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Post by MrWonderful74 on Oct 15, 2006 23:54:37 GMT -5
Has anyone else gotten the feeling that Snicket himself has forgotten some important things he's mentioned in past books? Ever feel like he's almost just making things up as he goes and changing things around as he pleases? I don't know, maybe it's just me, but The End was.. good, but not great like it should have been. Honestly, it took 168 chapters until we see that Olaf really is 3-dimensional? 170 chapters later, still no confirmation on the meaning of VFD, the contents of the Sugar Bowl etc. etc.? Nothing against Snicket, because I love the books, but it almost felt like from book 9 and on, he got a bit.. sloppy.
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Post by PJ on Oct 16, 2006 0:28:06 GMT -5
Not true. In TPP, for the first time, we see Olaf hesitate slightly, during the harpoon-gun stand off in Chapter Nine. And his motives become much clearer.
The meaning of VFD is clarified. In Chapter 13, Snicket says something like "...the children's investigations into the Volunteer Fire Department, the organisation..."
Besides. VFD and the sugar bowl were only brought in much later, so you can't say "170 chapters and still no".
And we have a good idea what the sugar bowl is for.
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Post by Sora on Oct 16, 2006 0:38:25 GMT -5
Though the biggest mystery of all: Who burned the Baudelaire house down? Has yet to be solved, and all we know is that Olaf didn't do it.
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Post by PJ on Oct 16, 2006 0:48:20 GMT -5
Meh. I just think that that illustrates that there are plenty of other villains out there aside from Olaf; one of the main themes is that the Baudelaires' story is in no way unique.
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Post by Dante on Oct 16, 2006 2:59:04 GMT -5
AVC: The Series Of Unfortunate Events books have featured an intricate, unfolding mystery, with the narrator changing his role throughout. How much of it did you have planned when you started out?
DH: It's all evolved. Even the stuff I planned out beforehand has turned out differently. My general writing preface is to write an outline and then ignore about half of it, both on a micro level with the individual book, and on a macro level with the series as a whole, and that's pretty much what's happened.www.avclub.com/content/node/42625/1
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Post by runordie on Oct 16, 2006 5:22:57 GMT -5
And we have a good idea what the sugar bowl is for. what what? i don't. explain. |
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Post by Stencil Monkey on Oct 16, 2006 10:28:07 GMT -5
Has anyone else gotten the feeling that Snicket himself has forgotten some important things he's mentioned in past books? Ever feel like he's almost just making things up as he goes and changing things around as he pleases? I don't know, maybe it's just me, but The End was.. good, but not great like it should have been. Honestly, it took 168 chapters until we see that Olaf really is 3-dimensional? 170 chapters later, still no confirmation on the meaning of VFD, the contents of the Sugar Bowl etc. etc.? Nothing against Snicket, because I love the books, but it almost felt like from book 9 and on, he got a bit.. sloppy. You don't get it do you?? asoue.proboards11.com/index.cgi?board=end&action=display&thread=1161009609Just read it. |
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Fumei
Bewildered Beginner
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Post by Fumei on Oct 16, 2006 15:34:41 GMT -5
I don't think it's quite fair to be saying "You should GET IT" when people have feelings on the book that dispute someone else's.
I do feel a bit cheated, as we never found out some great mystery answers like Why VFD is the way it is, this and what the sugar bowl actually was, who burned down whose house, etc etc...
I do intend to re-read the entire series for another go, but that's just how I feel. :3 I WANT to know the specifics. It just felt like we were finally going to find out some cool deep dark secret, only to have it end have it end rather in a mediocre state.
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Post by Stencil Monkey on Oct 16, 2006 17:41:20 GMT -5
I don't think it's quite fair to be saying "You should GET IT" when people have feelings on the book that dispute someone else's. I do feel a bit cheated, as we never found out some great mystery answers like Why VFD is the way it is, this and what the sugar bowl actually was, who burned down whose house, etc etc... I do intend to re-read the entire series for another go, but that's just how I feel. :3 I WANT to know the specifics. It just felt like we were finally going to find out some cool deep dark secret, only to have it end have it end rather in a mediocre state. Personally, I don't think there is any big, dark deep secret. Everyone has secrets. There are so many different stories. A Series of Unfortuante Events is the sotry of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, and no one else. I can't think of any questions that I have about Violet, Klaus, or Sunny. Every question we needed to know the answer to we were given. |
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Fumei
Bewildered Beginner
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Post by Fumei on Oct 16, 2006 19:13:50 GMT -5
True, but there are many things related to the Baudelaire siblings that could have been revealed. I felt that The Penultimate Peril had a much better set up, and each book before that had piled on secrets upon secrets and mystery upon mysteries to solve, only to have TE just kind of write off the momentum as "Oh yeah, but you know, life is full of mysteries and blahblahblah, it's not part of the Baudelaire story..." I do wish more details were divulged in ASOUE that the siblings read.
It just felt as if we were set up to receive so many answers, only to really get... eh, not much at all. While I do appreciate the fact that I must now painstakingly read everything over again (I love the books, I do, but unfortunately, most people don't have the time) and appreciate the things DH stirred up for us, the whole momentum that DH was building up kind of fell flat on its face.
Now I appreciate all the symbolism and witty, yet drawn out suspense... but quite honestly, I don't expect most young readers who are the prime target of ASOUE to understand all of the great themes and solve mysteries for themselves.
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Post by superorange on Oct 16, 2006 20:47:17 GMT -5
But the whole point is that the answers weren't important and would only give us more questions. Weren't you paying attention?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2006 20:58:26 GMT -5
We were told the Bauds story and were given some info on the world they live in. Asking LS to tell us the answers to all the questions is wrong. It's like asking JK Rowling to tell us who invented the broomstick, or the wand, or who were dumbledores parents.
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Post by superorange on Oct 16, 2006 21:07:15 GMT -5
We were told the Bauds story and were given some info on the world they live in. Asking LS to tell us the answers to all the questions is wrong. It's like asking JK Rowling to tell us who invented the broomstick, or the wand, or who were dumbledores parents. Well, that's different. Fantasy writers have an entire world to maintain, while psuedo-realistic writers have one set of characters. You're kind of right, but it's way different. |
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Fumei
Bewildered Beginner
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Post by Fumei on Oct 16, 2006 23:16:42 GMT -5
But the whole point is that the answers weren't important and would only give us more questions. Weren't you paying attention? My point is that I wish there were more info, even if it did lead to more questions. Weren't you paying attention? I'm sorry to say that I feel cheated. I'm sorry I don't feel the same way as it seems, most of you. I also said that a lot of children are going to have the other nonsuperficial stuff fly over their heads and wonder why there isn't more. Too bad I didn't ask LS to explain more in my post, right? I merely wish there was more. It seems like it's a crime to think that, reading some of this board. If you're going to accuse me of something, get it right. |
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Post by kingvince on Oct 17, 2006 0:11:50 GMT -5
but pretty much everything was explained, the great unkown wasnt anything but a metaphor. The sugarbowl had horseraddish in it (in TE it said somewhere that the beatrice made a vessel for some horseraddish, wich is obviosly the sugar bowl)
VFD was volounteer fire department and the schism just devoloped, like it did on the island.
We didnt know much about Count Olaf, and hes hardly going to talk about his greatist feelings to the ophans hes trying to kill.
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