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Acclaimed Author Syrie James Approaches Bram Stoker's Classic Dracula With A Breathtaking New Perspective-As, For The First Time, Mina Harker Records The Shocking Story Of Her Scandalous Seduction And Sexual Rebirth.
Who is this magnetic, fascinating man? And how could one woman fall so completely under his spell?
Mina Harker is torn between two men. Struggling to hang on to the deep, pure love she's found within her marriage to her husband, Jonathan, she is inexorably drawn into a secret, passionate affair with a charismatic but dangerous lover. This haunted and haunting creature has awakened feelings and desires within her that she has never before known, which remake her as a woman.
Although everyone she knows fears him and is pledged to destroy him, Mina sees a side to him that the others cannot: a tender, romantic side; a man who is deeply in love, and who may not be evil after all. Yet to surrender is surely madness, for to be with him could end her life. It may cost Mina all she holds dear, but to make her choice she must learn everything she can about the remarkable origins and sensuous powers of this man, this exquisite monster, this...Dracula!
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Bram Stoker's masterpiece is one of my favorite classics. Lucy and Mina are the quintessential embodiment of Victorian chastity, purity and virtue. Stoker's Dracula is especially evil as he seeks to corrupt these women, seducing them and thus corrupting their innocence. They play an essential role in Stoker's work but for all that, they are victims of shallow characterization, necessary personalities in a fundamentally masculine novel.
James' story beautifully remedies the situation. Dracula, My Love is a fleshed out re-telling of the story from Mina's perspective, something I don't imagine to have been easy as Stoker wrote little of her character in the original. According to Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, "[Mina] has a man's brain - a brain that a man should have were he much gifted - and a woman's heart." I was frustrated with the inconsistencies in Mina's character but for the most part, I was really impressed with what James was able to do.Mina is deeply in love with Jonathan but like a moth drawn to the flame, she finds herself attracted to the darkly sensual Dracula. One represents a pure, innocent affection. The other, a dangerously passionate seductiveness. Mina finds herself caught between two very different men and questioning the very nature of love. Very similar to the situation Christine Daae faces with the Phantom and Raoul in Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera, but intriguing just the same.
The plot revolves around this conflict of the heart which is why I was concerned by the lack of connection between Mina and Jonathan. James spent a lot of time revamping Dracula's character but I don't think she gave Jonathan the same amount of attention. Dracula is dark and interesting where Johnathan is conventional and drab. Mina's character grappled with her indecision but for the life of me I couldn't understand why. Johnathan's inattention and disregard for his wife turned me off almost from the beginning. James' story could have been much more convincing if she extended the same amount of consideration to both of her leading men.
Characterization issues aside, Dracula, My Love is a wonderfully engaging read that breathes new life into Stoker's well known tale. Recommended to fans of Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian.
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Oh! Why must I dream of him? What treacherous thing the subconscious mind was! Such dreams and imaginings, I believed, were as much a betrayal of my marriage vows as any physical act. And yet, I found myself in the dark for several shameful minutes savoring the imagined memory of his embrace...
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