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This thread is to discuss Bram Stoker‘s book, Dracula.


***Please remember to mark spoilers.***

Participants: Eirelyn, TuÄŸba, Susy, Allie, Catherine, Brianna, Rachael

Suggested break down of reading so that you can check in and let us know how you're doing. The following breakdown is purely a suggestion and is therefore not set in stone.

Rather than putting dates for each section I've done it so that it takes into account that not everybody will necessarily have the book at the same time.

Week 1: 122
Week 2: 122
Week 3: 122
Week 4: 122

I received a lovely hardcover edition for my birthday, excited to read it this month.

Happy birthday, Shawna. =)

I'm about to start this. I read it before at high school but I'll be interested to see if my opinions have changed

I'll be starting as soon as I finish Frankenstein, so probably in a week or so.

Susy wrote: "I'll be starting as soon as I finish Frankenstein, so probably in a week or so."

Same here. :D

It's funny that even if you haven't read the book the story of Dracula is so familiar to everyone.
I just finished chapter 3 and I find that Stoker likes to describe things in a lot of detail. I don't know about you but I don't really want to know exactly what Jonathan Harker eats and drinks. He had two glasses of tokay one night! (Decided not to hide that because it's not really a spoiler. Apologies if you feel otherwise)

Lol

lol Rachael, that makes me cringe. XD Not the anti-spoiler but the fact that he writes in such unnecessary detail, lol. I feel that way with a lot of the classics (especially the pre-20th century classics). I tend to skim a bit when there's *too much* detail like that. It really adds nothing to the story for me as a reader.

Eirelyn wrote: "lol Rachael, that makes me cringe. XD Not the anti-spoiler but the fact that he writes in such unnecessary detail, lol. I feel that way with a lot of the classics (especially the pre-20th century c..."
I, too, am skimming the descriptions hoping that Stoker will get to the point.

Finished. This is what I thought:
This book is infuriating.
I was fairly sure I've read this before considering I'd studied it at high school. But when I (re)read it, I wasn't so sure. The story is definitely familiar to me, though, probably because Dracula is the evocative classic that inspired many other vampire novels. (Interestingly, according to the X-ray feature on my Kindle, the word 'vampire' only appears 14 times in this book)
Within the pages of this book, Bram Stoker has a tendency to over describe things that have very little to do with the plot while leaving a lot to the imagination with the more important aspects. I realize one of the features of horror is to build up suspense but I still feel that things were left unsaid. The pacing didn't really help matters.
The start was so slow but the last third picked up dramatically. In fact, it felt a little disjointed almost like I was reading two different books.
(view spoiler)[It was interesting to read about the enigmatic Count Dracula even if he doesn't actually appear much. (hide spoiler)]
I really liked the multimodal format which included letters, diary entries and telegrams but often it was hard to distinguish the different voices of the characters.
So, yeah, I'm frustrated about this book. It has its good points but overall I felt unsatisfied.

I have finished Frankenstein, so I should be starting this one soon. :D

I will be starting Dracula once I finish The Turn of the Screw

I started this book today. I'm still in the first chapter. Although, I have chuckled a couple times: once at Harker's notes to get the recipes of the foods he's eaten, and once when the driver told Harker that they don't fix the roads around there because they're afraid the Turks will think they're preparing to wage war. XD

Just finished this book and I can really understand why the rules set in place with this lore has been so often repeated. I have an aversion to books where characters are begging for death. This is one of those books. When Van Helsing murders the three female vampires, I was confused. He is motivated by the sweetness of a woman who he doesn't know. What? Why is every woman in this book either a delicate flower or a murdering succubus? The male characters are all flushed out with real reactions to the insanity. The females are horribly flat even when they are the plot. Very descriptive and traveling horrible mist was delightfully creepy.

Eirelyn wrote: "I started this book today. I'm still in the first chapter. Although, I have chuckled a couple times: once at Harker's notes to get the recipes of the foods he's eaten, and once when the driver told..."

Yeah I'm on chapter 4 and its really moving along, I don't know why I thought this was boring before. I'm reading the Barnes and Noble classic version and they actually go into more details about the recipes and Dracula's background. (virtually everything has a foot note lol)

Finally started!

I have the Audible edition of Dracula, read by Alan Cumming, Tim Curry, Simon Vance, Katherine Kellgren, Susan Duerden, John Lee, Graeme Malcom, and Steven Crossley. I love listening to these readers, and the book just seems appropriate for the Halloween season. I'll start listening to it again in the morning on my way to work.

The first section of this book *flew* by. All of the scenes that took place at (view spoiler)[Castle Dracula were so dark and mysterious. I was so intrigued by what was happening there. (hide spoiler)]

But then things kind of changed up a bit. (view spoiler)[Harker's in the nut house, Mina's barely involved. The story has switched & is now focusing on Lucy's "ill health" & the ravings of the mad Renfield, as seen by John Seward. I feel like this section has been dragging a bit. I have found myself for the last couple of chapters muttering, "Come on," as most of it has just been Seward & Van Helsing tending to Lucy, going into detail each time about giving her blood to keep her alive.

I'm hoping there's another change of pace soon. I'm still enjoying it, but I just feel like it has slowed down *a lot* compared to the intrigue of the scenes at Castle Dracula. (hide spoiler)]

Yes I agree. Started out good but it’s gotten a bit boring now... I’ve noticed that I postpone my reading because of that....

Susy, hang in there with it! I'm glad to say that it has picked up again! Right about chapter 13 after (view spoiler)[Lucy died (hide spoiler)], things began to get more interesting again. :D

I'm in chapter 17 now, and honestly, after the events of these last few chapters, I can kind of see why they spent so much time focusing on (view spoiler)[Lucy on her death bed. It made me sad to see poor Arthur having to witness Lucy "alive" again (as the UnDead) but it not really being the version of her that he knew & loved (hide spoiler)].

I can see things progressing much more now. They have (view spoiler)[staked & decapitated UnDead Lucy & are now on a quest to take down the source of vampirism once and for all! Van Helsing is wanting to recruit Jonathan and Mina to his cause. She has just come to town and has been received by Seward, and that's as far as I've gotten. XD (hide spoiler)] I'm back into it now though and interested to see where it goes from here (all of the modern retellings of it are so different that I'm honestly not 100% sure how this original book ends lol).

Thanks Eirelyn, I’ll keep that in mind! I’m at chapter 9 now.

Yeah I know what you mean Susy, it did bog down a bit but as Eirelyn said it picks up. I'm on chapter 18 and (view spoiler)[Van Helsing and company are know going to hunt down the Count (hide spoiler)] sometimes though I wish Van Helsing would shut up and the story would progress faster.

Casey, lol! He is certainly a talker, isn't he? XD I do like his character though. And I'm right about at the same place you are; I just finished chapter 18. :D

Eirelyn, I guess he's nice enough, bit sexist though. I know its the times but it kills me when he goes on about the blood transfusions. I think (view spoiler)[If Lucy hadn't been a vampire she would have died from blood poisoning (hide spoiler)] I'm still enjoying the book though.

Casey wrote: "Eirelyn, I guess he's nice enough, bit sexist though. I know its the times but it kills me when he goes on about the blood transfusions. I think [spoilers removed] I'm still enjoying the book though."

lol I kept thinking the same thing about the (view spoiler)[blood transfusions. XD I mean, what are the odds that all 4 of her donors had blood that was compatible with hers? Definitely a reminder of the times. (hide spoiler)]