# Have you read the novels of Frankenstein and Dracula? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143 "2018-02-04T01:25:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/21 "2018-02-04T05:03:28Z")
I’m pretty sure I read both of them in high school. That is, I’m certain that I’ve read them, and I’m fairly sure I didn’t choose to read them. I don’t really remember much about them, but reading the synopsis of Dracula at Wikipedia, I can be fairly sure that was the same as the book I read oh so many years ago. I also read Jekyll & Hyde in high school, and that was my favorite of the three. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/22 "2018-02-04T05:18:31Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > If you’re choosing one, my vote is for Dracula. If you’re a fast reader. Go for both. Other than being randomly grouped together, I don’t know if they’re even in the same category. It’s interesting to note that the novel “Dracula” (1897) is closer in age to the novel “Jaws” (1974) than it is to “Frankenstein” (1818)! ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/23 "2018-02-04T05:24:46Z")
I’ve read Drack, but not Frank. (Coincidentally, I’ve also eaten Count Chocula but not Frankenberry.) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/24 "2018-02-04T06:44:24Z")
Read them both in my 20’s. Not much like the Karloff and Lugosi films, but well worth reading. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/25 "2018-02-04T07:38:09Z")
Frankenstein is about morals. It’s not what you’d call an action-packed novel. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/26 "2018-02-04T07:46:22Z")
I have read and enjoyed both. Dracula is sort of the Cloverfield or Blair Witch Project of its time. The whole thing takes place as a series of letters and recordings between people talking about Dracula, how he came to London, what strange things have happened since he came there, and what should be done about it. I wouldn’t call it a “horror” story by modern standards. It’s not scary at all. But it’s a good little mystery, in trying to put together a complete view of what’s going on from all the assembled sources, and the presentation is fun. Frankenstein, however, is basically not anything like Frankenstein. You could possibly think of it more as a novel like Invisible Man (which is also, probably, not anything like you would expect it to be - being a story of a black man who has decided to take advantage of his invisible status in the era of Jim Crow). The story is, I believe, first person from the viewpoint of the Monster - Frankenstein’s monster - and details his attempts to deal with the horror that he creates in those he meets while trying to find a way to deal with the fact that, regardless, he exists and has to live and, like any person, wants to live a full and fulfilling life. It’s really not a horror story at all and it’s a bit strange that it was ever thought of as such. From a literary standpoint, though, it is the much better book of the two. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/27 "2018-02-04T08:15:07Z")
I’ve read the first and third editions of Frankenstein, but not Dracula. Frankenstein spends most of his adult life writing passionate lettters to Elizabeth, whom he avoids with lengthy coach trips around Europe. I found it kind of surprising that the book, written by a teenaged girl, had no actual female characters in it (Elizabeth was a plot device and Safie and the monster’s mate were barely even that!). Dracula, what I’ve read of it, employs a clever device of telling the story through diary entries and found notes. It gets old pretty fast. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/28 "2018-02-04T10:13:22Z")
I read every word they write. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/29 "2018-02-04T10:15:38Z")
I read Dracula for a book group, God knows why they chose it. Don’t bother. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/30 "2018-02-04T12:01:36Z")
Read them both for school. I recall liking Frankenstein better, but they’re definitely not modern. Better than Byron too. I might peek at them too. It’s been a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/31 "2018-02-04T13:18:19Z")
To be clear, when I said that I found _Frankenstein_ lacking in action, I didn’t mean in the sense of high-speed chases and fight scenes. I meant in the more general sense of something happening. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/32 "2018-02-04T13:53:24Z")
Yes, I enjoyed them both. I think I’ll make it a point to read them both again this year. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/33 "2018-02-04T15:47:33Z")
Frankenstein is not a book: it’s a lecture on morality. I’m surprised they don’t teach it on the The Good Place. I’ve tried Dracula but never finished it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/34 "2018-02-04T16:00:14Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > Read them both for school. I recall liking Frankenstein better, but they’re definitely not modern. Better than Byron too. > > I might peek at them too. It’s been a long time. That was my recollection, too. Read _Frankstein_ in college, and tried to get through all of _Dracula_ a couple times (I think first in eighth grade, then again in high school), but I just couldn’t get more than halfway through. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/35 "2018-02-04T16:04:49Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I read Frankenstein for a lit class in college. I do remember liking it, but it’s not at all what I expected. It was short and tragic and more of a “thinker” than modern-day horror (which is more of what I thought it’d be). Absolutely. And I think _Frankenstein_ has a much better chance of “working” for a reader who can identify with, who can imaginatively enter the mind of and see through the eyes of, the viewpoint characters (both Frankenstein and his monster). I’ve listened to audiobooks of both novels—in both cases versions that use different narrators for the different first-person narrators within the book, which I think worked well. I found them both worth reading, though slower and wordier in places than I would have liked. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/36 "2018-02-04T17:40:44Z")
Yes, but it’s been quite some time. I re-read _Dracula_ a few years ago when my son was reading it for school. I should re-read _Frankenstein_ this year. I enjoyed both of them. ---
**Author:** ![Rough\_Draft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rough\_Draft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rough_Draft)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/37 "2018-02-04T17:55:21Z")
For some reason I read _Dracula_ twice, once in college and once just last year. I recognize that it’s a classic novel, but not one that I liked all that much. In my opinion t would have been MUCH better if Stoker had done three things: 1. Shortened the length by about a third. 2. Found a way to make the whole book as compelling as the first four or five chapters. 3. Written Van Helsing better instead of making him the GIGANTIC PAIN IN THE ASS that he is. As for _Frankenstein_, I always meant to read it but so far I’ve been just too lazy. Maybe later. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/38 "2018-02-04T18:15:50Z")
Yes, I’ve read both. Enjoyed both. Have reread Dracula, but not Frankenstein. Read them if you: 1. enjoy more leisurely literary styles from an era with longer attention spans than ours. IE, don’t expect them to be remotely like late 20th or 21st century light reads. 2. remember that Mary Shelley was a teenager when she wrote Frankenstein, and thus not yet the most experienced writer. Also remember that she was the child of philosophers, so put in her own philosophizing about the nature of humankind. 3. enjoy epistolary novels, which is what Dracula is. It’s a writing style that can be very annoying. I generally don’t like it, unless it’s well-done. But I like Dracula. But if you want a fast-paced, plot-driven, action sequence after action sequence thriller, don’t. Stick to movies. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/39 "2018-02-04T18:20:09Z")
My father read Dracula to me and my brothers when I was a kid. It was terrifying. Otherwise, I don’t remember much, but I’m thinking I might re-read it. I think I forced myself to get through Frankenstein, but mostly remember it being slow going. I may not have finished. Also a really long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/40 "2018-02-04T20:48:01Z")
I’ve read both many, many times. I have also “read” both on audio (there’s a great Version of Frankenstein read by James Mason, and one by Robby Benson) What made a big difference was finding the Annotated editions. I read Leonard Wolf’s Annotated Dracula, and many years later his Annotated Frankenstein. I’ve re-read these multiple times. Wolf apparently had a falling out with the people who published the Annotated series, and he revised and reprinted them as The Essential Dracula and THe Essential Frankenstein. I’ve read these, too (Wolf also added The Essential Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde and The Essential Phantom of the Opera, both of which I recommend.) More recently, Leslie Klinger, the KIng of Re-Annotated EDitions (He produced newly annotated editions of Sherlock Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft to replace older annotated editions) re-annotated both Dracula and Frankenstein. I read the Dracula one when it came out, and several times since. His New Annotated Frankenstein has just been issued, since this year is the 200th anniversary of its first publication, and I’ve just picked it up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143.md?page=3)