Dracula (December 2023) Buddy Read Discussion - Hafs & Tayjah

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Welcome to the Dracula Buddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on December 3rd and anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each day we will be reading by chapters or page numbers. Page numbers are an approximation based on the hardcover or paperback that is the default on Goodreads. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:

Week of 12/3
December 3rd:1-3

Week of 12/4
December 4th: 4-6
December 5th: 7-9
December 6th: 10-12
December 7th: 13-15
December 8th: 16-18
December 9th:19-21
December 10th: 22-24

Week of 12/11
December 11th: 25-27

PARTICIPANTS
~ Hafs
~ Tayjah

[Tayjah]

Yayyyy. I actually started reading today and got through the first chapter. So far it’s fast paced and you get that gothic, creepy feeling. I’m liking it so far.

[Juliane]

Hi, I would like to join this Buddy Read, if thats okay. I intend to start this tomorrow and will surely catch up :-)

[Tayjah]

I’m on page 61 and it’s soo suspenseful 🙈

[Juliane]

I'm enjoying this so far, the descriptions of the landscapes and people of Eastern Europe the way Harker experiences them are quite detailed and interesting.
The atmosphere so far has this sinister undertone which I'm curious on how that will develope throughout the book.

[Tayjah]

^^^I agree. I’m reading this at a snails pace I’m only on page 90. But I’m throughly enjoying it. I love how creepy and unsettling it is

[Hafs, Games Procrastinator]

Haven't started this bc I've been fighting demons (reading slump) will start it soon x

[Tayjah]

I know exactly how you feel I was in a slump all last month😭 take your time girl!

[Juliane]

Oh yeah i know that feeling and I hope it gets better for you soon.

Regarding the book I also feel it is surprisingly slow going, I'm not sure what it is and I'm enjoying it so far but I've also only gotten to page 53 so far😅

[Tayjah]

Yess I feel the same way 😭 I started it December 1 and I’m only on page 90. It is incredibly slow

[Juliane]

I arrived on page 97 which the progress bar tell me is 25 % so yeah 😂

Couple of thoughts up to chapter 8

(view spoiler)[
It is quite fun to see the many hints of influence Stokers Dracula has had on modern vampire interpretations. Examples being the not being able to see them in the mirror, the coffins for sleeping in and the journey of the Demeter which I had all ideas for due to other movies and books but is quite interesting to read about in the context of this book shaping the modern lore so heavily.

Also I did not realize that Jonathan Harker might already be gone, I always thought the story would be like Mina and Jonathan fighting together against the evil😅 At this point I will just be happy if Mina gets to find out what actually happened to him.

The edition I'm reading also has a glossary, mainly for the various place-names in the book but fortunately also for some of the expressions used which has come especially handy for the old gentleman whose dialect even in writing I found very hard to understand. Curious though that Mina also found it hard and yet she managed to write it down in her diary. (hide spoiler)]

[Tayjah]

How do I view spoilers?? Is that only for desktop version

[Juliane]

Oh no not a typical goodreads-problem again it seems.
It does work for me to open it in the browser of my mobile and on my computer but in the app it shows my text directly not hidden under the spoiler warning (though that might because I wrote it) but I'm unfortunately not using the app very often so I can't confidently answer for that one.

[Tayjah]

(view spoiler)[ test (hide spoiler)]

[Tayjah]

Okay I was able to view what you wrote. I had to go on goodreads on the browser 😆. But I also noticed all the connections from this book to modern vampire media. I wonder if this book will go into detail about why vampires have these unique feats like being allergic to garlic and such.

(view spoiler)[ this is just a theory as I’m still on page 100. But I feel like Johnathon will make a come back later in the book. I just feel like he has a greater importance to the story. Maybe we will get a plot twist. I think the guy who is in the mental asylum with the birds and cats might be Johnathon but I could be wrong.

Also I just looked up the journey of the Demeter movie that you just mentioned and it looks so good! I think I’m going to watch that after if I can find it anywhere.

My book unfortunately doesn’t have a glossary or any translations so I completely blanked out when the Englishman was talking 😑. I hope what he said wasn’t too important. (hide spoiler)]

[Juliane]

So I finally finished and while I did enjoy it overall, it did feel like it had quite a few moments that kept dragging on.

Spoilers up till the end :-)

(view spoiler)[
I liked Lucy as a character and felt sorry for her fate but the whole story part of her dying seemed quite repetitive in the way it was written.
Then again as soon as Van Helsing, Dr Seward and the rest did figure out who Dracula was and what to do against him it seemed to be far too easy for them to dispatch all of the vampires and their boxes and everything.
The same goes for Minas almost-turning and it seemed the way they kept the vampire ladies at bay was surprisingly quick. Even the death of Dracula himself at the end felt kind of like an afterthought.
At the same time I admire that there is no great action packed battle like in so many movies that depict all the horrors and dying just for shock-value.
In other words I'm a bit torn how I feel about the book and especially the ending 😄
I'm guessing having the knowledge about Dracula was the key here but to me it just feels a bit too straightforward in many parts towards the end.
Although I'm glad that most of our main characters survived and I really enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the landscape and the two journeys through half of Europe.
(hide spoiler)]

[Hafs, Games Procrastinator]

I have around 50 pages to finish and I genuinely thought this was gonna be like Frankenstein where I find out that dracula is misunderstood (how Frankenstein is the doctor and not the monster or that the doctor is the real monster and the monster is just a sad baby to me vibes??) but well..seems like we've been well informed of the count's shenanigans lol