Revolting Reading: THE END.

[tricky]

book the thirteenth.

you know the drill.

[Glittery666]

Chapter 1
Why does the onion analogy make me think of Shrek?
It would be nice, and kind of funny, if the Baudelaires randomly found an onion.
No you didn’t Olaf, Sunny did.
Surely Olaf must realize that when the storm hits he’ll be in the same boat, no pun intended, as the Bauds.
All that stuff piled on the island makes it sound like my attic.

[Gregor Anwhistle]

I like the visual continuity of the Baudelaires wearing their concierge uniforms on the cover.

Chapter 1
How successful is business for a rickshaw salesman in an undersea grotto? Lol

I like Sunny's use of "equivalent flotilla" for being in the same boat.

We get our first hint about there being another nameplate beneath Carmelita and Olaf's.

[Glittery666]

Chapter 2
I just realized that this is the shortest book, I remembered it being longer for some reason.
Where are they going to get coffee?
I wonder if Friday was born on the island or if she and her parents came there.
Olaf isn’t very good at coming up with names. He just wants everything to be named after himself.

[MisterM]

In what way is this the shortest book?

[Glittery666]

It seems to have fewer pages despite looking thick from the outside, but that could just be because I'm reading it on kindle.

[Semblance]

Out of the core 13 books, it has the 3rd highest page count olaf.

[Glittery666]

Chapter 3
Now I’m curious which meaning of cordial came first.
Depending on how many sheep first arrived on the island and when they first came, they might be seriously inbred by
now.
I wonder how these people determine when Decision Day is.
It’s kind of cool that the Bauds each have a special thing with them.

Yeah, I think reading it this way just makes it feel shorter.

[Gregor Anwhistle]

Chapter 2

Olaf-Land sounds like a really horrible theme park.

Olaf's "No matter where we are, there's always room for someone like me" is quite unsettling.

Lemony's memory of Beatrice eating the apple is a bit of foreshadowing of her involvement with the island's apples.

After all the tense scenes in TPP with the harpoon gun, it's quite something to see Friday unfazed by Olaf's threats.

I still love Friday's "Go away" to Olaf.


Chapter 3

Friday looks at Klaus's commonplace book as he makes a note. Later we'll learn she's secretly being taught to read.

As a glasses-wearer myself, I'm glad Ishmael at least allowed Klaus to keep his eyeglasses.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

Jul 4, 2024 16:31:02 GMT -5 Glittery666 said:

I wonder how these people determine when Decision Day is.

It's clear to me that Decision Day happens on a specific date every year. As it is an event involving tides and as Asoue has a lot of connection with Jewish culture, I would say that it is necessary to use the Jewish lunar calendar to accurately determine the day of Decision every year. This is also appropriate because TE has a whole religious subtext, so the idea of a calendar with holy days is interesting. On the Island, the holy day is Decision Day.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

Jul 4, 2024 18:43:30 GMT -5 Gregor Anwhistle said:

Lemony's memory of Beatrice eating the apple is a bit of foreshadowing of her involvement with the island's apples.

I wonder, at what moment did this scene happen. I've been trying to recreate a coherent chronology for events outside the main story for a long time. Here's a challenge that I haven't been able to find clear evidence of when this happened.

[Glittery666]

Jul 4, 2024 18:43:30 GMT -5 Gregor Anwhistle said:

As a glasses-wearer myself, I'm glad Ishmael at least allowed Klaus to keep his eyeglasses.

Same here.

Chapter 4
Define pleasant-looking.
Well, technically almost anything can be a weapon.
Sunny’s making her own coconut cake. Uncle Monty would be proud.
The colonists realize that forks can be weapons, but apparently they’ve never figured that spoons, at least large spoons, can as well.

[Gregor Anwhistle]

Chapter 4

I like how the airplane propeller is described as looking like a large, metal flower.

Ishmael claiming to use magic reminds me of Lulu and her secrets.

Beatrice is noted as having a nifty card trick she could perform. In TPP we learn she could also do magic tricks with dinner rolls.

I love Sunny's "Whatya fixin?"

"...but without such seasoning, Mrs. Caliban's ceviche tasted like whatever you might find in a fish's mouth while it was eating." Oh gag.

Ishmael slipping up and calling the Baudelaires 'orphans' is a nice little bit of intrigue to end the chapter on. There's definitely more to this facilitator than meets the eye...

[Glittery666]

Chapter 5
Insouciant, I like that word.Wish it were more common.
I wonder if anyone on the mainland knows about the island.
The coconut cordial actually sounds kind of good besides the weird after effect.
Sunny being a few weeks old during her swim in the autumn goes with my theory that she was born in late summer.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

I will repeat a comment I made earlier.

Chapter 4

The scene in which the objects are shown to Ish and he suggests that everyone be removed from the community, along with the fact that everyone is given new clothes, it really looks like Ish has become the leader of a cult. Ish apparently believes that Peace should be worshiped, and his arguments really seem to indicate that he spent a lot of time thinking about what the best mechanisms for maintaining peace would be.

He, of course, is a hypocrite, as he establishes "laws" that he himself is not willing to follow. But I think he does believe that those laws, when followed by the majority, will lead the community to perpetual peace. Those who disagree with this are expelled, and the fear of expulsion along with a drug makes riots rare.

Avoiding the competitive spirit, avoiding access to science, fighting new ideas, and encouraging a simple and far from society life seems a lot like the philosophy adopted by some religious groups.(Oh, and Ish "proves" that he must have authority over the islanders by exhibiting some kind of supernatural power, in his case the power to predict the weather.)