Revolting Reading: TBB

[S.]

Hello, it's Semblance.

Feel free to start reading TBB.

It's not needed but please post the chapter number for what you're talking about.

Rest Pleasantly.

[countess violet]

mr poe is soooo stupid?

[Tiran O'Saurus]

Chapter One notes:

This particular morning it was gray and cloudy...

So they came to the beach in the morning. This cuts down on the time that events can transpire at the Baudelaire mansion.

One thing Violet, Klaus, and Sunny really liked about their parents was that they didn't send their children away when they had company over, but allowed them to join the adults at the dinner table and participate in the conversation as long as they helped clear the table.

Obviously they can't have done VFD business during these dinner parties.

"The fire department arrived, of course," Mr. Poe said...

Are we doing the Rare Edition notes now or in TSS? Because this line is much more important for those notes than this book proper.

"I was sent to retrieve you here...

Who sent him?

[Emma "Emmz" Squalor]

Chapter 1:
I love how the intro ties in the title.
I also love how the siblings are introduced at the beginning of each book in case someone reads the books out of order.
I remember the first time I read this book and I thought the figure in the fog was the same as the one on the cover.It’s
actually kind of funny that it turns out to be Mr Poe.
Who sent Mr Poe to the beach?
I really like how the last sentence of the chapter foreshadows how their lives are about to change.

[S.]

Dec 31, 2022 17:05:53 GMT -5 Tiran O'Saurus said:

Are we doing the Rare Edition notes now or in TSS?

Feel free to discuss it whenever, order of release doesn't matter too much, and there isn't enough 'news content to justify doing a completely new thread on the Rare edition.

[Mr. Sharpe]

I’m sorry I may have missed it, but is there an official schedule for this reread?

[S.]

That can be found here:

Sept 22, 2022 7:09:36 GMT -5 S. said:

I've been meaning to set up a possible outline, next time I'm on the computer, I'll do it.

Edit:

667's Revolting Reading

---

September 30th-October 6th: ?1
October 7th-October 13th: ?2
October 14th-October 20th: FU:13SI
October 21st-October 27th: ?3
October 28th-November 3rd: ?4
November 4th-November 10th: TBB
November 11th-November 16th: TRR
November 17th-November 23rd: TWW
November 24th-November 30th: TMM
December 1st-December 6th: TAA
December 7th-December 13th: TEE

---

(Let's stop here, with holidays and such)

---

January 1st-January 6th: TVV
January 7th-January 13th: THH
January 14th-January 20th: TCC
January 21-January 27th: TSS
January 28th-February 3rd: TGG
February 4th-February 10th: TPP
February 11th-February 16th: TE
February 17th-February 23rd: TUA
February 24-February 28th: TBL

What does everyone think? I decided to start with ATWQ, because I think it'd change things up and I honestly like ATWQ more. Any suggestions?
As with previous re-reads, you aren't restricted to just each week per book, you can go back and post your thoughts. This is just to give enough time to read the books for the adults who I know can't always dedicate time to read. FU:13SI is a supplementary book, but isn't added with the other two, because it's placement in the story isn't all over the place. 

But it serves no purpose now.

[Emma "Emmz" Squalor]

Just do it on your own time. Here's a rough schedule for me:
TBB:January 1-January 6
TRR:January 7-January 12
TWW:January 13-January 20
TMM:January 21-January 30
TAA:January 31-February 5
TEE:February 6-February 14
TVV:February 15-February 24
THH:February 25-March 7
TCC:March 8-March 16
TSS:March 17-March 24
TGG:March 25-March 31
TPP:April 1-April 8
TE:April 9-April 15
TUA:April 16-April 24
TBL:April 25-April 30

[Tiran O'Saurus]

Chapter two:
Everyone talks about how Polly Poe never shows that up again, but at least Mr. Poe mentions her in TRR and TEE. Edgar and Albert get nothing.

"He's an actor by trade, and often travels around the world with various theater companies."

"Various" here is interesting. Olaf always seemed like he just had his troupe.

Before too long, Mr. Poe drove his car down a narrow alley lined with houses made of pale brick...

I have to wonder, in what sort of neighborhood do you find poverty-struck actors living next to extremely powerful judges?

"Yes, I heard about the accident," the woman said...

As far as the general public cares, the mansion fire was an accident.

"It is my title," she explained, "not my first name. I serve as a judge on the High Court."

Does Klaus really not know who his equivalent of Supreme Court justices are? On the other hand, I suppose the "justice is blind" law would stop anyone knowing.

"Hello hello hello," Count Olaf said in a wheezy whisper. (There was a king description of what he looks like here.) "Hello, my children...

From the Baudelaire's perspective, Olaf said "Hello hello hello hello, my children."

[Mr. Sharpe]

Ch. 3:

"...most of the orphans' friends had fallen by the wayside..."

I'm pretty sure this has been discussed at length, but it is still bewildering to me that none of the Baudelaire parents' noble friends were successful in reaching the children. In any case, why didn't the kids try to get ahold of them? Surely they had a phone number?


Ch. 4:

"At a pasta store, they selected interestingly shaped noodles..."

This makes me think of Snicket's comment in PFB where he says that he likes shops that sell only one thing.

"Justice Strauss smiled at the three children, but her eyes were sad."

Why were her eyes sad? Did she suspect something or was she sad she couldn't, in fact, adopt them herself?

"...too scared to even try to bite the hand that held her."

Clever twist on the famous idiom.


Ch. 9: 

"...he was very smart after all. He wasn't merely an unsavory drunken brute, but an unsavory, clever drunken brute."

This is something that I think was missed in the Netflix adaptation. He is often portrayed as an bear, rather than the terrifying villain that this, and the subsequent books, really emphasize.

...his voice faking- a word which here means 'feigning'- kindness."

I love this because most young readers are probably more familiar with the word "faking" so the decision to swap the obvious word with the potentially lesser known one was a fun choice.

[Tiran O'Saurus]

Chapter 3:
Snicket claiming that you may eat nothing but Gorgonzola cheese when you grow up is hilarious.

the only decoration on the peeling walls was a large and ugly painting of an eye, matching the one on Count Olaf's ankle and all over the house.

Why did VFD make so many paintings of its logo? Or did Olaf paint them himself?

Have dinner ready for all ten of them.

This bit is confusing, but Dante already made an analysis of this in an earlier reread so I won't bother.

Their parents, smelling smoke, had run downstairs to see what the matter was.

This is the only line in the book that actually seems to foreshadow VFD.

"Recently I have been fascinated by the subject of wild animals of North America."

Implies they aren't in North America.

Chapter 4:
God, Baldy is creepy.
Olaf hitting Klaus is one of very few times the children get injured.

Chapter 5:

Klaus was reluctant to see Mr. Poe because he was afraid of getting more bad news.

He already lost his parents and his house, what worse news is there to hear?

He led them into a large office with many filing cabinets and no windows.

I forgot how accurate the Netflix set was to the book, although they added a big vault.

Chapter 6:

"It's a very important role," he said... "although you have no lines other than 'I do'"

How do you make a play about a marriage where the bride only has one line?

Chapter 7:
Fernald is also really creepy here. I think all the henchpeople were terrifying in TBB, which makes their comedy in later books jarring.

Chapter 8:

"It is true that she is very pretty, but a man like myself can acquire any number of beautiful women."

Was Olaf already dating Esme when he said this? Dante, you're good at the timeline, do you know?

Chapter 9:

Violet imagined sleeping beside Count Olaf...

Ugh, this book is creepy.

"I may be a terrible man," Count Olaf said, "but I have been able to concoct a foolproof way of getting your fortune, which is more than you've been able to do."

The sad thing is, he's right.

[Dante]

I'm so late... I need to finish soon ?4. But I invested my free time in my fanfic. But based on my memory, Olaf and Esmé had been a couple since Lemony's near marriage. She married Jerome while she was Olaf's girlfriend, and only after the death of her Baudelaire parents. Beatrice and Bertrand's deaths set gears in motion that had been on pause for about 14 years. We can see that around the time of the salmon fight, Olaf and Esmé crashed the building committee meeting together, indicating that they were already a couple.

[Lemona]

Just to generally add to a few points - This book definitley has a darker tone than others in the series, particularlyin the first half of the run. This is no bad thing, and it helps to set up the threat of Olaf well, but it is also easy to forgot. And as has been mentioned, the Baudelaires also become much more physically injured in this book - Klaus is slapped, and I think Violet cuts herself on the grappling hook - and this does not happen as often in later books, if at all.

[Tiran O'Saurus]

The snow gnats bite them in TSS, and in TGG and TE there's the Medusoid Mycelium. Other than that, nothing.

[Emma "Emmz" Squalor]

And Violet almost gets her head cut off in THH.