Dracula [Audible Edition]

By: Bram Stoker

Narrated by: Alan Cumming, Tim Curry, Simon Vance, Katherine Kellgren, Susan Duerden, John Lee, Graeme Malcolm, Steven Crossley

Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award, Distinguished Achievement in Production, 2013

Audie Award, Multi-voiced Performance, 2013

Audie Award Nominee, Classic, 2013

Because of the widespread awareness of the story of the evil Transylvanian count and the success of numerous film adaptations that have been created over the years, the modern audience hasn't had a chance to truly appreciate the unknowing dread that readers would have felt when reading Bram Stoker's original 1897 manuscript. Most modern productions employ campiness or sound effects to try to bring back that gothic tension, but we've tried something different. By returning to Stoker's original storytelling structure - a series of letters and journal entries voiced by Jonathan Harker, Dr. Van Helsing, and other characters - with an all-star cast of narrators, we've sought to recapture its originally intended horror and power.

This production of Dracula is presented by what is possibly the best assemblage of narrating talent ever for one audiobook: Emmy Award nominees Alan Cumming and Tim Curry plus an all-star cast of Audie award-winners Simon Vance (The Millenium Trilogy), Katherine Kellgren (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), Susan Duerden (The Tiger’s Wife), John Lee (Supergods) and customer favorites Graeme Malcolm (Skippy Dies), Steven Crossley (The Oxford Time Travel series), Simon Prebble (The Baroque Cycle), James Adams (Letters to a Young Contrarian), Nicola Barber (The Rose Garden), Victor Villar-Hauser (Fun Inc.), and Marc Vietor (1Q84). These stellar narrators have been cast as follows:

Alan Cumming as Dr. Seward
Simon Vance as Jonathan Harker
Katy Kellgren as Mina Murray/Harker
Susan Duerden as Lucy Westenra
Tim Curry as Van Helsing
Graeme Malcolm as Dailygraph correspondent
Steven Crossley as Zookeeper’s account and reporter
Simon Prebble as Varna
James Adams as Patrick Hennessey
Nicola Barber as Sister Agatha
Victor Villar-Hauser as Arthur Holmwood
Marc Vietor as Quincey Morris
John Lee as Introductory paragraph, various letters

Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Listening to this full-cast performance turns out to be remarkably suspenseful and chilling…The superlative cast lends this powerful production the diversity that is required by the structure of the novel…Each actor employs various accents, infusing into the characters vibrant emphasis, urgency, and dread." ( AudioFile)

A Classic As It Shall be.

to begin with this book is very old , many have made movies of it. he gave a vampire a face. he made Vlad Tepes III a face made the count one of the most famous icon. Bra Stoker. the narrator none other then Tim Curry. love it from the very beginning to the vårt end

Just Download it.....trust me

I usually hate horror. This isn't scary, it is captivating. Trust me, you'll love it.

Painful narration at times

I’ve never hated narration like I have here. The actor doing Lucy is obnoxious and breathy, like some valley girl interpretation from hell.

When Mina’s journals are being narrated, there was a heinously cartoon like overreacting of an old man. I literally had to fast forward. While on Mina, she sometimes borderline shouts the dialogue, too.

Finally, there is zero attempt to make characters narration of other characters. When Minas journal has Van helsing talk, it’s some sort of Hungarian Russian German accent ( it changes) and sounds nothing like the actual character. If it wasn’t included , I’d return it. Gah!

As for the book, there’s SO much rambling about how much everyone loves each other, and how sweet Lucy is ( no demonstrations of this), it really got old.

I enjoyed the early parts and fought my way through the rest. Maybe it would have been better with better direction/narration.

Classic Goth Stuff

The excellent voice performances kept me going through those last dragging chapters. Act 4 was rough, but worth a listen! This story feels like OG blaire witch project on an epic gothic literary level <3

Amazing!

First time listening to a book with multiple character voices. So much better than hearing one person do every voice. It made every character seem more real and interesting. The story itself is a little slow at some points but it picks back up and is well worth getting through slow parts to hear the story in its entirety.

One of the classics

A great story told by a talented cast. As a Tim Curry fan, I wish Stoker had included more Van Helsing, but every part was well cast and well-performed.

wonderfully read.

Alan Cumming is spectacular. Tim Curey is fantastic. However I wish it would give more about the cast of narrators.

loved it

I had never read this classic novel . The descriptions in story were captivating. The performance was = the task.

A classic read by the best.

I love this story. It never gets old. This is the best narration I have heard so far. I like that the different journals and news articles are read by different people AND each one of them had their own distinct voice for each character, yet it was still very easy to keep up with who was speaking.

Part Audiobook, Part Radio Drama

While there are some aspects to the narrative related to the time period in which the story takes place which stick out to a modern listener and feel a bit outdated, the story is nonetheless quite gripping and very well written.
The stars in this particular audiobook are those reading its narration though, Katherine Kellgren (voicing Mina) especially, whose performance offers a great amount of character, and almost a playfulness which sells the character.
The hours flew by, and I'd very much recommend this to those who enjoy nicely detailed gothic horror tales with enjoyable characters.