took a small break from Dracula bc I was genuinely very emotional about the revelation by everyone that Mina had been “baptized” by vampire blood. the descriptions of grief were very visceral and moving. the idea of grieving someone who is alive and aware of what is to happen to her!! AUGH. and Later reading the burial rites over her still-living body, at her sincere request!! it was very good but it was a LOT. however I got my nerve together and finished the book last night.
I was incredibly surprised & delighted at them letting Mina back in on the plotting stages despite the fact that Dracula still could be using her as an unwilling informant. Like, they knew it, they weighed the risks, and they decided they needed her brain on the problem! wow. That is a huge leap from earlier in the novel, very satisfying character development and it made the next chapters much more compelling. her rapid gathering of info & inferring the best possible next steps was one of my favorite bits of the whole book. The plan included her direct involvement, traveling with Van Helsing! & the limited pushback was from just her husband because he loves her, which was pretty much in equal measure to her concern for him in this last leg of the adventure! they gave her a gun, like the men! Chef’s kiss. she really saved the day. (insert that meme about how short the book would be if she had a gun the whole time)
I was not expecting a bittersweet ending, tbh. It suits the novel well & maybe I should’ve expected it with (especially in the second half of it) the many many references and calls to God to watch over and aid them, but there was so much tragedy so far & her sickness seemed an incurable disease.
I really have not seen much vampire media in my life, like, I think Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors which I saw last week was genuinely my introduction to the story of Dracula. I’ve learned some by osmosis, of course, but I’m trying to think of things I’ve directly seen that involve vampires: I watched Sesame Street as a kid. I played vampire survivors. I’ve seen 10 minutes of castlevania gameplay. There are two alleged vampires in my DND campaign. genuinely I think that’s it. so there’s a lot I was surprised by, but I have no idea how surprising they’d be to someone who actually is a fan of vampire stuff.
Like the way the Count could only depart from a boat at certain parts of the tide, & how important that was in timing their plans.
And that a Winchester is a kind of gun? Is this common knowledge? I’m not an spn fan but is that directly referenced in the show lmao?
Also that guns were involved at all in the story, also that hypnotism was involved & seemed to be regarded as legit science/medicine.
I remember learning about the existence of Quincey Morris in the Dracula Daily era but had no idea he’d be such a stereotypical American cowboy. like at one point he, without saying anything, left the room, went outside. shot in the window where everyone was sitting, freaking everyone out, then nonchalantly walked back in to say “sorry y’all didn’t mean to scare you. there was a bat but I think I missed cuz it flew off.” When he was introduced I thought he was a bit of a scoundrel with the way he convinced Lucy to kiss him, but he really proved himself, especially in the end. honestly it was kind of refreshing to have this explicitly macho man character get just as emotional as everyone else in the fraught moments.
anyway. often classics are classics for a reason! if anyone has further reading beyond what @athenasdragon recced me earlier I’m happy to hear it, or fave adaptations or fave vampire media. Perhaps it’s time I get into IWTV, from osmosis I love that young girl (Claudia?) and wanna know her deal. Adaptation-wise, I’d especially love anything focused on Mina because she’s easily the coolest (most complex, smartest, etc) character of the bunch.
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