I enjoyed Eugénie's transformation into a man, and though a lot went unsaid there, it feels like this chapter would have been groundbreaking for the middle of the 1800s. I’d be curious to know more about LGBT representation in literature from this time period.

Topics of discussion:

1. This felt like the longest sustained scene with Eugénie in the whole book. I liked it, and I particularly liked the one two chapters ago, but it seems odd since we’ve seen so little of her up to this point. Why do you think she’s getting so much attention now? Is her flight significant?

2. So was running away on her wedding night the secret she mentioned to her father two chapters back? I feel like I’m missing something. She didn’t want to get married but agreed to it after her father told her he was on the verge of ruin, only her plan was to flee the country on the night she got married? In that case, would he have gotten the money? Or would it have been even worse for him?

3. While we didn’t get to see the count, I enjoyed imagining the scene of Louise going to ask him for help getting a passport and her saying she wanted one for a man because you had to know he knew what was really going on and was happy to help Eugénie flee. But that also seems at odds with how he has treated the rest of her generation: He gave Madame Villefort the poison knowing she would use it on Valentine, and he was going to kill Albert himself, but in Eugénie’s case he played with her a little, but ultimately gave her exactly what she wanted all along.

Last line:

M. Danglars no longer had a daughter.

The next discussion will be up on Wednesday.