Lisa of Troy’s Comments (group member since Sep 30, 2022)

Lisa of Troy’s comments from the Dracula Readalong #DraculaReadalong group.

I'm so confused about the blood transfusions. You can't just give blood to random people - you have to have compatible blood types. Yet the gentlemen just keep rolling up their sleeves and donating to Lucy without any sort of testing.......

Chapter 7 and 8

Dracula was published in 1897 so I don't know if this is normal or not for that time period......but it seemed strange to me that Sister Agatha was asking for money in her letter. She writes that Jonathon is recovering but he has no money.

Do you think that this is strange that the sister is asking for money? Do you think that this is some sort of trap? Do you think Renfield was trying to talk to Dracula? What do you think has happened to Lucy? How did Jonathon have money for a train ticket?

Chapter 6 - I wonder why the part about the graves was included in the book.

Are we supposed to feel bad for Mina because she won't know what happened to Jonathon, not have a formal place to grieve him?

It must be really hard for Mina because she doesn't know what happened to Jonathon. Did he run off with another woman while on his travels? Did he just get tired or over worked and hasn't had time to write? By the time that she gets sorted on his actual disappearance, the trail will be long cold.

I thought that Dracula had someone else going around in Jonathon's clothes so that the townspeople would report having seen him.

Chapter 5 - The letters exchanged between Mina have me thinking that she will forget Jonathon quickly and will be married off to someone else.

Maybe I am missing something, but does anyone know yet what Quincy Morris, Arthur Holmwood, or Dr. Seward have to do with Jonathon or Dracula?

Until Chapter 4, I could just chalk Dracula up to being a little strange. However, if someone opened my letter, I would have serious words.

Also, why doesn't Jonathon tell Dracula no, especially regarding the letters? Personally, I wouldn't feel that it would be ethical to write a letter stating that I was in the process of traveling back home if that was not the case.

Do you think Dracula will actually come to London? Why wouldn't he just want to stay in Transylvania? Also, why do you think that Dracula picked Jonathon? It seems that a missing lawyer from London would draw some major suspicion versus maybe someone local who is estranged from their family.

In Chapter 3, Jonathon doesn't seem like a very good guest. He tries to get into locked rooms, and he does exactly what Dracula requested not to do.

At the beginning of the chapter, Jonathon seems almost happy to be considered a prisoner. It strikes me a bit odd, because no facts have changed, only his mindset.

If he can breath fresh air, why doesn't he try to run away? Also, a month is a very long time to be away from home, especially considering that Jonathon would not be able to hop on a plane to get back. In other words, in addition to the month with Dracula, he would also have significant travel time. Why doesn't he say that he must get back? Or say that he has other engagements?

Do you think if Jonathon was an American his reaction would have been different?

Memo to self: Why doesn't Jonathon have a British accent on the audiobook?

At the very end of the chapter, Jonathon is using a mirror to shave, and Dracula is standing in front of it. Dracula has no reflection and he throws the mirror outside, shattering it.

Love Chapter 2! I like the idea of a character not having a reflection.

Dracula tries to explain what happened last night: the people were trying to find treasure. Do you think this is true or were they just trying to confuse Jonathan so he can't run away?

You have a good point, Charity. If someone asks me to do something, I usually end up doing it, too!

Would you ever purchase a place sight unseen?

This chapter reminded me of the book, Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office." In that book, one of the managers heard that an employee was bad news. Several people warned this manager. However, the manager was sure that this employee couldn't be that bad. The employee was just as bad as everyone said. The overall morale of the team went down, and the manager's career suffered. The author says, "If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's a duck!"

Here, we have multiple people warning the main character of danger, but he just keeps going.....Do you think that this character is naïve? Why does he ignore so many people? Have you ever felt like you could succeed where so many others had failed? How did that turn out?

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for joining today! This tread is to discuss Dracula as we progress through the book. The purpose for this discussion board is to keep pace with the schedule posted.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Hi Everyone! Welcome! Thank you so much for joining the Dracula Readalong! I'm so glad that you are here. Please do introduce yourself.

I'm Lisa of Troy and will be hosting this readalong. To be completely honest and authentic, I have been feeling simply horrible lately, laying on the couch, unable to move. So it is very likely that I will not be able to sign in every day.

But I have truly missed the book community and all of the bookish discussion. I will do my best.

Alright, enough about me! There will be another thread called, "Readalong Discussion (no spoilers/spoilers keeping up with readalong)." That will be where you can log in and view/post discussion for the book.