Stoker, Bram; Dracula "Buddy Read" (Start Date: June 29th, 2013)

[Storm]

21 & 22
(view spoiler)[Yep, Mina’s becoming a Vampire! The Count gave her some blood, poor girl, and when Van Helsing tried to reassure her with a blessed wafer, it burned her skin, she’s going more quickly then Lucy did it seems, but she’s being brave and putting up a good fight while the men set out to destroy the count’s earthen boxes all over, so that he too may be destroyed and perhaps in his destruction, Save Mina from becoming a Vampire all together. They already destroyed the earthen boxes in the house near the madhouse, by placing more sacred things inside them and thus making the soil too pure for the count, they did so at house number two as well, two of the men have gone to house numbers three and four but thus far, one box is already missing from the others, completely unaccounted for, this is going to be a great problem, I think, before all is finished. (hide spoiler)]

[Storm]

23 & 24
(view spoiler)[Sound the horn loudly, call the hounds! The Hunted has left via boat, the hunters will follow via land, and both parties ride towards finale! Mina’s more and more Vampire, but she continues to fight it, she knows she is both danger and aid to those trying to save her from her illness, and takes steps as she can to keep them safe and rich in the knowledge she gains from the Count through their blood-bonding. Time for a class trip, boys and girls, pack your lunches! (hide spoiler)]

[Rachel]

I started this one awhile back and as I was reading it I was having trouble finding points to discuss. I'm definitely enjoying the book, don't get me wrong! But I would have a hard time making questions for this book. I think they would be a lot of "reaction" type questions: ie, What did you think when x happened?

I don't think the book necessarily lacks depth. It plays on themes of ethnic "otherness," technology, and I'm excited to see how they take on sexuality in the 19th cent once Mina and the Count begin to interact. Perhaps those could be discussion points, but more suited towards the end of the book once we are able to digest the whole thing?

But then again, I'm not a skilled question writer like the mods of this group :) I'm sure they would have a stack of questions lined up if this were a regular read!

So those are my general impressions thus far. What about everyone else?

[Storm]

25 & 26

(view spoiler)[The Count is on the run, and our little pack is on the chase! They’re heading back to Dracula’s Castle, like the count himself seems to be doing. Mina’s insight again puts them on track when their own trail goes cold, clever girl. They’ve split themselves up. Two went by river, hoping to catch the boat with the count’s box upon it, two went by land, in case the count should reach it, while Van Helsing and Mina went first by train, and now by carriage, none of them have been able to catch up with the count as of yet, but soon, very soon, shall be the end of the story. There is only one chapter left now, For victory, or for loss! (hide spoiler)]

27
(view spoiler)[And victory it is, Though one of their party died from wounds inflicted by the gypsies so bent on reaching the Count’s Castle before the sun left it, Our Heroes were successful, and Dracula was banished finally, as was Mina’s illness, for the scar-cross made by the holy item Van Helsing had used, vanished with the count’s corpse-dust upon the wind. The story ends with a note from John that all has been well since the count’s final death, he and Mina now have a son, named after all their party and who’s birthday is their friend’s death day but holds no bitterness now, seven years after the fact. Well done, good heroes, well done. (hide spoiler)]



The end has come at last, at least for me! For those of you yet to read and comment, 'Enter Freely and of Your Own Will'! I know I for one, am glad to have finished this book, and now see why it is such a classic itself. For though I found the pace to be ever changing, sometimes terribly slow and boring, other times quite fast and myself unable to resist turning the page even for a moment to write the reviews of the chapters, I definitely have much respect for Mr. Bram Stoker for writing up such a tale as this, and that time has treated it so well as to come to our own time as such a classic, with so many copies of the tale for all to read and enjoy!

[Storm]

Rachel wrote: "I started this one awhile back and as I was reading it I was having trouble finding points to discuss. I'm definitely enjoying the book, don't get me wrong! But I would have a hard time making qu..."

My copy of the novel doesn't have any mention of the Count and Mina going along THAT route O.o I think it's be hard, now that I know for sure, since I was unsure previously of all the copies holding exactly the same story, to make any such questions, since it would depend entirely upon which version one reads, what happened between the characters. My copy is written all in journal entries and newspaper clippings and other such paperwork, and even in Mina's account was there no mention of such acts with the count and herself. so I guess, informal would be the best road to travel for this book, and let people comment on their own reading and discuss things from there between the different versions.

[Rachel]

Storm, you raise some interesting points. Since the book was written in English I don't think there are too many variations on the story from edition to edition. Mine is also in the same format (letters, journals, clippings).

I guess I'm thinking of the classic movie Nosferatu in which there is a scene where the Count visits Mina in her bedroom and drinks from her neck. While certainly not scandalous by our modern standards, pretty controversial in the 1910s when the movie came out. I was wondering if there is a similar scene in the book and how a Victorian author would handle these "interactions." I'll have to keep reading to find out! I'm still not very far in the book yet

[Storm]

❀ Oo ❀ wrote: "@Storm and the others
I have to read this alongside other books that I've committed to, so this book is going to take me a while to read. I've been trying to get a chance to write up my thoughts an..."

Don't feel bad, Oo! I know life happens. ^^