for context: today's entry (june 30) is the end of chapter 4 of dracula as it's ordered in every print copy. "good-bye, all! mina!" is the last we hear of jonathan harker for a HOT minute; the first 4 chapters follow him exclusively, but chapter 5 switches over to the Greater London Polycule and contains all of the entries we've already read about mina, lucy, and the suitor squad.

we've all gotten the benefit of the slow build to this climax and the juxtaposition of jonathan in the Horror Plot and everyone else in the Romance Plot (+ jack and renfield doing... whatever you would call their interactions) but it's important to remember that anyone reading this book for the first time as it's printed (not chronologically as drac daily) spends a full chapter hanging out with jonathan, watching him slowly realize the gravity of his situation, sees his desperation, feels his fear and uncertainty as he scales the wall of the castle in a fleeting attempt to escape certain death...... and is then introduced to SIX NEW CHARACTERS in an ENTIRELY UNRELATED STORY ARC without knowing what happens to him. it's drama it's intrigue it's a little bit genius and, for all the benefits that the format of drac daily gives the narrative, i'm a bit sad that we miss that