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Post by theotherjs on Jun 12, 2012 15:12:53 GMT -5
So I was wondering; what do you guys think of the timespan of the books?
Like when about in the year certain bits of certain books took place, and how long the orphans were in a location or whatever? It would be cool to produce a timeline, almost, of the thirteen books.
Not sure if this question has already been asked (if it has, feel free to move it or direct me to it), but it interests me, and I thought it might do to you.
Thanks
JS
P.S. Yes those are my actual initials. When I first read about all the mystery behind the initials 'JS', my head nearly blew up with the excitement.
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Post by Dante on Jun 12, 2012 15:26:58 GMT -5
It's been asked before, but hey, what hasn't. It's always a fun subject.
All we know about the time of year during ASoUE is that TSS takes place at False Spring, which is presumably during mid-to-late winter (since it's defined as being when the weather gets warmer before getting much colder again). As to how long the series lasts - the Unofficial Lemony Snicket FAQ once attempted to tot up some numbers, but the page has expired, and all the book gives us for the most part are estimates. TVV through TPP are the only books which gave exact measurements of days, and it takes place over slightly longer than a fortnight, but all of the other books generally state that the Baudelaires spend "a few days" (or some similarly vague statement) at their new guardian's house, and of course we don't know how much time they spend at Mr. Poe's house between books waiting to be sent to a new guardian, so a true timeline is quite impossible to establish. I think three or four days is probably reasonable for the average amount of time they spend at a guardian's home before the plot gets back into gear; at Mr. Poe's house, a week, weeks? So probably the series as a whole takes less than a year, maybe six months at most?
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Post by Hermes on Jun 12, 2012 15:33:49 GMT -5
I agree with all that, but it's likely TAA takes rather longer. We are told at one point that they were a half-semester at Prufrock Prep: it's debated whether that means the usual length of time which that would imply, i.e., I guess, a couple of months, or whether Prufrock Prep has odd ideas about semesters, but in any case they are there long enough to lose count of the days before Genghis turns up.
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Post by Groge on Jun 12, 2012 17:20:54 GMT -5
Am I not correct in saying Violet is 14 in TBB then turns 15 in TGG but by the end of TE isn't she 16? This would mean that between TGG and TE it's about a year. That doesn't seem right but correct me if I'm wrong :S
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Post by Christmas Chief on Jun 12, 2012 17:31:35 GMT -5
Violet does turn 15 in TGG - and Klaus 13 in TVV - though neither necessarily imply a year, if both were close to that age already at the start of the series. On the other hand, Chapter Fourteen, if I recall correctly, has several years pass before the Baudelaires depart from the island. I remember working out that Violet was either seventeen or eighteen (estimating from Beatrice's development) by the very end of the series, but I don't have my copy with me to check. I imagine the dates of the epilogue would be excluded from the overall series in any case, since it accounts for a disproportionate percentage of the time.
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Post by Groge on Jun 12, 2012 17:56:40 GMT -5
thanks for that. Yeah I figured Violet could be nearly 15 by the start of the series but it was the 15 to 16 that confused me. I remember now that that is including chapter 14 which, as you say, is over a good long period of time.
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Post by Dante on Jun 13, 2012 2:33:04 GMT -5
There is a timeskip of exactly one year (or maybe a year minus a few hours) between The End and Chapter Fourteen, so Violet wouldn't be older than sixteen.
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Post by Christmas Chief on Jun 13, 2012 6:10:54 GMT -5
That's right, because the coastal shelf floods. So no, I'd not include that as part of the series's timeline. On the other hand, some of the days in the series are absurdly long. I suppose you could break up some of those, if the children are underwater and can't tell when daylight ends.
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Post by Hermes on Jun 13, 2012 7:58:54 GMT -5
I wouldn't use Beatrice's development as evidence of anything, as she seems to take after Sunny in being a precocious child.
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Post by Groge on Jun 13, 2012 8:34:58 GMT -5
Although it does state she is almost a year old in chapter 14 which means, like Dante says, means basically a year has passed since chapter 13.
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Post by Hermes on Jun 13, 2012 8:49:10 GMT -5
Oh, I agree. But I think Sherry Ann was suggesting more years than that had passed, on the basis of B's degree of maturity, and I was saying you couldn't rely on that.
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Post by Groge on Jun 13, 2012 8:55:32 GMT -5
ah right I see. Yeah you're 100% right about that.
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Post by soufflé on Jun 13, 2012 14:50:52 GMT -5
Next time I read the books I'll try to write down a timeline that's as accurate as I can get it, but right now I think that the series took place over a little less than a year. We know some books took place over longer time periods than others ( for instance, TRR can't have been much more than two weeks, while TAA was probably longer), and then of course there are the time gaps, such as those between TVV and THH and TSS and TGG.
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Post by Groge on Jun 13, 2012 15:38:26 GMT -5
yeah sounds good. We should make it a project!
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Post by Lost In Des Moines. on Aug 20, 2012 9:57:49 GMT -5
I'd be very interested in taking part in this for sure. Additionally, a map would not go a miss.
I'm sure the Reptile Room is less than a week long, it ends on the Friday morning they were meant to be travelling to Peru I believe?
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