Revolting Reading: TSS

[tricky]

book the tenth

the french translation of this novel is also the title of one of our sister sites, La Pente Glissante

(which is almost extinct but we're not ones to talk compared to VFDiscord...)

comment your thoughts/feelings/questions/queries below!

[Glittery666]

Chapter 1
Lemony must’ve read a slightly different version of The Road Less Traveled.
The car would probably be more comfortable than the caravan if not for Olaf and his goons.
The glue is the only one of the sticky things not to be a food.
This is also the 2nd book to feature apple butter.

[Glittery666]

Chapter 2
Even if it doesn’t work, playing the ukulele and banging on the pitcher would be kind of fun.
This is the last book where Quigley is mentioned to be deceased, since it turns out that he’s the survivor
of the fire.
Even if the potential surviving Baudelaire parent recognizes Klaus and Violet in those coats, they’ll be wondering
where Sunny is.

[Gregor Anwhistle]

Chapter 1
"How Do You Slow This Thing Down?" is a great lead in song to the chapter. I like to imagine it as a slow-mo sequence, with the various objects floating past the camera as the song plays. Basically Helquist's chapter illustration brought to life as a music video lol

Chapter 2
We have a barrier island in Massachusetts called Plum Island, and it has these nasty green-headed flies that like to bite. It's a beautiful location but your visit is kinda ruined by the flies. The snow gnats remind me of them.

Lemony foreshadows Verbal Fridge Dialogue.

The Carmelita reveal at the end is quite the cliffhanger. This is the first time an earlier character returns to the series after being absent for several books.

[Glittery666]

Chapter 3
No pinch is not only not a foreign language, it’s quite possibly the most
understandable thing Sunny has said up to this point.
Olaf is always followed by a bunch of people, that’s the exact opposite of a lone practitioner.
Small correction:Esme never wants to have children except when it’s trendy.
It would’ve been cool if the frozen waterfall was black.
Chapter 4
The 667 rank Xenial Xylophone is a reference to the alphabet pledge.
In addition to the other problems with the pledge, jump is a verb,
so how can anyone be “jumping?”
I’m having a hard time picturing lions living in caves in the snow, maybe Bruce meant mountain lions.
I love when chapters end on cliffhangers.

[Uncle Algernon]

Nov 19, 2023 11:00:11 GMT -5 Glittery666 said:

It would’ve been cool if the frozen waterfall was black.

Wouldn't it just look like a slate of rock then

Nov 19, 2023 11:00:11 GMT -5 Glittery666 said:

I’m having a hard time picturing lions living in caves in the snow, maybe Bruce meant mountain lions.

Wikipedia's History of lions in Europe makes for some interesting reading, and records that Xenophon wrote circa 400 BC that lions were typically found around "Mount Kissos, Pangaio, the Pindus Mountains and elsewhere". 

[Gregor Anwhistle]

Chapter 3
I'm curious if the few witnesses to Olaf's journey are the carnival freaks, or maybe random hikers who witnessed the car passing by.

It sounds like the eagles have returned to the mountains to rebuild their nests.

Mount Fraught is mentioned, which first appeared way back in TEE when Jerome, Beatrice, and other friends hiked there.

Fernald mentions his deck of cards, which comes up again in TGG. I wonder how he passes time with a rock.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

Chapter 4 - It is very clear to me that Quigley is a VFD agent with much more experience than he wants to let on. He starts by talking about lions being volunteer feline detectives. Then he talks about Very Fascinating Drama. Evidently he was testing the Baudelaires to see to what extent they were already involved in the secret organization. As soon as Violet said, “We haven’t had a Very Fun Day,” Quigley said, “I didn’t realize this was a sad occasion.” This was a VFD recognition code, which the Baudelaires did not pass. (I think it's cool that Daniel Handler put details here that only those who had read LSTUA could understand. It's as if those who read it were part of VFD and those who didn't read it were not part of ) Anyway, since the Baudelaires didn't pass the test, Quigley had to use his deck of lies and half-truths to deal with the Baudelaires.

[MisterM]

I don't know If I would agree that Quigley is a VFD 'Agent', but it is definitley true that he is witholding some amount of information back. There are some things he seems to know that are not easily explained away, perhaps somethign Jacques has told him. Either way, I do think Handlers intention at the time of writing TSS was for Quigley to play a larger role in the later books, but plans changed, and perhaps this is simply emblematic of that.

[Tiran O'Saurus]

Remember, he was at Monty's house with Jacques. There are a lot of ways he could learn more than the Baudelaires.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

Nov 20, 2023 16:01:50 GMT -5 Tiran O'Saurus said:

Remember, he was at Monty's house with Jacques. There are a lot of ways he could learn more than the Baudelaires.

The evidence lies in the fact that he demonstrated great knowledge while he was masked and then tried to demonstrate that he had less knowledge than he actually had when he removed the mask. He went into Hector mode of hiding the truth.

[Gregor Anwhistle]

It's also worth remembering that Quigley learned a lot from Monty's library. He had a few weeks to gather info and copy it down. As we'll see in a later chapter discussion, he found VFD info in a hidden chapter of one of Monty's books. So that, combined with what Jacques shared, contributed to Quigley being more knowledgeable about VFD (and even he admits later that he doesn't know everything).


Chapter 4

I remember reading in some interview that Handler's favorite minor character is Bruce, so it's cool that he brought him back. Depending on the relation to Carmelita, maybe he's Bruce Spats lol.

Bruce could probably ditch the mask and just keep smoking his cigar to keep the gnats away.

When we get the description of everyone in the cave, I like how Quigley's different wardrobe (he's not wearing the white uniform like everyone else) hints he's an outsider.

Carmelita describing herself as "the prettiest, smartest, most darling girl in the whole wide world" is also part of the title of her autobiography.

[Tiran O'Saurus]

Nov 21, 2023 11:25:43 GMT -5 Gregor Anwhistle said:

Bruce could probably ditch the mask and just keep smoking his cigar to keep the gnats away.

I never realized that. I wonder if it's a character thing: he can't see a solution literally right under his nose and instead goes with the most common solution, even if it's not the best one.

[Glittery666]

Nov 21, 2023 11:25:43 GMT -5 Gregor Anwhistle said:

When we get the description of everyone in the cave, I like how Quigley's different wardrobe (he's not wearing the white uniform like everyone else) hints he's an outsider.

I never noticed that, but honestly I love that subtle hinting there.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

Nov 21, 2023 11:25:43 GMT -5 Gregor Anwhistle said:

It's also worth remembering that Quigley learned a lot from Monty's library. He had a few weeks to gather info and copy it down. As we'll see in a later chapter discussion, he found VFD info in a hidden chapter of one of Monty's books. So that, combined with what Jacques shared, contributed to Quigley being more knowledgeable about VFD (and even he admits later that he doesn't know everything).

In TGG we see that Quigley already has a reputation in VFD, according to Fiona, and in addition he already has a high involvement with the fragmented plan involving Hotel D and the search for SB. He has contact with the telegraph network. And he is even clearly called a volunteer. Believing in Quigley is like believing in Hector. What they say may make sense, but the evidence points to them being lying.