Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Jan 9, 2021 6:38:03 GMT -5
I like ATWQ a lot, mainly because ATWQ emulates a detective story in the ASOUE universe.
I felt very clever about deducing in advance who Hangfire was and what the statuette really did. (I later found out that my feat was not that surprising). Still, it was great to read a story that was really planned from the beginning, although it is clear that new ideas were emerging and previous ideas were left behind. The essence was there since the first book and the Twist plots were planned to happen and did happen.
I speak little of ATWQ here, it's not because I didn't like it. I liked very much. I don't speak because there is simply not much to be investigated, and as R. suggested, I am a type of fan theorist. Rereading ATWQ gives me the feeling of watching a movie that I liked. This is different if ASOUE. Rereading ASOUE gives me the feeling that it is possible to discover an interesting detail that will change my point of view in some way, and although this is not always true, I still have that feeling. I don't think that was intentional. It just happened, and when Daniel Handler realized this, he created TBL.
But let's get back to ATWQ, before I change the subject ... ATWQ may not have been so successful for some reasons, and I would like to list them.
1 - Little advertising compared to ASOUE. Nothing compares to the publicity caused by the ASOUE film. Many people around the world went to read ASOUE because they saw the film and wanted to know how the story went on. Sure, it was already a hit before the movie was released, but the movie took ASOUE to a really high level. As the years went by and there were no continuations, curiosity certainly increased, and this has generated sales over the years of ASOUE books in several countries.
2 - It is not a story about the Baudelaires.
3 - The concept of art in the book is very different from ASOUE. I will have to admit that this was one of the things that drove me out of the books at first. I saw them to buy (digital copies) and the cover of the books were different from what I was used to. A different concept. I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I am a more prejudiced human being than I imagined and I am now aware of it thanks to a book I recently recommended. But the art of ATWQ drove me away. I just decided to read ATWQ because of the Netflix series. That's when I wanted to investigate the story behind ASOUE again. And then I started reading "? 1". Then I realized how cool it was. Then I realized that art was a perfect match. But I was repelled by art at first.
4 - Portuguese translation incoherent with ASOUE. This is very specific to my reality. ATWQ has a poor translation into Portuguese. So, if the connections with the 13 books are already few, an incoherent translation only makes things worse.
5 - Unavailability of physical books in Portuguese. If I arrive at a good bookstore today and order any of ASOUE's books, they will be there, all arranged in order of release with their beautiful colors on a shelf dedicated to children's literature (or in some cases foreign literature) . But the ATWQ books will not be there. I don't think anyone realized it would be a great idea to put ATWQ alongside ASOUE. I traveled a lot before the pandemic, and I always liked to visit bookstores and ask for ASOUE books. (I kept imagining Snicket doing the same and hiding the books on a shelf that was difficult to access ... I almost did the same a few times, but my common sense prevented me). But the fact is ATWQ was not there. It was never there. I know I may be putting the cart before the horse, that is, ATWQ was not there because it was not so successful. And because it was not successful it was not there. But this is like a shot of a snowball rolling down the hill being viewed backwards.
6 - Change in narrative focus. It may seem simple ... But I also had to overcome some prejudices during the first part of my reading of ATWQ. While ASOUE's narrative is made from a character's point of view about other characters, ATWQ is a classic first-person narrative. "It takes away the charm of ASOUE" I thought. It was then that I realized an important truth: "This is not ASOUE". But I had to mature a little bit to arrive at this obvious conclusion. I don't think everyone is interested in growing up. They prefer not to buy.
Does anyone think of any other reason?
I felt very clever about deducing in advance who Hangfire was and what the statuette really did. (I later found out that my feat was not that surprising). Still, it was great to read a story that was really planned from the beginning, although it is clear that new ideas were emerging and previous ideas were left behind. The essence was there since the first book and the Twist plots were planned to happen and did happen.
I speak little of ATWQ here, it's not because I didn't like it. I liked very much. I don't speak because there is simply not much to be investigated, and as R. suggested, I am a type of fan theorist. Rereading ATWQ gives me the feeling of watching a movie that I liked. This is different if ASOUE. Rereading ASOUE gives me the feeling that it is possible to discover an interesting detail that will change my point of view in some way, and although this is not always true, I still have that feeling. I don't think that was intentional. It just happened, and when Daniel Handler realized this, he created TBL.
But let's get back to ATWQ, before I change the subject ... ATWQ may not have been so successful for some reasons, and I would like to list them.
1 - Little advertising compared to ASOUE. Nothing compares to the publicity caused by the ASOUE film. Many people around the world went to read ASOUE because they saw the film and wanted to know how the story went on. Sure, it was already a hit before the movie was released, but the movie took ASOUE to a really high level. As the years went by and there were no continuations, curiosity certainly increased, and this has generated sales over the years of ASOUE books in several countries.
2 - It is not a story about the Baudelaires.
3 - The concept of art in the book is very different from ASOUE. I will have to admit that this was one of the things that drove me out of the books at first. I saw them to buy (digital copies) and the cover of the books were different from what I was used to. A different concept. I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I am a more prejudiced human being than I imagined and I am now aware of it thanks to a book I recently recommended. But the art of ATWQ drove me away. I just decided to read ATWQ because of the Netflix series. That's when I wanted to investigate the story behind ASOUE again. And then I started reading "? 1". Then I realized how cool it was. Then I realized that art was a perfect match. But I was repelled by art at first.
4 - Portuguese translation incoherent with ASOUE. This is very specific to my reality. ATWQ has a poor translation into Portuguese. So, if the connections with the 13 books are already few, an incoherent translation only makes things worse.
5 - Unavailability of physical books in Portuguese. If I arrive at a good bookstore today and order any of ASOUE's books, they will be there, all arranged in order of release with their beautiful colors on a shelf dedicated to children's literature (or in some cases foreign literature) . But the ATWQ books will not be there. I don't think anyone realized it would be a great idea to put ATWQ alongside ASOUE. I traveled a lot before the pandemic, and I always liked to visit bookstores and ask for ASOUE books. (I kept imagining Snicket doing the same and hiding the books on a shelf that was difficult to access ... I almost did the same a few times, but my common sense prevented me). But the fact is ATWQ was not there. It was never there. I know I may be putting the cart before the horse, that is, ATWQ was not there because it was not so successful. And because it was not successful it was not there. But this is like a shot of a snowball rolling down the hill being viewed backwards.
6 - Change in narrative focus. It may seem simple ... But I also had to overcome some prejudices during the first part of my reading of ATWQ. While ASOUE's narrative is made from a character's point of view about other characters, ATWQ is a classic first-person narrative. "It takes away the charm of ASOUE" I thought. It was then that I realized an important truth: "This is not ASOUE". But I had to mature a little bit to arrive at this obvious conclusion. I don't think everyone is interested in growing up. They prefer not to buy.
Does anyone think of any other reason?