, it is immensely satisfying to read the source material for something that is so deeply embedded into popular culture. The sucking of blood, turning into a bat, and stakes through hearts are all here and it is wonderful for that. I was actually surprised that I didn’t know the core story of the book. I based all of my impressions on movies and other appearances of Count Dracula. Somehow the tale itself was lost on me while my knowledge of the character was accurate. I find Dracula worthwhile, but I would recommend a higher-end recording to bring it to life.

no voice modulation , no background music nothing , only flat story telling, narrated by only one person. boring .

the book was entertaining, the way the story was able to be told through journal enterys and memorandums was a interesting approach to be able to get a sense of what all the characters were feeling, excellent read