Awesome. Love and duty in the face of horror, death. Marriage tested to extremity.

Men consistently failing in the duties they take upon themselves, commit themselves to carrying out (Harker with the kiss of the vampiric host; Seward with his work, his sleep; Arthur perhaps by absenting himself, neglecting his conjugal duties, outsourcing the equivalent to three others). They spurn the counsel and help of both Lucy and Mina — they keep secrets from those who would rather share the load, bear the word together. From those who have in fact committed to this, their own duty, and are prevented from its accomplishment only by the egos of Lucy’s monster hunter harem. Is it good to protect? Perhaps, perhaps it comes from [Jonathan] my husband’s great love, but could it be also that this evil thing is rooted deep in all good, that duty is not always antidote to ego, and sometimes its unwitting accomplice? For your good, I take your agency, keep our secrets, go it alone. Chivalry in the sanitarium.

Many things to be said, too, it would seem, for the theme of changing times — too many dead parents here to count, then the Count himself, who swings from a figure of the deep, immortal past to a child-brain. Or also his thrall, Renfield, reverting similarly to infant-mindedness. And economy? Could make up a fascinating read focusing on the wonderful power of money.

And besides this all: a striking, fast-paced narrative, told compellingly. And some legendary figures. Dracula, sure, but Mina, but Van Helsing. Awesome. Love when a classic can speak its own virtue.

”I just think there has to be a Jesus, to say beautiful about things no one else would ever see.”

To say beautiful about things no one else would ever see is exactly Robinson’s art. These are not easy topics she is trying, nor easy people. But she sees them gently, laughs at them the way they laugh at themselves, chide them like their conscience. This is what she can do for them, and us, and she does it very well.

I don’t know how I feel about this in relation to the other Gilead novels, but I would not mind another. She sure does write a good love story, and a not-too-shabby altar call. And maybe she has it in her still to outdo her freshman effort.