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Post by LargeManFeOrMale on Aug 24, 2005 13:06:00 GMT -5
I don't think theres anything wrong with the narration. i liked the big stops.
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Post by LBeall on Aug 24, 2005 13:07:51 GMT -5
As I have been re-reading the series in a straight run for the last week, I begin to tire of anything to do with them. Too much is too much. I am currently beginning TCC, and found myself very bored with many of the 'gimmicks' and repetitiveness in THH. I think I may simply have too large a dose of ASOUE, but the books, as they get longer, have more chance for things to become annoying. TBB is 162 pages while TGG is 322 pages. There simply wasn't enough time in earlier volumes to get annoying, and we were learning to much new information. As the Baudelaires find things out, and as we discover what Snicket lets us, the mystery begins to disappear. Without the mystery or as much new information that we are not already expecting to see, there is less to keep your interest. The next books should, hopefully, contain much more new informatin, there isn't much time left for it to be revealed. Hopefully this will make the last books less tedious and again more suspenseful. In reference to Olaf, the Baudelaires are fearing him less, so he is less frightening to the readers. Yes, he is intimidating, but they have escaped some eleven times now, he is clever, but not clever enough. The children learn more, and fear less.
LBeall
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Post by selina on Aug 24, 2005 15:37:12 GMT -5
thanks for signing it
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Antenora
Detriment Deleter
Fiendish Philologist
Put down that harpoon gun, in the name of these wonderful birds!
Posts: 15,891
Likes: 113
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Post by Antenora on Aug 24, 2005 16:43:41 GMT -5
I don't know if the petition will really change anything; Handler's probably got most of book 13 planned out, and that would include Olaf's behavior. Olaf will probably give up on his theatrical laughter anyway. However, it's worth a try.
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Post by LargeManFeOrMale on Aug 24, 2005 16:55:55 GMT -5
Snicket probably knows that people didn't particularly like the laugh so i doubt that he'll include it
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Post by Sugary Snicket on Aug 25, 2005 9:31:03 GMT -5
I HOPE NOT!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by Celinra on Aug 26, 2005 13:18:19 GMT -5
I don't think the books are going downhill. I actually like them more, now that there's more of an underlying plot, and not repetitive like the first few books were.
So Olaf is less scary. It's book 11 at this point, meaning he has failed 11 times to go through with his plans of capturing the Baudelaires. No matter how threatening he is, I don't think he could still be frightening after that. Not to mention, that same fact is probably starting to make him worry, and hence be less scary. Just by the way the books are going, if he were as frightening still as he was in the first books, it might be a bit unbelieveable... why would they be terrified of someone who they've successfully escaped from several times? Hence, new threats come about, things even Olaf is terrified of.
As for some of his comments, I don't think it's necessarily that he's changing. Just that, it's really the first time we've seen him in his own environment, without having to worry about continually being threatening. Basically, I think maybe we've just finally been given a chance to see what Olaf is like when he's able to be completely at ease.
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Post by Hooky on Aug 26, 2005 14:30:13 GMT -5
That's a good point too, Celinra. Yes, indeed he had better drop the laugh, or I am going to Kill Snicket!!!!Not really.
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Post by brenton on Aug 26, 2005 20:26:27 GMT -5
I dont think theyre going downhill daniel handler or whatever his name is, is a master of suspense.
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Post by LargeManFeOrMale on Aug 27, 2005 6:05:53 GMT -5
Yes he is. I am dying to find out what the Baudelaires are ging to find out from Kit. But suspense is only 6% of a book and that still leaves plenty of room for suckishness.
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Post by Brian on Aug 27, 2005 7:16:56 GMT -5
Yeah, like Digital Fortress by Dan Brown. That had suspense, but it sure sucked.
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Post by Sugary Snicket on Aug 27, 2005 7:30:47 GMT -5
Suckishness is not good reading. I do hope he drops the laugh, or I shall run over to the nearest cliff and jump off of it, then my ghost would go to Snicket and haunt him forever.
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Post by Dante on Aug 27, 2005 15:21:17 GMT -5
I've heard it said that the TGG Olaf was a parody of the movie Olaf. I like to think that, and I'm pretty sure that there'll be no more of it in B12.
And Olaf was still pretty evil in TGG. Paraphrase: "I had some time to kill, so I thought I'd kill some of my old enemies!" He threatened to choke the Baudelaires with the Carmelita's tentacles, I think he said something which implied that Fernald was going to tear them apart with his hooks, he commented that he'd like to stamp on Sunny, he threw thumbtacks at baby Fiona... He was more blatantly evil in TGG, I think, than in earlier books.
And yes, the sheer terror and evil of the first few books is gone - it's been sacrificed for mystery and suspense. I'm happy with that.
Handler does have a tendency to over-write the books a bit, but he's always done that. The first book had silly parts - "A word which here means..." for example. And other things... People have already mentioned Josephine's irrational fears.
And I remember reading Handler comment somewhere - in reference to Olaf's laugh - "the villain was annoying? Yes, that's right." There's no point in just saying "Olaf/Widdershins/Fiona was being very annoying" - the reader has to find them annoying too.
Anyway, I've lost my train of thought, but I personally have enjoyed every book more than the one before it, in general.
Last thing: Uncle Monty's death, and the events leading up to it, were very sad. If I remember rightly, he and the Baudelaires had been somewhat cold to each other the previous evening... They never even thanked him for taking them to a movie. That was sad. That was very sad. I don't think there'll be much opportunity for multiple sappy events in B12, but I don't think there'll be much opportunity for anything so sad, either.
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Antenora
Detriment Deleter
Fiendish Philologist
Put down that harpoon gun, in the name of these wonderful birds!
Posts: 15,891
Likes: 113
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Post by Antenora on Aug 27, 2005 15:36:24 GMT -5
Last thing: Uncle Monty's death, and the events leading up to it, were very sad. If I remember rightly, he and the Baudelaires had been somewhat cold to each other the previous evening... They never even thanked him for taking them to a movie. . That's how I recall it too. The Baudelaires were too nervous about Olaf to properly talk to Monty. I don't think B12 will have a lot of sappy moments, although there may be one or two. I get the impression, from the information we have, that the Baudelaires will all be separated for much of this book. Therefore, they won't have as much opportunity to reminisce about the past. Book 12 will probably be more suspensful than just plain sad.
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Post by idiotj on Aug 27, 2005 19:57:06 GMT -5
The books have gotten more complex, less repetitive (in terms of plot), and they haven't gotten that much more fluffy, but Olaf is way less villanous. He's nothing to fear anymore, really. He went from fear-inducing to comedic, literally, just a laugh. A caricature of a villain. Also, the books aren't THAT good, as books. They're enjoyable, and funny, but not very...book...y.
But I haven't read the books in a while.
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