Luigi
Bewildered Beginner
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Post by Luigi on May 25, 2004 19:27:55 GMT -5
Flan said her parents disappeared. I thought she was not serious, like "my parents haven't been around much lately". But then there's the survey, and Flan chooses orphaned. Why was there nothing else on the disappearance on the parents? i think DH is just making a jab at the absense of parents, or he just needed to get them away, but still. a bit more, please.
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Post by ineedyourhelp on May 25, 2004 20:33:37 GMT -5
wait a minute, whos Flan?
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Post by Celinra on May 25, 2004 20:39:51 GMT -5
wait a minute, whos Flan? The main character in "The Basic Eight," by Daniel Handler.
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Post by ineedyourhelp on May 25, 2004 20:43:30 GMT -5
oh, well i never read it, so dont mind me
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Post by kjlsnicket29 on May 25, 2004 23:13:53 GMT -5
Don't mind me either. But is it a good book?
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Post by negativenine on May 25, 2004 23:34:20 GMT -5
Yes. Read it. Love it. Cherish it. Make my friends return it to me!!!
I seem to remember once at the beginning of the book, Flan mentionning her parents, but they never appeared since then. The whole survey thing was a joke, so maybe Flan was making a personal jab at her parents' absence. *shrug*
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Post by royalvioletta on May 27, 2004 23:21:12 GMT -5
I wasn't quite sure if she actually chose 'orphaned' or not - it seemed a bit ambiguous. But the question of her parents has been bothering me quite a bit. It mentions in the epilogue by Eleanor Tert that her parents were traditional Jewish parents and that they liked to pursue many hobbies, but that was about it. There's a huge gaping hole where an explanation should be. Perhaps they were always out pursuing their interests? It doesn't quite seem right, though. I agree with I Am Root (sorry, I'm not sure of your name) - either Handler is making some sort of commentary about parents or he just needed them gone to create a better story. There's always the fact that Flan's state of mind turns out to be wrong on a number of things (including that Natasha doesn't exist) - so perhaps Handler is commenting on existance. Flan thinks that Natasha is there, but she isn't - is it also possible that she thinks that her parents are not there when in fact they are? I apologize for the long, rambling nature of this post - it took me a bit to organize my thoughts. V.
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Post by negativenine on May 27, 2004 23:43:13 GMT -5
Right. But if her parents aren't there when they really are, how does she get away with things like having Douglas over for Absinthe? I guess it would have to be a pretty extreme comment on parental negligence... The fact that they aren't mentioned anywhere except the beginning is a little suspicious. Then again, I don't know exactly when and where it refers to her parents (for some reason I thought they were off in some other country for the duration of the book) because I don't have my book with me. *glares at Violetta* Ha. No, I know it's not your fault.
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Post by Celinra on May 28, 2004 9:50:31 GMT -5
(for some reason I thought they were off in some other country for the duration of the book) I was under that impression, too. Somehow, I thought they were in Italy (I think that's where it was) for an extended stay, and Flan visited them there during the summer, then came home while they stayed there. One I get my book back from my friend, I'll try to figure out where I came up with that.
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Post by royalvioletta on May 28, 2004 21:33:22 GMT -5
Hmm, that does seem to make sense, actually. Considering they had many hobbies and were dragging Flannery to all of those museums and galleries, perhaps they were staying there to hunt down more antiques.
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Post by Semiconfused on May 28, 2004 21:58:14 GMT -5
Hey guys! Sticking my nose in, hehe...as I remember, Flan's parents were on vacation during the whole escapade...right? At least that's the impression I got. And I think that 'orphaned' thing in the survey was--as many of their responses were--intended to be sarcastic. Right? Hehehe...I read The Basic Eight rather a long time ago, soooo...giant gaping holes in the memory.
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Luigi
Bewildered Beginner
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Likes: 2
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Post by Luigi on May 29, 2004 11:49:07 GMT -5
Flan said "my parents disappeared this year" or something.
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Post by AmbidextrousKevin on Jun 9, 2004 20:43:52 GMT -5
ya, her parents were in italy i think. she left for home early and they stayed there for.....a long amount of time that i cant remember.
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