The world is quiet here
Nov. 2nd, 2004 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatI just finished reading The Grim Grotto, the eleventh book in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. I liked it quite a bit.
I find it interesting that, as the series goes on, the books become more complex and mysterious, and less formulaic. Interestingly enough, I think they're also less pessimistic, even in a humorous way. Several of the earlier books, especially The Miserable Mill and The Austere Academy, were largely centered around the Baudelaires being largely helpless in the face of utterly ridiculous hardships. In the later books, the children are more capable (not that they weren't incredibly capable for the ages they're supposed to be in the early books as well {g}), and, while bad stuff still happens, the general feeling of oppression and powerlessness isn't as prevalent. Indeed, Grotto even ends with the words "and the Baudelaire orphans climbed aboard, turning the tables of their lives and breaking the unfortunate cycle for the very first time." I do have to wonder how the whole thing will turn out. Just about anything could happen at this point, good, bad, or indifferent.
I like the way the mysteries of V.F.D. are being revealed, while new mysteries are still being added. I have to wonder whether the series was mapped out from the very beginning, and various minor details were intentional foreshadowing, or the author went back and worked these details into later plots. For instance, when a brief mention of Esmé Squalor's sugar bowl being stolen appeared in The Ersatz Elevator (I think; I can't the reference in a quick scan of the book), was it intended that the sugar bowl was going to become an important plot device in later books? If I had to guess, I would imagine that such details were originally just thrown in randomly, but the author became more careful with them in later additions to the series. The Unauthorized Autobiography of Lemony Snicket was probably one of the earliest attempts to tie together references from earlier books, while dropping hints about later ones. Regardless of how it happened, it definitely shows that Mr. Handler/Snicket is a clever and careful writer. I should probably go back and look at the Unauthorized Autobiography again, not to mention other earlier books in the series.
Incidentally, I think I might know who the "J.S." who isn't Jacques Snicket is. I think I might have seen someone else guess the same thing when The Slippery Slope was the new book, but I'm not sure. It doesn't really matter, since it's actually a fairly obvious choice, and I'm likely to be wrong anyway.
I want this election stuff to be done with. Unfortunately, it looks like Bush is currently in the lead, but I don't know how accurate the results are at this point. I mean, they started calling some of the states before the polls even closed, and we all know what happened with Florida last year. So I haven't totally given up hope, but, well, I'm a naturally pessimistic person, and I'm worried.
I find it interesting that, as the series goes on, the books become more complex and mysterious, and less formulaic. Interestingly enough, I think they're also less pessimistic, even in a humorous way. Several of the earlier books, especially The Miserable Mill and The Austere Academy, were largely centered around the Baudelaires being largely helpless in the face of utterly ridiculous hardships. In the later books, the children are more capable (not that they weren't incredibly capable for the ages they're supposed to be in the early books as well {g}), and, while bad stuff still happens, the general feeling of oppression and powerlessness isn't as prevalent. Indeed, Grotto even ends with the words "and the Baudelaire orphans climbed aboard, turning the tables of their lives and breaking the unfortunate cycle for the very first time." I do have to wonder how the whole thing will turn out. Just about anything could happen at this point, good, bad, or indifferent.
I like the way the mysteries of V.F.D. are being revealed, while new mysteries are still being added. I have to wonder whether the series was mapped out from the very beginning, and various minor details were intentional foreshadowing, or the author went back and worked these details into later plots. For instance, when a brief mention of Esmé Squalor's sugar bowl being stolen appeared in The Ersatz Elevator (I think; I can't the reference in a quick scan of the book), was it intended that the sugar bowl was going to become an important plot device in later books? If I had to guess, I would imagine that such details were originally just thrown in randomly, but the author became more careful with them in later additions to the series. The Unauthorized Autobiography of Lemony Snicket was probably one of the earliest attempts to tie together references from earlier books, while dropping hints about later ones. Regardless of how it happened, it definitely shows that Mr. Handler/Snicket is a clever and careful writer. I should probably go back and look at the Unauthorized Autobiography again, not to mention other earlier books in the series.
Incidentally, I think I might know who the "J.S." who isn't Jacques Snicket is. I think I might have seen someone else guess the same thing when The Slippery Slope was the new book, but I'm not sure. It doesn't really matter, since it's actually a fairly obvious choice, and I'm likely to be wrong anyway.
I want this election stuff to be done with. Unfortunately, it looks like Bush is currently in the lead, but I don't know how accurate the results are at this point. I mean, they started calling some of the states before the polls even closed, and we all know what happened with Florida last year. So I haven't totally given up hope, but, well, I'm a naturally pessimistic person, and I'm worried.
