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NeilNjae
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The other interpretation of having Dracula as the title is that he's the element that brings the heroes together and gives them direction. Dracula is the unifier of the book; without him, none of these people would have met. As for @BarnerCobblewoo…
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Going back to the question of "who's the protagonist?", which characters really changed in the course of the book? I think Jonathan had the greatest transformation, from eager young lawyer to victim to mature veteran. Mina also changes a l…
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I thought Dracula was scary. A lot of that was down to the lack of reliable information about what Dracula could do. We saw he could dominate people, sneak into all sorts of places, change into beasts, and so on. But we didn't know that much at firs…
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Sorry for the delay in replying. This is an insightful comment. It reminds me of the analysis of "whodunnit" and other crime fiction, where the detective is the representative of good society. A crime is committed, the social order is tra…
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I would argue that the partial narration is the literary equivalent to the "don't show the monster" technique in films like Alien. We don't have an omniscient narrator, so we never get a definitive statement of Dracula, what he does, or wh…
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And, as was pointed out to me, the role of women as temptresses. The "brides of Dracula" in the castle give us a picture of what Lucy and Mina would become without intervention. Dracula may corrupt women, but how much of that is down to D…
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Dracula questions are finally up. Sorry for the delay. Let's hope they're up to @Apocryphal 's standards!
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How are people getting on with Dracula? Are we on track for discussion next weekend?
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(Quote) No, I think you're entirely correct. This is a book that is Making A Point and isn't subtle about it.
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(Quote) I don't think we should consider Ulysee a character in the traditional sense: he's a mobile viewpoint for the audience as we are shown the satirical world of Soror. (Quote) I think that's true, but the book emphasises the treatment of anima…
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The message I took from the book is that we should treat animals more humanely. We shouldn't put them in zoos, we shouldn't use them for medical experiments, we shouldn't hunt them. The human/ape role reversal was there to build empathy for animals …
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(Quote) Good point. Even the Professor succumbed to loss of intelligence. Why is Ulysse immune? (And does it matter? I think not.)
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(Quote) I don't think it is. It's not meant to be an easy, disposable read. I think Boulle was going for something with more impact; the satirical fairy tale idea. Whether he succeeded at that is another question. But it means I'm not judging this …
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I can see the changes made for the film being features of the adaptation: films are about visuals and action, rather than introspection (generally). I agree with Aldiss that making the story be only about Earth makes for a stronger ending.
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For me, the key message wasn't about "who is human?" so much as "how should we treat non-humans?" I think the core of the book was how the apes treated the humans when they were exactly what we would call "animal" in th…
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I've only seen the 1968 film, and that was a long time ago. I can't remember if there was any subtext in the film, or if it was action-adventure all the way. That said, the reveal that the film took place on Earth seemed shocking at the time, so the…
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Odysseus the traveller is a clear one. I've no idea what the surname was meant to signify. As for the character, he's a bit of a blank slate. But then, that's his role in the story: he's there as the eyes and ears of the reader as we explore the sa…
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All the descriptions of space travel were implausible, but I skipped past that as being someone from the 60s not paying too much attention to the hard SF tradition. For me, where it went from "believable" to "unbelievable" to &q…
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I'll confess my ignorance. What do you mean by "a recursive story"? Is it that there's the main tale within a framing story?
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I think I saw the "twist", of Jinn and Phylis being apes, in the first section. I think that's why the frame story didn't add anything to me. I expect it was meant to be here to change what we thought of as the "fantasy" in the s…
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I didn't get the introduction in my Kindle version, but I agree it's definitely satire. The book very much points out the horrors of our treatment of animals. But I think Boulle deflated that at the end of the book by saying the apes started by most…
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If most of us have read it, there's plenty else to read. Perhaps _Nettle and Bone_ by T. Kingfisher? I've wanted to read some of her serious adult fiction for a while (she's very good at the lighthearted stuff).
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> @RichardAbbott said: > Discussion still ongoing about Harkfast but this is a quick reminder that August is Planet of the Apes selected by @Apocryphal . Also, @NeilNjae do you have a title chosen for September yet? Given that I'm in Trans…
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> @RichardAbbott said: > Discussion still ongoing about Harkfast but this is a quick reminder that August is Planet of the Apes selected by @Apocryphal . Also, @NeilNjae do you have a title chosen for September yet? Given that I'm in Trans…
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> @clash_bowley said: > The sudden ending bothered me in an 'I was left hanging, now we'll never know..." sense, but far stronger was the relief that I didn't have to read more of this story. Thank God this was written before fantasy nov…
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A good point about the violence. The setting is is very much one where lives are nasty, brutal, and short. The closest we get to compassion is the lacklustre camaraderie between Ruan and his band. It's all very downbeat. And if this is Arthur retold…
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I liked how Harkfast is portrayed, the wise and manipulative druid. I liked the alternative take on the Arthur myth, making it a very small and personal story with the mythic element applied by the narrator and reader.
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Yes, the book was obviously intended as the first of a series. One or two more would have finished off the story. As the the Arthur connection, the book seemed like a "gritty" retelling of the Arthur story, with Harkfast as Merlin.
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The book gave me the impression of a competent author with a decent range (no one writes like this all the time). But I'm not in any rush to read more, even a sequel to this.
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The characters didn't seem like well rounded people. Ruan was arrogant, Harkfast even more so. The others were there to be servants, and that's all they were.