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Post by meinhard1 on Oct 20, 2015 23:30:08 GMT -5
No spoilers:
I really liked the ambiguity in TPP, and The End.
This final installment in ATWQ was, for me, a gripping read. After finishing, I find myself with much to think about. It will take some time before I decide my opinion in how it stacks up, but I certainly am not feeling dissapointed.
This book contains a song reference that I thought was clever.
Edit: Does the book's title tie in with its use in Judaism. This was the most unusual Question of the four and I would like to hear reflections on the title, by those who have read the book.
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Post by Dante on Oct 21, 2015 2:29:02 GMT -5
I'm not the best-qualified to reflect on the book's interplay with Jewish history and religious culture; the temptation is to make a few broad and sweeping observations, such as pointing to Handler's illumination of Judaism as having a strong focus on asking questions, or the fact that Snicket ends up wandering in the wilderness without a home at the end of the book. In practical terms I'm not certain how important the Judaistic aspect is when we're never given any overt connections to Judaism (and nor would I expect it), and there'd be a pretty strong argument for Handler's choices being secular in that regard - selecting a question he personally finds interesting, and which also has the advantage of forcing the publishers to put a yet-longer title on the cover, which I think is a kind of joke in itself. But one thing it's easy to overlook is that all the titles are the wrong questions. Maybe this night isn't so different after all. It's a turning-point in Snicket's life, but he'd been approaching the corner for a long time.
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Post by Hermes on Oct 21, 2015 9:25:37 GMT -5
Judging from their choice of names for their child, Beatrice and Bertrand thought Lemony was dead during their time on the island; since Beatrice was pregnant at the time, that follows her engagement to Lemony by some time, and so she must have believed him to be alive for a long period beforehand. Unless we posit multiple separate rumours of his death - by no means impossible for the Averse, but perhaps a little redundant. Added to which, Lemony being dead wouldn't have been that big a deal if it was only immediately after ATWQ. As I said a while ago: Lemony says something in The End which implies that his death has been reported many times. We know Kit thinks he's dead at the time of The End: and the report of his death in TUA, when he's already well-known as the author of ASOUE, would seem to be a third. It's also possible he had a funeral when Violet was a child (from the report of the Baudelaire parents, dressed in black, singing 'The Little Snicket Lad'). So yet another death, just after ATWQ, is by no means impossible. Edit: Does the book's title tie in with its use in Judaism. This was the most unusual Question of the four and I would like to hear reflections on the title, by those who have read the book. It is certainly a reference to the Jewish use, since in an interview he deflected a wrong question by asking 'Does this book have anything to do with a religious festival kept in the spring?' (or words to that effect). He (LS, not DH!) has also contributed to the New American Haggadah. But as to the deeper relevance of the thing, I'd go with Dante in being sceptical, I think. I imagine the reference was written before Go Set a Watchman came out, so I doubt it's about that. Moreover, it is clearly talking about Mockingbird rather than Watchman because it talks about the trial and alludes to Tom, rather than the characters of Scout, Atticus or anyone else who appears in the latter. And in any case, according to TKAM Tom was acquitted.
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Post by B. on Oct 21, 2015 12:18:17 GMT -5
Real talk: Where's our second companion book like with TBL and The End?
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Post by Dante on Oct 21, 2015 12:44:24 GMT -5
Realer talk: Where's our remaining nine main series books like with The Austere Academy, The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital, The Carnivorous Carnival, The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto, The Penultimate Peril, and The End?
Realest talk: Let's not even get started on rare editions, penny dreadful paperbacks, The Puzzling Puzzles...
(Reality talk: Some sources list 29 Myths on the Swinster Pharmacy as a second companion volume.)
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Post by Hermes on Oct 21, 2015 13:17:11 GMT -5
We also have some web things. (Though I guess we had them for ASOUE too.)
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Post by J-Bird on Oct 21, 2015 20:42:54 GMT -5
Some things to note: The Clustwrous Forest looks nothing like what I had imagined. I had pictured a large mass of tightly packed, swirling seaweed. Did I miss a better explanation somewhere along the way or was it left to our imaginations. Also, I'm glad Lemony lacks the overly-moralistic style of the Baudelaire children. That would have been horribleto him for a certain plot point that I cannot mention due to spoilers.
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Post by Dante on Oct 22, 2015 8:30:32 GMT -5
Seth's interpretation of the Clusterous Forest seems to be somewhat contrary to the descriptions of it in the book.
Edit: This goes for a few things, actually; Qwerty's sole illustration (plus a silhouette) wasn't accurate, and Jake's hair is quite wrong.
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Post by B. on Oct 22, 2015 14:10:51 GMT -5
Realer talk: Where's our remaining nine main series books like with The Austere Academy, The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital, The Carnivorous Carnival, The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto, The Penultimate Peril, and The End? Realest talk: Let's not even get started on rare editions, penny dreadful paperbacks, The Puzzling Puzzles... (Reality talk: Some sources list 29 Myths on the Swinster Pharmacy as a second companion volume.) omg ur so funni
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Post by meinhard1 on Oct 25, 2015 22:52:17 GMT -5
Thank you both for your responses. The book does portray a pivotal night in Snickets life, so why is it different? But Snicket does consider this a "wrong question." There are odd parallels -- themes of youth, exile but a connection is neve spelled out. Interesting food for thought, thanks.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2015 19:40:21 GMT -5
I didn't like the ending, but the book itself was amazing.
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Post by Dante on Oct 29, 2015 3:07:15 GMT -5
I know you've addressed at least one aspect of this question elsewhere, but would you care to break down what you did and didn't like in a little more detail? I find it interesting to hear what worked and didn't work for other people.
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Post by A comet crashing into Earth on Oct 29, 2015 17:31:14 GMT -5
I've finally managed to gather up my courage and enter the forest of seaweed that's a proper discussion of a good book! Page 119, the carriage of the train nearest the engine is labelled as WDE. Shouldn't that be WPE, P for Pocket?
I noticed the WDE problem, too; rather odd. Maybe someone was just writing messily owing to the jolting of the train.
I think we're meant to be led astray by the fact that it's only one letter off from fitting their initials - and a visually similar letter, at that. Try moving each letter of WDE back one letter of the alphabet, though.
Incidentally, do you think that illustration is a reference to Murder on the Orient Express? In that, the only illustration, as far as I remember, is a whole-page illustration of Hercule Poirot's map of the train with notes about which passengers occupy which areas. The similarities strike me as a bit too clear to be coincidental - not to mention that Handler can't have written a book about a murder on a train without knowing that it would be compared to that one.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2015 18:10:32 GMT -5
Spoilers ahead. I really liked the noir-ish feeling of the whole book, because it added just the right feel to it. Plus, the whole train thing was super fitting. And then of course, we finally met Walleye, Pocket, and Eratosthenes, to whom the first 3 reports were adressed to. But like I said, I didn't care for the ending: It just felt a bit rushed. Like,The train falls off the rails, then Lemony Snicket summons the Bombinating Beast, and it eats up Hangfire (Or should I say Armstrong Feint?) just as his true identidy was revealed. Lemony walks away, never to see any of his friends from Stain'd-by-the-Sea again, all of this in the course of about 20 pages. Rushed? I think so.
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Post by J-Bird on Oct 29, 2015 21:32:02 GMT -5
A few more things. First of all, Moxie here is right. The book does have quite the noir-ish feel, but with a Snicket twist. How ever, the ending feels a little but rushed indeed, with major events happening one after another. Another point, however ludacris it may seem to you, is that somewhere in my mind, I had a sneaking suspicion that Hangfire and !spoiler alert! Armstrong Feint were the same person. Don't ask me why.
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