(Review) iDrakula

TITLE: iDrakula
AUTHOR: Becca Black
PUB DATE: October 2010
PAGES: 160
PUBLISHER: Sourcebooks Fire

SOURCE: I bought this book at Chapters.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
The classic vampire story that started it all gets new life for a generation of connected teens

18-year-old Jonathan Harker is diagnosed with a rare blood disorder after visiting a Romanian Count. His girlfriend Mina and a pre-med student named Van Helsing team up to investigate the source of the disease. The teenagers discover a horrifying truth: the Count is a vampire. The harrowing events unfold through emails, text messages, web pages, Twitter feeds, and instant messaging-the natural modernization of Bram Stoker”s original Dracula, which was written in letters, diary entries, and news clippings.

MY THOUGHTS:
I have never read Drakula by Bram Stoker but I heard that Bram did it in diary and letters form.

Bekka Black brings a modern twist to this classic story by doing it in the form of text messages, emails and browser pages. Bekka also included pictures of various things such as the Castle the count lives in, the gates to Bellevue Hospital and the back of a gown that Mina wore.

Having not read Drakula I have to say I wasnt’ worried about not knowing what was going on because this is a book that covers it all in a short amount of time. After finishing the book I thought all the key points were touched on and the story wasn’t lost.

I picked this up when I was at Chapters the other night because I have had this on my wishlist for awhile since I first heard about it. It was a quick and easy read and I actually read this in about an hour last night.

I think this might appeal to the younger crowd and it just might make them pick up the classic to read. As for me I don’t see me reading Drakula anytime soon.

One of my favorite text messages was early in the book (page 14) was one Jonathan sent to Mina and it was:

Ate paprika hendl aka chicken paprikash. Tasty. U should get recipe.

I have eaten chicken paprikash many times and love it. My in laws are hungarian so its a staple for them.

Here is the recipe from the book:
Paprika Hendl

3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 pounds of chicken cooked and cut into strips (my mother in law does chunks)
1/2 cup butter
1 onion diced (mother in laws chops)
3 tablespoons of paprika
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup sour cream
4 cups of spatzle noodles cooked (mother in law uses egg noodles)

Saute onion, garlic and chicken in butter. Add the broth and paprika to pan. Slowly add flour to the pan to thicken. Simmer 30 minutes and then add half the sour cream. Serve over cooked noodles and dallop sour cream on top. (You don’t have to add the dallop of sour cream if you don’t want. I never do.)

When I was on Bekka Black’s website I discovered that there is an app for iDrakula for your iPhone/iPad which apparently adds to the book even more. Sadly I don’t have an iphone or iPad so I can’t be sure on this.