Great 667 Re-Read 2019 - The Wide Window

[veryferociousdrama]

Start posting notes etc whenever you like.

[Foxy]

Personal Notes:

At this point, Mr. Poe stops delivering the children directly to their guardians. (1)

Count Olaf refers to himself as Count Omar. (3)

Wouldn’t the police have had to look for the body? (4)

They stay up the whole night waiting for Mr. Poe. These children do not get enough sleep. (5)

Chapter 6 picture – is Aunt Josephine left-handed? (6)

Count Olaf is always muttering sneaky stuff (7)

ugly socks too ugly for human eyes? I have got to see those. (8)

“-lots of flesh, in this comrade’s case-“ (9)

“What’s wrong? I mean, besides Hurricane Herman, and Aunt Josephine faking her own death, and Captain Sham coming after us and everything.” (9)

The large associate trips on the atlas – one of the few times littering is a good thing. Also, I love the sound effects. (9)

rusty spying glass! (10)

“Are you blind in both eyes?” (12)

I still think Aunt Josephine survived. (12)

“He has a steady business and doesn’t seem likely to throw himself out of a window.” Mr. Poe really does have the best lines. (12)



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THE WIDE WINDOW



CHARACTERS:

Violet Baudelaire (1)

Klaus Baudelaire (1)

Sunny Baudelaire (1)

Mr. Poe (1)

Josephine Anwhistle (Aunt Josephine) (1): “your second cousin’s sister-in-law

cab driver (1): smokes, runs over cats

Ike Anwhistle (mentioned) (2): death by Lachrymose leeches, could whistle Beethoven’s fourth quartet with crackers in his mouth

Count Olaf/Captain Julio Sham/a rabbi (3)

Ike’s mother (3): had only one eyebrow, and also only one ear

the king of Denmark (4): sells golf balls

your dentist (4): also your grandmother

Gina-Sue (4): Snicket’s friend

Larry (7): also in TUA, clown waiter at the Anxious Clown

someone at Mr. Poe’s bank (7): also has terrible allergies

your mail person (9)

a person so massive that it looked like an enormous blob was in the shack (9): he or she was drinking beer!

Dr. Lorenz (11): Snicket’s friend who knows about the principles of the convergence and refraction of light

two fishermen (13): find Aunt Josephine’s life jackets when the Baudelaires are at Prufrock Prep



VIOLET’S INVENTION:

time (6/7), signaling device (11)



KLAUS’S RESEARCH:

grammatical errors (8)



SUNNY’S BITING:

Key stealing (9), Captain Sham’s peg leg



THE LIBRARY:

Aunt Josephine’s grammar library



SNICKET SECRETS:

He had chilled cucumber soup in Egypt while visiting a snake charmer friend. (2)

He once had cards printed saying he was an admiral in the French navy. (4)

He was writing in the middle of the night in his room in his house. There is a graveyard by his house. (5)

He has seen corridors built of human skulls, a volcano erupt and send lava toward a village, and the woman he loved picked up by enormous eagles and flown to a nest. (8)



REFERENCES (real and made up):

Basic Rules of Grammar and Punctuation (8)

Handbook for Advanced Apostrophe Use (8)

The Correct Spelling of Every English Word That Ever, Ever Existed (8)

The Tides of Lake Lachrymose (8)

The Bottom of Lake Lachrymose (8)

Lachrymose Trout (8)

The History of Damocles Dock Region (8)

Ivan Lachrymose – Lake Explorer (8)

How Water Is Made (8) (Is this what Snicket used to torment us in TGG???)

A Lachrymose Atlas (8)



SNICKETISMS:

the one about two kinds of fear (2)

the one about keeping your pimple in perspective (3)

the one about transparent disguises (3)

the one about falling for something hook, line, and sinker (3)

the one about business cards (4)

the one about locking the barn after the horses are gone (4)

the one about the Venus flytrap (5)

the one about tears being a curious thing (5)

the one about graphologists (6)

the one about a chameleon (7)

the one about allergies (7)

the one about the USPS (9)

the one about stealing (9)

the one about the publishers being concerned about our safety (10)

the one about “speak of the devil” (11)

the one about frustration (11)

the one about Alexander the Great (12)

the one about morals of stories (13)



BAUDELAIRE FAMILY HISTORY:

Their mother could whistle Mozart’s fourteenth symphony with crackers in her mouth. (2)

Violet hid an automatic harmonica which made horrible noises, Klaus hid a book on the Franco-Prussian War which was too difficult for him, and Sunny hid a piece of stone too hard for her to bite, all under their

beds. (8)

Violet again remembers the promise she made to her parents to take care of her younger siblings. (11)

The Baudelaire’s father told Violet about his female cousin who liked to burn ants with the sun and her magnifying glass. (11)



SNICKET DICTIONARY:

Abhorrent: what Count Olaf used to do when he was about your age (11)

Assuaged: relieved (13)

Break out in hives: be covered in red, itchy rashes for a few hours (1)

Brobdingnagian: unbelievable husky (9)

Broke: ended (10)

Chameleonic: able to blend in with any situation (7)

Copious: lots of (8)

Dashed: shattered (3)

Futile: filled with futility (3)

Garish: filled with balloons, neon lights, and obnoxious waiters (7)

Great Gusto: in a way which produced a great deal of phlegm (6)

Impertinent: pointing out that I’m wrong, which annoys me (4)

It dawned on them: they figured something out (13)

Keeping things in perspective: making yourself feel better by comparing the things that are happening to you right now against other things that have happened at a different time, or to different people (3)

Maracas: rattling percussion instruments used in Latin American music (8)

Mast: the tall wooden post found in the middle of boats (10)

Minimal pain: no pain at all (9)

Mixed blessing: something half good and half bad (11)

Mollify: get them to stop tearing their hair out in worry (10)

No way, José: No way (10)

Personage: person (3)

Phantasmagorical: all the creepy, scary words you can think of put together (10)

Pilums: (she was thanking Violet for inventing the signaling device and Klaus for read the atlas and guiding them to Curdled Cave) (13)

Played his trump card: said something very convincing, which he has saved for the end of the argument (10)

Precariously: in a way which almost threw Aunt Josephine and the Baudelaire youngsters to their doom (11)

Resolutely: as if she believed it, even though she wasn’t so sure (9)

Utmost: most (7)

Wunderkind: someone who is able to quickly climb masts on boats being attacked by leeches (11)



SUNNY SPEECH:

Aget!: Please stop fighting! (5)

Aha!: Aha! (5)

Bero?: Are you crazy? (11)

Bluh: Please continue, Klaus (8)

Choin!: That seems a little drastic, even for Count Olaf. (4)

Chuni!: Let’s go to the kitchen and get it. (6)

Cind: (agreement) (10)

Coik!: Thinkabout about all this is making me dizzy! (8)

Curdled veek?: Curdled what? (8)

Delmo!: If you wish, I will bite the telephone to show you that it’s harmless. (2)

Doma: (agreement) (4)

Duna!: Of course you do! (7)

Entro!: And we don’t have enough time to walk about the lake, either. (9)

Fonti!: (11)

Frul!: (so long) (1)

Gans!: Good, because my hives are driving me crazy! (8)

Geni: We didn’t sail a stolen sailboat across Lake Lachrymose in the middle of Hurricane Herman just to stand nervously at the mouth of a cave. (10)

Gind!: Please don’t make us live with this evil man. (6)

Ging!: I would rather eat dirt. (3)

Gluh?: Why are you wasting valuable time studying grammar? (8)

Grun!: I object to your calling it baby talk! (2)

Haftu!: Maybe he wants to put the Lachrymose Leeches in our beds. (4)

Igal!: And I’ll guard Aunt Josephine. (12)

Irm!: (agreement) (2)

Karg tem!: I’m going to move the tille this way, in order to steer the boat according to Klaus’s recommendation. (10)

Leep!: Captain Sham threw Aunt Josephine out the window and then wrote this note to hide his crime. (5)

Legru: All we can do is hope. (12)

Minka!: Answer it, of course! (4)

Mofee!: I certainly will. (11)

Neihab!: I’m Sunny Baudelaire, and I will always be Sunny Baudelaire unless I decide for myself to legally change my name! (12)

Niku!: It wasn’t very nice to point out Klaus’s grammatical mistake when he was talking about something that upset him. (3)

Ober!: Although we still didn’t save Uncle Monty. (4)

Poch!: You mean Julio. (4)

Poda rish!: (Put me down!) (9)

Schu!: It’s been a long time since anything in our lives has felt fair. (2)

Seeka yit: (under the bed) (8)

Stim!: Because we were worried about you! (10)

Swoh!: Why in the world would you go swimming in a lake full of leeches? (2)

Tafca!: We have to get out of here right now! (8)

Tintet: Don’t cry. You tried your best. (11)

Toi!: I have never eaten a peppermint because I suspect that I, like my siblings, am allergic to them OR I wish I could bite a peppermint, because I like to bite things with my four sharp teeth, but I don’t want to risk an allergic reaction. (1)

Twee!: Both of you are right. We shouldn’t complain. (2)

Vass!: Let’s discuss this at another time. (9)

Vestu! (4)

Yadec!: Look at the crack in the boat that the leeches have made! (11)

Zax!: Well, at least there isn’t a sign of Count Olaf anywhere. (3)



GEOGRAPHY:

Damocles Dock (1)

Lake Lachrymose (1)

Look! It Fits! (clothing store) (1)

Anxious Clown (1)

the market (3)

Captain Sham’s Sailboats (3)

Hopalong Dancing School (4)

Curdled Cave (8)

Carp Cove (8)

Chartreuse Island (8)

Cloudy Cliffs (8)

Condiment Bay (8)

Lavendar Lighthouse (8)

Wicked Whirlpool (10)

Rancorous Rocks (10)



FOODOLOGY:

Peppermints (1)

Banana bread (2)

Chilled Cucumber Soup (2)

Cold Lime Stew (3)

Extra Fun Special Family Appetizer (7): a bunch of things fried up together and served with sauce. Yuck.

Coffee with non-dairy creamer (7): Mr. Poe’s beverage at the Anxious Clown

Cheer-Up Cheeseburgers (7)

Banana (11)

[Carrie E. Abelabudite]

Mar 11, 2019 9:55:17 GMT -5 Foxy said:

Count Olaf refers to himself as Count Omar. (3)

I noticed that, too! And he calls Violet 'Veronica'. I'm starting to think that he deliberately feeds The Daily Punctilio erroneous information.

General

This is definitely my favourite out of the early books in the series. Certainly out of the first four, and there are even some aspects I prefer about it to TAA - I find the setting more interesting, and I like that the Baudelaires are more active as characters. I also prefer the plot; I really like the 'adventure' aspect. Handler also hits his groove with the 'Snicket-y' writing style here, although there's a much bigger shift between TBB and TRR.

I prefer the Egmon cover to the HarperCollins one - I like that it's more of an 'action' shot. I also prefer the Egmont spine colour; it suits the story well, I think. I don't like the Disappearance! cover that much - something about it just feels 'off', although I can't put my finger on what exactly it is.

When I was about ten, I tried to draw the VFD insignia on the 'ex libris' page of the book, and it did not turn out very well, but it makes me smile to look at now.

I don't dislike the Beatrice dedication, but it doesn't really jump out at me, either.

I like how the frontispiece illustration is similar to the photo Olivia is described as having later.

Chapter One

Again, we see that Mr Poe just wants to get back to his job as soon as possible. He seems to care about it much more than he cares about the Baudelaires.

Due to the similarities between this cabdriver and the one in TPP, I'd say he is Lemony. This means he is playing dumb about knowing who Josephine is, but it makes sense he'd do this in front of the Baudelaires rather than try to explain to them how he knows her. Maybe he is genuinely surprised to hear she's afraid of the lake - that's probably very different to the Josephine he knew at the time of ATWQ.

'from behind the door appeared a pale woman with her white hair piled high on top of her head in a bun.' (p12) The 'white hair' implies she is quite old, which can't be true based on what we know about her from SYBIS. I guess her fear has made her age prematurely.

[Joe Villazoa]

Mar 11, 2019 10:11:23 GMT -5 Carrie E. Abelabudite said:

This is definitely my favourite out of the early books in the series. Certainly out of the first four, and there are even some aspects I prefer about it to TAA - I find the setting more interesting, and I like that the Baudelaires are more active as characters. I also prefer the plot; I really like the 'adventure' aspect. Handler also hits his groove with the 'Snicket-y' writing style here, although there's a much bigger shift between TBB and TRR

Thats interesting because I find The Wide Window to be my least favorite of the early books if not of the whole series (its a close competition with The Miserable Mill).

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

Mar 11, 2019 9:55:17 GMT -5 Foxy said:

Count Olaf refers to himself as Count Omar.

I just realized, thanks to Foxy, that the first person to refer to Count Olaf by name Omar was Count Olaf himself.
This is very interesting.

For example, in present-day England there is Count Spenser. As long as Count Spenser remains alive, his eldest son is called Viscount Althorp. When Count Spenser dies, his eldest son will be called Count Spenser. Was the name of the last Count Olaf, before his father's death, Omar? In that case, the last Count Olaf came to be called Olaf when his father died. The Olaf who planned to kill Beatrice and Lemony on their wedding day might have been the father of the late Count Olaf. I just thought about it, so I still have not checked whether it makes sense or not. But what do you think?

[Joe Villazoa]

And now it is time to analyse possibly my least favorite installment of the entire series "The Wide Window". Here is my analysis of chapters 1-3.

Chapter 1

I don't think I ever noticed this but why is there a sword hanging off the Damocles Dock sign in the illustration? Also Aunt Josephine's house looks quite majestic from this point of view, all in all this makes for a nice Helquist illustration.

Nice foreshadowing of the peppermints early on as they will obviously be put to play later. Handler seems to enjoy putting useful objects in the children's pockets for later important use so anything that they put in there can be expected to make a later appearance. Also this foreshadowing is nowhere near as obvious as some of the later items they place in their pockets where Handler constantly reminds us each chapter of their existence.

Does anyone imagine Poe has more than one handkerchief, or perhaps regularly washes them? Because with his constant cough it must be very unhygienic for him to only have one.

What are your thoughts on the cab driver in this one? Some have speculated that he could be a member of VFD or even Lemony himself though there is little evidence to support this aside from being a cab driver. I myself don't think he is any more than he appears to be, but if he were a member of VFD then his running over of a cat makes me think he would be in the fire starting side of the schism.

I do enjoy the very obvious Juxtaposition between Josephine and her house in this one, to think that a woman afraid of just about everything would live on a house that is dangling of the edge of a cliff.

Chapter 2

The wooden beams that hold up the house seen in the illustration appear to be a very unsafe manner of support for the house, in fact they don't look architecturally stable or able to keep that house up.

I wonder how bad the winter is at lake lachrymose, because surely being in a house that up with no radiators would make it quite cold for Josephine in the winter, plus she seems the sort to be scared of blankets too.

Josephine must be the most unintentionally awful guardian the Baudelaires could have gotten, she is afraid of almost everything and her primary focus in just about everything seems to be grammar, at least we know Olaf isnt afraid of the heat.

For all of Josephine's faults she does have the one attempt at being a good guardian with the presents she gives them, of course they are quite obviously entirely wrong but still nice try Josephine.

Could Lemony's snake charmer friend perhaps be Monty or maybe someone who worked closely with him?

There is a theory as im sure most of you know that Beatrice's maiden name may be Anwhistle, I for one do think this to be true and believe that the family characteristic line here in chapter 2 supports that notion.

The Wide Window name drop

Lemony labels Jospehine's fear of realtors as irrational, however there is a line in The Grim Grotto that implies they may be on the fire starting side of the schism or somehow working in tandem with them, this would of course make Josephine's fear of them a lot more rational.

Chapter 3

The illustration here serves as a sort of minor foreshadowing with the it's grammatical error being used to great importance later on.

The keeping things in perspective segment seems pretty similar to the optimist one in The Miserable Mill, one can easily imagine that Phil probably often did keep things in perspective when being his very optimistic self.

Violet could have probably taken the gears and mechanisms from all the other mechanical devices in the house seeing as Josephine is probably scared of them, she could also learn a thing or two from the inventor who made those wooden beams holding the house up as those are quite impressive in their own right.

Is there a actual event that led Josephine to becoming so fearful and cautious, ive heard some people say it was the death of her husband Ike but in chapter 2 she mentioned them both being too frightened to have children.

What Klaus should be doing is talking about the tattoo in the present tense for the impending arrival of Captain Julio Sham.

And here is Captain Sham himself. I must say that this might be one of Olaf's more ingenious disguises the peg leg does a fine job of hiding the tattoo and he seems to have his own business that comes along with his identity giving him more credibility than the usual disguise.

This seems to begin the transparent disguise part of the books where the kids now always recognize Olaf almost instantlly no matter the disguise, this keeps up nicely with common sense since they are now aware of Olaf's tendency for disguises since his previous venture as Stephano.

First Count Omar mention.

Mar 11, 2019 15:08:04 GMT -5 Optimism is my Phil-osophy said:

I just realized, thanks to Foxy, that the first person to refer to Count Olaf by name Omar was Count Olaf himself.
This is very interesting.

For example, in present-day England there is Count Spenser. As long as Count Spenser remains alive, his eldest son is called Viscount Althorp. When Count Spenser dies, his eldest son will be called Count Spenser. Was the name of the last Count Olaf, before his father's death, Omar? In that case, the last Count Olaf came to be called Olaf when his father died. The Olaf who planned to kill Beatrice and Lemony on their wedding day might have been the father of the late Count Olaf. I just thought about it, so I still have not checked whether it makes sense or not. But what do you think?

Well that could work if you are going in with the idea that Olaf is a last name rather than a first. In the case of the Count Spencer for example Spencer is the counts last name (family name) so he is addressed as Count Spencer. For this to match then you would have to think that Olaf is the Count's last name, I don't quite see how Count Omar comes to play in to this since the Olaf we know could also therefore be called Omar Olaf. Still I personally lean more towards the idea of Olaf being his first name rather than last and so don't quite agree with this theory, but hey it could be right.

[veryferociousdrama]

Mar 11, 2019 15:30:42 GMT -5 Joe Villazoa said:

Mar 11, 2019 15:08:04 GMT -5 Optimism is my Phil-osophy said:

I just realized, thanks to Foxy, that the first person to refer to Count Olaf by name Omar was Count Olaf himself.
This is very interesting.

For example, in present-day England there is Count Spenser. As long as Count Spenser remains alive, his eldest son is called Viscount Althorp. When Count Spenser dies, his eldest son will be called Count Spenser. Was the name of the last Count Olaf, before his father's death, Omar? In that case, the last Count Olaf came to be called Olaf when his father died. The Olaf who planned to kill Beatrice and Lemony on their wedding day might have been the father of the late Count Olaf. I just thought about it, so I still have not checked whether it makes sense or not. But what do you think?

Well that could work if you are going in with the idea that Olaf is a last name rather than a first. In the case of the Count Spencer for example Spencer is the counts last name (family name) so he is addressed as Count Spencer. For this to match then you would have to think that Olaf is the Count's last name, I don't quite see how Count Omar comes to play in to this since the Olaf we know could also therefore be called Omar Olaf. Still I personally lean more towards the idea of Olaf being his first name rather than last and so don't quite agree with this theory, but hey it could be right.

Maybe Omar is Olaf's surname?

[Joe Villazoa]

Mar 11, 2019 15:56:02 GMT -5 veryferociousdrama said:

Maybe Omar is Olaf's surname?

Could be and in fact that would be a fun little detail which would mean the Daily Punctilio wasn't entirely wrong in its reports. But that would however not really check out with jeanlucio's theory since then the way the count title would work would be Count then first name, so for Olaf's father to have also been a Count Olaf the Olaf we know would have to be Olaf jr, which now that I come to think of it wouldn't be impossible (I hope im not misunderstanding a humorous question again).

[Dante]

Mar 11, 2019 15:22:22 GMT -5 Joe Villazoa said:

I don't think I ever noticed this but why is there a sword hanging off the Damocles Dock sign in the illustration?

It's a Sword of Damocles. Decorative - possibly.

The wooden beams that hold up the house seen in the illustration appear to be a very unsafe manner of support for the house, in fact they don't look architecturally stable or able to keep that house up.

According to page 12, the struts are metal.

Is there a actual event that led Josephine to becoming so fearful and cautious, ive heard some people say it was the death of her husband Ike but in chapter 2 she mentioned them both being too frightened to have children.

The general feeling seems to be that either she grew more afraid over the course of her life - or that her statements to the effect of having always been so fearful are just a lie.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

Mar 11, 2019 15:22:22 GMT -5 Joe Villazoa said:

Well that could work if you are going in with the idea that Olaf is a last name rather than a first. In the case of the Count Spencer for example Spencer is the counts last name (family name) so he is addressed as Count Spencer. For this to match then you would have to think that Olaf is the Count's last name, I don't quite see how Count Omar comes to play in to this since the Olaf we know could also therefore be called Omar Olaf. Still I personally lean more towards the idea of Olaf being his first name rather than last and so don't quite agree with this theory, but hey it could be right.

In England, most people belonging to the nobility do not use surnames. The royal family does not use surnames.
See the link:

www.thisisinsider.com/british-royal-family-last-name-2017-1

Here are some examples of the British royal family:

Prince George of Cambridge (the Queen's great-grandson)
Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (the Queen's great-granddaughter)
Prince Louis of Cambridge (the Queen's great-grandson)
Princess Beatrice of York (the Queen's granddaughter) She is my favorite, by her beautiful name.

Apparently the word "Earl" replaced the word "Count". But the wife of an "Earl" is still called a countess.
This article explains in more detail about British titles:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtesy_titles_in_the_United_Kingdom

Besides, I'm thinking of the Duchess of Winippeg. Her name starts with the letter R, and she had a ring with the letter R engraved on it. But this ring belonged to her mother, and before the same ring belonged to her grandmother and her great-grandmother. I think it unlikely that all of them have the coicicides of the name initiated by R. I think that the first name of the Duchess of Winippeg, as well as the first name of Count Olaf, is inherited from the parents. Some Earls change their names when their father dies. They take the name of their father. In the case, I think it is possible that Olaf's name was Omar before his father's death. When Omar's father died, he was called Olaf. It is interesting that the name of Olaf is not quoted anywhere in TBL. Perhaps because at that time Count Olaf was called Omar.

[Dante]

My understanding is that it's not so much that they change their name, as that they inherit a title which comes with its own name, or otherwise, a territorial designation. I've actually read at least one Georgian period novel in which a character, upon inheriting a particular title, is exclusively referred to by that title for the rest of the story.

There has been much discussion over the years as to whether Olaf is Olaf's first name or surname. My impression is that a lot of the background material referring to his childhood and those who have known him since childhood appears to strongly indicate that it is a forename. I would suggest that it's not necessarily the case that Daniel Handler felt the need to abide by the intricacies of inherited titles in detail; nor that the Averse necessarily obeys real-world rules regarding the operation of such titles.

[Foxy]

Mar 11, 2019 10:11:23 GMT -5 Carrie E. Abelabudite said:

Mar 11, 2019 9:55:17 GMT -5 Foxy said:

Count Olaf refers to himself as Count Omar. (3)

I noticed that, too! And he calls Violet 'Veronica'. I'm starting to think that he deliberately feeds The Daily Punctilio erroneous information.

It would seem Esme had an in with Geraldine Julienne, so Olaf could have  told Esme what to tell The Daily Punctilio.

I like how the frontispiece illustration is similar to the photo Olivia is described as having later.

And TSS shows Quigley having the picture as well.

Due to the similarities between this cabdriver and the one in TPP, I'd say he is Lemony. This means he is playing dumb about knowing who Josephine is, but it makes sense he'd do this in front of the Baudelaires rather than try to explain to them how he knows her. Maybe he is genuinely surprised to hear she's afraid of the lake - that's probably very different to the Josephine he knew at the time of ATWQ.

I just don't think it's him.  He was too outgoing, and I can't see Snicket being so flippant about running over a cat.

'from behind the door appeared a pale woman with her white hair piled high on top of her head in a bun.' (p12) The 'white hair' implies she is quite old, which can't be true based on what we know about her from SYBIS. I guess her fear has made her age prematurely.

One of my relatives went white in her twenties.  Unusual? Yes.  But possible.

[Carrie E. Abelabudite]

Mar 11, 2019 15:22:22 GMT -5 Joe Villazoa said:

What are your thoughts on the cab driver in this one? Some have speculated that he could be a member of VFD or even Lemony himself though there is little evidence to support this aside from being a cab driver. 

The main reason I'd say the driver is Lemony is the similarity in description between him here and the cabdriver in TPP. Of course, the driver in TPP doesn't have to be Lemony, either, but the level of detail in which he is described there makes me think he is.

Lemony labels Jospehine's fear of realtors as irrational, however there is a line in The Grim Grotto that implies they may be on the fire starting side of the schism or somehow working in tandem with them, this would of course make Josephine's fear of them a lot more rational.

The irrational versus rational fears passage is very funny, but I think Lemony's being a bit harsh on Josephine here for the reasons you said. Maybe he treats Josephine's fears like this because she has behaved similarly to him, hiding herself away from the world, and he is ashamed of himself as well as of her.

Mar 12, 2019 9:52:55 GMT -5 Foxy said:

It would seem Esme had an in with Geraldine Julienne, so Olaf could have  told Esme what to tell The Daily Punctilio.

That would make sense.

I just don't think it's him. He was too outgoing, and I can't see Snicket being so flippant about running over a cat.

I see what you mean; I guess I view the differences between this character and Lemony as we know him as him putting on an act so the Baudelaires don't guess who he is. I definitely don't think Handler originally thought of the taxi driver as being Lemony, and if he'd had a better idea of where the series was going to go, he might have written the scene differently, but I like how there is still some ambiguity.

Chapter Two

I love the drawing of the house.

Josephine is pretty pedantic, correcting a baby.

'"But I grew up on [Lake Lachrymose's] shores."' (p28) This is hard to square in with Josephine's VFD background, especially since she probably met Lemony at VFD training school, which, based on other descriptions, is in the city. Maybe she wasn't recruited until she was a bit older? Or maybe her apprenticeship took place in Lake Lachrymose, and that's enough for her to consider herself to have grown up there.

It's possible one reason Josephine stays at the house is as a sort of punishment for herself because she blames herself for what happened to Ike or is angry at her own fear.

Could there really be so many books written entirely about grammar?

'the Baudelaire orphans have a fear of Count Olaf,' (p34) This sounds like Lemony isn't writing that long after the events. I think it's the first indication of this kind in the series so far.

Chapter Three

I like Lemony's comment about keeping things in perspective.

'So it was with the Baudelaires orphans in the days that followed.' (p38) How many days are the Baudelaires at Josephine's before Olaf shows up? This description makes it sound like it can't be longer than a week.

'And Sunny would take time out from her schedule' (p39) - ha!

one day the children told [Josephine] what the cabdriver had said about Hurricane Herman approaching,' (p40) The taxi driver said that the hurricane would arrive in 'a week or so' (p9), so that supports the idea that it's been a week since the Baudelaires arrived in Lake Lachrymose.

'"Count Olaf certainly does sound evil."' (p41) As with Monty, the most natural reading of this is that Josephine didn't know Olaf, but it doesn't rule out the idea that she did.

I don't think saying "Sometimes I still have nightmares about the terrible tattoo on his ankle. The tattoo always scared me," is the best way of phrasing that thought. It's correct, sure, but it's definitely not idiomatic. From the context, anyone can tell Klaus is talking about the tattoo.

Assuming the Baudelaires stayed at the Poe's for a couple of weeks between the end of TRR and the beginning of TWW, Olaf would have had time to find out from Olivia where the children would be living, so there isn't any timeline problem here as there often is with Olaf's schemes.

'When she saw Count Olaf she stopped speaking, and for a second Violet thought that Aunt Josephine had recognized him, too.' (p44) This idea is more interesting than Josephine not seeing through the disguise. I'll admit the description of her smiling at him makes it seem less likely, but maybe she's putting on an act because she thinks he'll leave her alone, or at least be less of a threat to her, if she pretends not to recognise him.

I don't think "Klaus and I are happy to introduce you," is actually incorrect. Again.

'"[Mr Poe] did also say that you children tended to see [Olaf] everywhere."' (p47-8) He's only disguised himself once so far!

Olaf making up the story about the leeches chewing his leg off shows that he does know some things about Josephine, otherwise he probably wouldn't try to manipulate her using this specifically.

'it's' vs 'its' is more of a punctuation issue rather than grammar, but at least Josephine has a legitimate reason to correct Olaf here. If she does recognise him, it's hard to see why she would do this, but maybe she just can't resist the urge to correct him, or else she's trying to stand up to him and this is the only way she feels like she can do it. Also, to this day, when I get confused between whether I should write 'it's' or 'its', I think of this book.

'All the way up the hill, Aunt Josephine talked about Captain Sham and what a nice man he was' (p51-2) Okay, this makes my theory less likely, but she could just be nervous and trying to distract herself, possibly even trying to convince herself that Olaf really is who he says he is.

[Dante]

Mar 12, 2019 16:59:57 GMT -5 Carrie E. Abelabudite said:

Could there really be so many books written entirely about grammar?

Easily, I suspect.

'the Baudelaire orphans have a fear of Count Olaf,' (p34) This sounds like Lemony isn't writing that long after the events. I think it's the first indication of this kind in the series so far.

I think he's just switched to present tense for this instance as past tense might imply that in the context of that moment in the story they no longer possessed such a fear.

'"[Mr Poe] did also say that you children tended to see [Olaf] everywhere."' (p47-8) He's only disguised himself once so far!

Good point; this line feels like it belongs a little later in the series, or at the very least after more than one previous instance of him disguising himself. It implies a sort of status quo. (Or, if you prefer, a "status woe".)

[veryferociousdrama]

Notes on Chapters One to Three.

How much time has passed between here and TRR? It seems to be described as a long time, probably more than between TRR and TBB. Maybe about a month? It presumably would have taken Poe a while to go through the Baudelaire family tree, tracing Aunt Josephine and tracking her?

Aah, another appearance of an elusive taxi driver. If this is Lemony, this links in with the Snicket Sleuth's theory of him stalking the Baudelaires while the events are occuring, stationing himself where ever they're going. They could also possibly be Pip or Squeak from ATWQ?

So Aunt Josephine lost Ike recently? The rest of the book indicates it was a long time ago. I'd always placed it after the poison dart incident, so somewhere in the fifteen years between that and this.

Lake Lachrymose certainly has high Volunteer activity, but low none-Volunteer activity? When Ike and Gregor were alive, I can imagine it being high with VFD scientific activity, but after the Schism between the two, they may have all moved away, leaving Josephine, and Larry.

Aunt Josephine indicates she and Ike were scared together, but this is very different in the adaptations. But maybe she and Ike were too scared to have children, in case they were inducted into VFD while they were young? This could mean another reason why Josephine wants to take in the Baudelaires, to protect them from VFD.

So according to Josephine, Ike and Beatrice are genetically related. But if she's the sister-in-law to their second cousin, Ike and Beatrice would certainly not be. This could be Poe's fault, maybe when he was first searching the family tree, and find Gregor or H first, Gregor is obviously dead, and H is dead/uncontactable/unwilling to take in the Baudelaires, and Poe just thought of her as their sister-in-law?

The room Aunt Josephine made up for them actually sounds alright. If I'm honest, I think the Baudelaires were a bit spoiled, obviously not as much as adult characters say, but Josephine sounds nice, she just has some... issues.

Just a note, if the Netflix series is true about its hints about Olaf and Josephine dating, she recognized him but was too frightened to say anything? Goes with her personality.