レビュー

• An amazing book

  This is a brilliant book. Period. O'Connor transports you to the late 1800s/early 1900s in fine style, getting into the lives of the greatest actor and actress of the time, as well as Bram Stoker. You live the characters, and the descriptions of the playhouse, London, and other locations are nothing short of fantastic. I'm not sure why I missed this book when it came out. But better late than never. His My Father's House is also outstanding.

• Dracula and Stoker

  Loved the history. Was a little put off by the author's habit of fragmenting sentences. Also, was sorry that some characters seemed to disappear, such as the girl who posed as a boy to paint backdrops.

• what an incredible novel.

  Joseph O’Connor has created a marvelous story of Bram Stoker’s life and times, populated by visits from several of the authors and poets I studied in grad school along with Stoker: Walt Whitman and Twain, George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde. His scholarship is commendable, as is his inventiveness. The heart of the novel is Stoker’s deep, complicated working friendship with the notable Victorian actor Sir Henry Irving (the first actor ever knighted by a monarch), for whom he served as an assistant. It becomes a triangle with the addition Dame Ellen Terry (also later knighted), an actress who worked at the Lyceum with Irving and Stoker for over two decades. O’Connor’s incorporation of elements that Stoker drew into his creation of Dracula held my attention and sparked curiosity about what would be revealed next. The evolution of his landmark novel makes fascinating reading. (Not mentioned by O’Connor: Stoker started writing Dracula shortly after Wilde died. The author touches upon Wilde’s fate, but historically, it’s far worse and more heartbreaking than he relates.) I knew that Stoker died before his Dracula became a phenomenon, which is sad in itself. But the hints in the narrative that this would come to be are wry, melancholy winks, and fragments of the mystery that lace through the novel. As I read, the entire novel flirts with the edge of the supernatural without toppling over: from the presence of an ancient ghost named Mina, who quietly haunts the Lyceum and the attic where Stoker works on his typewriter— and who is seen occasionally by Ellen Terry, but never by Stoker. To the mystery of the abandoned townhouse across from Stoker’s final residence post-stroke, when he’s in need of a wheelchair. (He’s actually not done in by the illness described, but by a motor-neurological disorder caused most often by syphilis.) I am a hardened stoic, and rather clinical in my thinking when reading, or watching movies: I rarely cry. And yet Stoker’s end in the novel choked me up, and will haunt me for a long while. That is all a credit to O’Connor’s brilliance. If you enjoy historical fiction, or English or Irish literature (Irishmen Stoker and Wilde were childhood friends), or are a fan of Dracula, you’ll love this novel, too. It’s the only one I recall given five stars. Now I’m off to find more of O’Connor’s work.

• Love Theater, Read On

  Literary novels either hit or miss with most folks and this one hit home for me. During a summer power outage I grabbed a headlamp and started reading Shadowplay as the house went from cool to sweltering. Didn't matter. The first 40 pages zipped by before I realized that I was reading. Finished half the book before power resumed. Is that because it is brilliant? Or is it because the author writes the way I think? Superbly written, covering the lives of great Victorian actors (Irving, Terry) and narrated (for the most part) by Bram Stoker who was a manager of the forever great Lyceum playhouse -- and in his spare time wrote chilling stories, including Dracula. Lovely and loving look at the excitement of making great theater, with asides into copyright laws, societal outlooks and the joy of creation, however unrewarded. For Dracula lovers, names and events and style will be rewarding. It does, for certain readers, make one rise and say "Bravo" to the author.

• Theatre history, literary history, London, Dublin...all in a splendid piece of fiction

  If you like historical fiction, Joseph O"Conner is one of the best writers in the genre. He creates vivid characters that you miss for days after finishing the book. The secondary characters are as rich as the characters that drive the main plot. I don't want to give too much away here...but did you ever consider the role that Bram Stoker's wife played in popular culture? This book takes you backstage with her, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. I was just enthralled.

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