--Chapter Nine, Psrt Two--
“I already purchased that ridiculous outfit for you, and that boat for you to prowl the swimming pool.” - This seems difficult to tie in with the end, but more on that when we get there
So Dewey is double-bluffing here, I assume, otherwise he’s just giving away the whole plan.
“Wicked people never have time for reading… It’s one of the reasons for their wickedness.”
“I knew you could be a noble person again, Esmé!” Lets not go over the top Jerome.
“Lets Not go overboard” - Okay, I didn’t know that lien followed that
Injustice - oh very good. One of the best jokes in the series.
“You should do whats right in the world, not just what’s fashionable” - Of course, Esme believes in the exact opposite of this, and I don’t think just telling her that would help
When I was your age, I spent years as a horse thief before realizing—” A horse thief? And this seems a very un-Strauss thing to do, but then most of the character sin UE seem to have very obscure and uncharacteristic backgrounds. And what did she realise? I suppose the logical reading would be she realised she should do what is tright in the wordl,b ut given the way the sentence is cut off in the way most sentences are in this series I believe she may have realised something else that might be important somehow. Ah well.
'What else can I do?' - Oh wow. I’d quite truly forgotten this moment. I feel very sorry for olaf here. He seems to have had one hell of a life, although that doesn’t excuse his villous acts or make them any less villainous. I just feel very sorry for him. I tend to find myself feeling sorry for villains in things, and also people in real lfie who I dislike.
However….I feel at this point olaf would not have fired the harpoon had it not been for the Baudelaires, or, in particular sunny. Mentioning Le Forza Del Destino reminds Olaf of why he is doing the things he is doing. I think before that oalf, may have not fired the harpoon. I suppsoe it strengthens his resolve and twisted belief that he is doing the to be fair
“…Mr. Poe demanded, for it was not his destiny to be slain by a harpoon, at least not on this particular evening.” - So does that mean Mr Poe will be slain by a harpoon on another particular evening?
Dewey says kit, and points to the sky, but id otn think that means necessarily that that is her location, more than kit is the person he loves, and he is reaching more generally for her then for her location.
The Fact Dewey goes to the pond I think is supposed to be a clue to the Baudelaires about the sugar bowls location, but that’s just my opinion.
--Chapter Ten--
My favourite chapter on the book
And this is the best chapter illustration I think ever
“Come back to bed, Bruce” - Not only is it weird how Bruce would be there but im more interested in who is with him..
“In a moment, they’ll all believe we’re murderers.” “Maybe we are…” Erm…..no you aren’t.
The Description of the taxi driver matches that of the taxi driver in TWW, so we can safely assume they are one and the same.
Willa Cather is the great American novelist, according to my notes.
I find Mr Poe to be very unfair to the Baudelaires in this chapter. Of course, he was never the fairest of people, but this is the only time I became annoyed with mr poe.
This Isn’t our destiny - I think, by its very nature, it was part of the Baudelaires destiny. If you say the Baudelaires destiny was to go the island in book 13, then this crucial stage fo their journey is, in effect, their destiny.
“By then the man was already back inside the taxi and was driving slowly away from the Hotel Denouement, and just as the children had no way of knowing if he was a good person or not, they had no way of knowing if they were sad or relieved to see him go,” - This entire sequence is just amazing. Although im unsure of the logistics of the butleries being able to see the taxi driving away when they are already inside the hotel.
“and even after months of research, and many sleepless nights, and many dreary afternoons spent in front of an enormous pond, throwing stones in the hopes that someone would notice the ripples I was making,” - Which means lemony has returned to the hotel (Embedded edit : Which he must have done to research the series!), which I find intruiging. I would feel after such a big fire the are would have been….abandoned? I don’t know. Im unsure who would be around to notice the ripples.
Unless he means he was hoping for somebody in particular to see him….
Lets say that at this point in the story he is unaware of Kits death, which is entirely possible. I think it would be logical to assume she would one day visit the final resting place of the father of her child, so maybe he hoped that in among the ripples he would be able to see her?
“I have no way of knowing if the Baudelaires should have been sad or relieved to see him go either.” - Lemony is not, of course a pyscic, but that doesn’t mean he sometimes seems to have abnormal powers about knowing what happened in events when he was not there. But the point still stands that he doesn’t know. Personally I think each Baudelaires would have a different reaction. I think violet would be sad, Klaus relieved, and sunny both.
“I do know who the man was” - Because it was you?
“and I do know where he went afterward, and I do know the name of the woman who was hiding in the trunk” - I would be interested to know where he went afterward, but as my fic shoes my own personal theory is Stain’d by the Sea. As for the woman, we can assume the swimming woman…
“and the type of musical instrument that was laid carefully in the back seat” - An Accordion, of course.
“and the ingredients of the sandwich tucked into the glove compartment” - the coded sandwich from TSS
“even the small item that sat on the passenger seat, still damp from its hiding place,” - The sugar Bowl
“or if it was better that he drove away from the three siblings, looking back at them through the rear-view mirror and clutching a monogrammed napkin in his trembling hand.” - Back in the days before I was clever enough to work out what the damp object, coded sandwich, and musical instrument were, I knew the taxi driver was lemony simply from this line.
“I do know that if they had gotten into his taxi, their troubles at the Hotel Denouement would not have been their penultimate peril, and they would have had quite a few more woeful events in their lives that would likely take thirteen more books to describe” - I think the story would be much more interesting if the Baudelaires had gone with the taci driver. Another thirteen books would have been most welcome!
I love the entire taxi driver sequence, but I also wish mr Poe hadn’t interrupted it
The Baudelaires had a choice. They could have stayed with the story, ro they could have run away. Personally, I would have gone with the taxi driver, because I wouldn’t be brave enough to stay and face the consequences of Dewey’s death. But the Baudelaires enver make a decision, they have the decision made for them by Mr Poe.
'Where there is no way of knowing, you can only imagine'.
“or if it would have been better for you to step into that taxicab you saw not so long ago and embark on your own series of events, rather than continuing with the life you have for yourself.” - This sentence, of course, ties A Series of Unfortunate events into the real world.
'They flunked all sorts of tests'. - erm…did they?
--Chapter Eleven--
My notes say - “Scalia” meaning “It doesn’t seem like the literal interpretation makes any sense” is a reference to one of the judges of America’s Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia, who favours strict constructionism in his interpretation of the Constitution.
“Our system of justice isn’t perfect, but it’s the only one we have”
The authorities are outside - I’m surprised the sinister duo didn’t invite the authorities inside. Might have helped to get rid of a few more enemies, perhaps?
Olaf gives his name as simply Count Olaf, which makes me wonder…what is his surname?
I find it strange how Klaus calls himself a concierge. Does he intended on remaining a concierge after te events of the trial??
Mrs Bass isn’t being very wise in submitting blueprints of banks
“I submit this book about how wonderful I am!” - Please please please please please be Carmelita’s book from TUA.
Most of the references here are self explanatory, but I would be interested if there are any that people do not recognise. The only thing I cant place is the Talmudic Commentaries.
“I’m the only important thing.” - Of course, this isnt strictly true, i think at one time Olaf did care for Esme, but that’s debatable. But we know he does care about kit. He just doesn’t want to admit it.
“I’m sure there’s more in that enormous pile of evidence that proves me innocent than there is that proves me guilty.” - From that pile of evidence, that is most likely true.
The Sinister Duo being members of the high court is just a fantastic twist.
--Chapter Twelve--
“The woman with hair but no beard pointed a finger at the three children that looked as crooked as she was. The finger had been broken long ago, in a dispute over a game of backgammon, which is another story that would take at least thirteen books to describe, but in the Baudelaires’ story the finger only made this brief appearance as it pointed at the children with alarm.” - Is this incident the same incident when lemony was hiding under a backgammon table? I see no reason why it cant be
I think the sequence where count olaf drags JS to elevator doors and the Baudelaires try to escape from the crowd is very…awkward. I feel like it should be more tense than it is, but its isn’t. I think the sister duo have left their aura of menace at home for this book.
The Baudelaires and Olaf threats to reveal each others location si extremely clever and awesome. Although I think olaf might have been tempted to risk revealing his location myself. I mean, he does has a hostage he could use.
“You’ll fail.” “Your mother told me the same thing… Ha! But one day, when I was seven years old—” What? Olaf would fail at what? I have no idea what this could be
“…but you can find any item in a library if you have one thing… A hostage.” Oh wow. That’s an awesome quote. If I don’t use that at some point at work then my life is wasted.
“There’s enough evidence in here to put you in jial for the rest of your lfie” - so why not give this book to the authorities, and have them arrest olaf?
“Of course they were interested, you fool… They passed along all that information to me, so I could catch up with the orphans!” - So what was the point of Madame Lulu? Did olaf just visit her for other reasons?
“No one’s interested in their story… Even if you wrote down every last detail, no one would read such a dreadful thing.” - This slightly mirrors what lemony says. Maybe they are the same person
“Tell me what the weapon is that left you an orphan, and I’ll type it in for you.” - Yet another reference to an adult being called an orphan
Count Olaf gave Klaus a slow smile that made the Baudelaires shudder. “Certainly I’ll tell you,” he said. “It was poison darts.”” - Olaf takes such gleeful pleasure in destroying the Baudelaires faith in their parents.
--Chapter Thirteen--
Why aren’t the flames mirrored along with the text
The faith Violet and Klaus show in sunny by still helping start the fire despite their objections is quite remarkable. I dont have any siblings myself but I don’t know fi I would still trust them over something like this…
“…what looked like a carefully drawn diagram, with arrows and dotted lines and a paragraph of notation underneath. The Baudelaires leaned forward to see if they could read what the injustice expert had written, and caught only the word “passageway”…” - I assume the passageway between 667 and the Baudelaire mansion, which would fit with Jerome’s research
“and wondering if this one would he there last! - and, of course it is, but it is their worst
Surely its foolish for olaf to try and poison people now - isn’t the fire enough?
Hotel Preludio - It seems to be similar to the Hotel Denoument in layout and design. Is it also run by the denouments? I think that could be possible, but it would need more w=thinking about to make sense. I suppouse a prequel and preludio would be interesting…
Elanora - poe, a tiresome woman, apparently. Like her brother, it seems!
“Call the fire department!” “Which one?” - A sly reference to OFD.
“You orpahsn are as dishonest as my ex-boyfriend” - this sounds like emse thinks olaf isn’t there. Does she not recognise his voice? Also, olaf is very cold here, trapping them like this
“Leave us alone! …We can find our own way!” - Yeah, good luck with that.
“I can’t leave… I’m still in charge of the Baudelaires’ affairs, and their parents fort—” - Okay, that’s a ridiculous reason for not leaving. Also…does that mean the fortune is here? Is that what Mrs. Bass stole?
Error - Mrs Bass is said to be on the third storey.. The one the Baudelaires just left.
Charles and Sir, “holding hands so as not to lose one another.” - Awwww
Hugo, Colette and Kevin are holding the bird paper - In the original re-read, dante says this is involved with the ‘eating crow’ plan. Ew.
One last mention of bruce!
I doubt we should take any of these possible fates seriously, but it is a fascinating sequence to read. It allows the reader, in a way, to become a part of the story. Any of those things could really be these people, and that was something I found almost frightening when I was a child. But its good. Its clever. By rooting the series in the real world It can give us a chance to be…volunteers, I suppose. But anyway. I’m, also very interested in the characters who aren’t mentioned in this sequence - Mr Poe, Hal, Esme, and Carmelita. Justice Strauss is also not mentioned but it would’t fit in the way the sequence. Why were those four not mentioned?
The whole ‘smoke and mirrors’ motif builds quite nicely here
The roof is supposedly tilted - how does that work structurally/ OR IS JUST TITLED BECAUSE of the fire?
Oh, ti interesting that the last scene of this book is just the principal characters from the first book.
“The last safe place….is safe no more”
Justice Strauss wont let the Baudelaires go which is….I think foolish. If they stay where they are, they will surely die. At least let them go even if it is with a villan…
Sunny “bit the hand of justice”
“Mommy!” - I really dislike this comment. It seems overly childish
“We’re all in the same boat.” - This is, of course used much more in the next book.
The end piece - It sonly just occurred to me…is the building on the left actually the hotel? I never ealised that it could be, but I counted and, yep, 10 floors.
And so now The Beatrice Letters. I will start this a week Monday to give badnit some time to finish his notes.