In the Name of Dracula

Sorin Sandru
Outskirts Press (2010)
ISBN 9781432758387
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (12/10)


“In the Name of Dracula,” is narrated by Dracula, a character who is a forty-year-old Romanian immigrant.  He came to the United States in search of a better way of life.  Working as an electrician at a plant, Dracula’s plans get derailed when he sustains a serious on-the-job head injury.  Not only is his life affected by the pain of the injury, but he is also affected by his co-workers and supervisors who try to deny the seriousness of his injuries.  In fact, they not only deny that he is suffering from his injuries, but they also do what they can to impede his healing.  The stress from this hampers his recovery.

Dracula has to go through some rough times and bad experiences, which include being put in lowly jobs that test his endurance, instead of the light duty that his doctor’s ordered. He also deals with unscrupulous doctors, lazy attorneys, and some enterprising Romanian women who hope to find rich men to support them.  He really has to keep his eyes opened in all aspects of his life

Reaching within himself to latch on to the inner strength that he believes that he inherited from his famous ancestor, Dracula, also known as Vlad the Impaler, he gets more determined to triumph while fighting the system.  Dracula gets quite an education.  Unfortunately, this is where he learns about the negative aspects of the American way.  His supervisors also are taught about the perseverance of a Romanian immigrant, who refuses to surrender. 

I enjoyed reading Dracula’s story.  To enable the story to flow better, the book would benefit from some editing but since the main character is from Romania, it would be good to keep his dialogue the same so that he still has his “accent.”  I liked that the characters are eccentric and unique -giving them animal names that represent their personalities adds a lot to the story.  If I hadn’t been in a workman’s comp situation myself, I would think that Dracula’s experiences are a little farfetched. However, having had to buck the system myself, I can say that he is right on target with what can happen to a good employee who is injured while working.  In fact, other people going through similar situations might find this story inspiring, and perhaps discover that they still have some fight left in them!

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