A Series of Unfortunate Events

[nevermore]

Mally just finished the books, and I'd love to have a good discussion with her. I was afraid of spoiling the series by having a long convo in the "what book are you reading" thread, so I'll be moving those posts into this thread instead.

ASoUE. Have you read it? What did you think? Come share your feelings/reactions/heartbreak over the stories.

If you haven't read them, but are thinking about it, I would advise you to avoid this thread, since it's got spoilers galore. I will say, in support of UE:

The books start off kind of slow, and kind of silly. You read the first 4 and think "this is ridiculous. I have read better." You read the 5th one and think "I think there might be more to these stories..." You read the 6th and 7th ones and find yourself crying at the end. Then something happens. I can't even put my finger on it, but something happens to suddenly make these stories so intense, so emotional, and so thought-provoking, that when you finish each one, you just have to stare slack-jawed at the wall for several long minutes just thinking. They will make you question everything you ever believed in. What is right and wrong? Is there a difference? Is there a gray zone? Is wrong really right if you have a good excuse? Is right ever even really possible?

I can assure you, that if you read these books, and stick with them until the end, your life will never be the same again. You may not realize it all at once, but a time will come when you will find yourself in a situation and suddenly realize that your beliefs and ways of thinking have somehow changed, and made you a more open-minded, thoughtful individual. I can't name another series of books in the world with the power to do that. Harry Potter is a close second, but still doesn't do to people what UE can do.


BEWARE OF THE SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ONWARD

[Malz]

I DID FINISH THE SERIES!!!!!!

Y'see... i had taken about 45 minutes to write this awesome post about how i thought about each of the books... and then it disappeared. I was so mad. I was cursing i just about tossed the laptop out of my window... i couldnt believe it.

But yes, basically:

~I want to claw Fiona's face off for what she did to my Klaus
~I want to toss Carmelita off a cliff because she is just so annoying
~I was crying really hard when Dewey died and his last word was: 'Kit'
~I shouted, "NO!!!" When Quigley went bye-bye... that broke my heart when Violet and him were screaming for each other. :(
~The whole Ernest and Frank thing totally threw me off
~And at the very very end of the series i was sobbing as everything clicked into place and then i realized that Violet and Quigley were never going to meet again and Kit was dead and..and...yeah :(

But all in all this is my new favorite series :D

((by the way... where exactly is the Sebald code in PP? I couldnt find it....))

[nevermore]

Either Ernest or Frank delivers the message um... I think just before the three Bauds split up on their individual missions. The kicker is that the message is slightly botched, so you're never quite sure if it's a type-o and it was the good guy giving the message, or if it was intentionally made wrong and the bad guy didn't have his sebald down very well.

The fact that Olaf was in love with Kit pretty much shattered my heart into a million pieces. And Beatrice being the mom, whom Lemony was in love with but lost because of a false accusation against him... That also kills me. That his years of devotion to the Baudelaire children stemmed from his love for Beatrice and his desire to help the kids that should have been his. :( Ugh, I've got tears in my eyes just typing it out. :'( You have to read the Beatrice Letters, too. It kind of puts the icing on the cake for the whole heartbreak factor.

I really like that so many relationships in ASoUE fail miserably. Olaf never gets Kit. Lemony never gets Beatrice. Violet never gets Quigley. Klaus never gets Fiona. That's why I had Abigail's fiance die in a fire, keeping up that doomed-relationship tradition. It may be cool for two of the characters in our RP to have a blossoming romance that fails, too.

Did you suspect that Beatrice was the mom? (I swore by it for years, but 50% of UEers were in firm denial) Or did you ever think that Violet originally had something going on with Duncan (and Klaus with Isadora) and that the whole thing would have been one awful relationship tangle if everyone had survived? I mean seriously... what if Duncan and Quigley had been torn apart for ever over Violet? Yikes.

[Malz]

Oh my gosh.. i had no idea Beatrice was the mom. Actually, what i wanted to happen (in my fantasy world) I wanted the Bauds to get stranded on an island and Count Olaf dies and the Bauds find their parents alive their and then Hector ends up crashing the air-home thing which means that all of the Quags were there and they all lived happily ever after :D

And yes, i thought that Klaus and Isadora and Violet and Duncan would be together, but ever since SS i have love Quigley and Violet but now they will never be together EVER WAAA!!

And also... what the heck was that 'mysterious' thingy... i am still confused, unless iam supposed to be.

AND for VFD rp... i think Lou and Sim OR Melanie and Sim to get together (seeing how there is only 1 boy) because i doubt that Sim would be able to handle Paxton's spirit...:p

[nevermore]

Man, I remember SO MANY PEOPLE were totally ticked that UE had a miserable depressing ending. Frankly, all I could say was "um... snicket warned us from book 1 that things were not going to be pretty. He said the books would make us weep uncontrollably. He told us to go read something like The Littlest Elf if we wanted happy endings and good times. It's your own fault for not expecting it!" :p
I thought the ending was perfect for what the stories were.

If you mean the question-mark-mabob from Grim Grotto, we never find out what it was. Theories were:
A) It was the man with beard but no hair/woman with hair but no beard's submarine
B) it was a scary sea monster worse than the Lachrymose Leeches
C) it was death, which is mysterious and scary and always passing within inches of us.

I like C, but I'm pensive and somewhat morbid like that when it comes to literature.

Another cool theory that came up on UE: Uncle Monty was supposed to teach Violet, Klaus, and Sunny the Sebald code, but he never learned it (TUA mentions that the newest recruits were so busy moving from headquarters to headquarters that they weren't being properly trained). If he had, I think things would have turned out differently for the Baudelaires, because they would have known the difference between Frank and Ernest by using Sebald.

For our RP, I think Sim and Lou would be really cute. If UndercoverNinja comes back, though, there's also... Jason? He's new, but he's UN's second charrie. This could create a fascinating world of conflict if they both go for Lou, because Sim might know her better, but she might ultimately choose Jason... I have also decided that at the end of the RP, Abigail will reveal to readers what is in the sugar bowl, but the charries will never find out. Muahaha

Mally, and Paxton is like, four to eight years younger than him.... lol. :p


I was thinking that, but at the same time, back then, it was totally normal for people to get married who had a fairly large age gap. As long as the relationships stayed innocent like Klaus/Fiona or Violet/Quigley until the two charries are both old enough to marry, I think it would be ok. Snicket kept it so clean we were never even positive that Violet and Quigley kissed. We all just assumed. That's good writing. *nod*

[Malz]

to tell you the truth, i dont hate the ending. I wouldve been angry if it was a happy ending to be honest. It wouldnt be a Series of Unfortunate Events if the ending was extremely sappy and happy.

Hmm... but would Lou ever like Sim back?

EDIT: OMG what if Paxton dies and that totally splits them apart because of grief and Sim wants to help Lou but she finds comfort in Jason even though she really loves Sim although she would never say it... BWAHAHAHA

[nevermore]

if we can get Amy to start posting again, maybe she can tell us. :D
If Lou wouldn't, that could be good, too. The whole unrequited love thing. Sim would always have to be content to love her from a distance. Ouch. :( *le sigh* :o

[Malz]

like i said before: BWAHAHAHAHA!

i love messing up characters lives.. heh heh

anyways... back to the books... what happened to Hector? Did he go to the questionmark thing too??

[nevermore]

gosh I forget! I'm trying to finish the series now. I'm on chapter 12 of TSS. I'll be finishing that book today and then it's full steam ahead for the final three. Once I finish again, I'll let you know. I only read The End once, so it's all quite foggy.

[Malz]

haha okay....goodness... the ending still leaves my head spinning. That whole Beatrice thing... wow...

I actually had no idea what to think of it. I read the dedication page every book and i kept trying to piece together who she was but it never crossed my mind that it was the mother until the very end... wow... he is a genius :)

[nevermore]

There are a couple of hints... um... gosh, I can't even think of them all now. The biggest ones I can remember are in TEE, where Esme said something like "I'm stealing from you the way Beatrice stole from me" which is supposed to clue you in on the idea that Esme's dastardly deeds are punishing the children for the crimes of the parents. And in TSS, Esme comes out of the tent in a snowsuit with a giant B across the back, which Sunny notices curiously and Olaf gets nervous and tries to hide. Then Jaques mentions knowing their parents and the Snicket File included a photograph of the parents alongside the Snickets... If you had read the books before book 13 came out, you would have had a good year to think about it all, and probably would have put together Beatrice. Now that they're all out, I'm guessing readers will rush from book to book and miss a lot of the clues. Which is good too, because it's an excuse to re-read the series for lots of :headdesking: good times. :D

[Malz]

I guess i am just too stupid to pick up on the hints. Now that i think about it, all evidence points to the mom, but like i said, i am too stupid. :p

my family found out that i finished the series last night and they were like: *jawdrop* I basically completed 14 books in 8 days.. :D

[nevermore]

high five! That's awesome marshmally! I was the same way. I tore through each book in a few short hours. Like the time I went to the library and finally just checked out the remainder of the published series. I'm not sure who looked at me more strangely, the librarian, or my family when I walked through the door with the whole stack, and 24 hours later
"where are you off to?"
"the library."
"Didn't you just check out about six books?"
"yes. I finished them. I'm bringing them back now."
O_O

Or when I got book 13. I brought it home, read it, then wouldn't come out of my room for several hours because I was crying so bad. I remember being in the kitchen at one point, many hours later, and my dad going
"how was your book?"
And I opened my mouth, and just wailed "woooonderful!" before sobbing uncontrollably. :rolleyes: I know I know. Snicket warned me. I love that he was right. :D

[ZigZag]

I just reread The End. I love this series SO much! I think it's brilliant and so clever. I love that it appeals to so many ages. Did you catch the dig at President Bush in PP, Mally?

I personally am totally fine with the ending. I think it fits. If every mystery was solved and the Baudelaires got a happy ending then it would have been incongruous to the rest of the books. I know a lot of UEers hated the end, but I thought it was perfect.

I don't remember which side I was on during the great Is-Beatrice-The-Mother-or-Not debate. I want to say I thought she was, but I'm not sure.

There's a point in The Penultimate Peril that calls Klaus Sunny's sister.

[nevermore]

I was utterly convinced that Poe was going to end up being the supervillain mastermind... I'm still a little disappointed that he wasn't. I remember Snicket saying in a radio interview that "I have found that people are generally either inept or evil." Poe was definitely inept.

Is there really? I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for it. I'm on to that one soon... Which reminds me, the Sebald code in TPP isn't quite right. Do you think it was a mistake on Snicket's part, or was it supposed to be a clue that whoever gave the message didn't know Sebald? Snicket seems like such a careful author, that I find it hard to believe that a mistake in the ONE use of Sebald in the entire series made it past Snicket AND his team of editors... :(

[ZigZag]

I always thought that it was supposed to be "in" instead of "enemies." Considering how the only character who's "in" in the series is evil.

I'm probably grossly wrong though.

[ZigZag]

Well, there is that thing in the Limited Edition version of BB and in TE that mentions Poe holding a secret something in his hat. I was always curious about Poe. He apparently had a stage name at one point, carried something secret in his hat and most interestingly, to me at least, is in the UA having lunch with his sister and talking about you-know-who. I was dying to know who you-know-who was. I even made a topic about it on UE. It got one reply to the effect of "I don't know."

[nevermore]

Do you have that limited edition book? Because I have the special edition that was published by Egmont, and there was nothing different in it, other than colored artwork. I don't recall it appearing in TE... another thing I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for...

"In" could also mean "are you with us?" which would continue to be ambiguous because both sides of the schism were planning something.

EDIT: I moved some of these posts out of "what are you reading" just because of spoilers. So if a few of these posts talk about two things at once, it's because I merged them to tidy up this thread a bit.

[ZigZag]

No, I don't have the special edition version. But I remember someone on UE mentioning it. In TE it says:
Count Olaf threw back his head and laughed, his tatted dress quivering in mirth, a phrase which here means "making unpleasant rustling noises." With a sneer he pointed to Ishmael, who still sat in his chair. "Oh, Ish," He said, his eyes shining bright, "I told you many years ago that I would triumph over you someday, and at last that day has arrived. My associate with the weekday for a name told me that you were still hiding out on this island, and-"

"Thursday," Mrs. Caliban said.

Olaf frowned, and blinked at the freckled woman. "No," he said, "Monday. She was trying to blackmail an old man who was involved in a political scandal."

"Gonzalo," Alonso said.

Olaf frowned again. "No," he said, "We'd gone bird watching, this old man and I, when we decided to rob a sealing schooner owned by-"

"Humphrey," Weyden said.

"No," Olaf said with another frown. "There was some argument about his name, actually, as a baby adopted by his orphaned children also bore the same name."

"Bertrand," Omeros said.

"No," Olaf said, and frowned yet another time. "The adoption papers were hidden in the hat of a banker who had been promoted to Vice President in Charge of Orphan Affairs."

"Mr. Poe?" asked Sadie.

"Yes," Olaf said with a scowl, "although at the time he was better known by his stage name. But I'm not here to discuss the past. I'm here to discuss the future. Your mutineering islanders let me out of this cage, Ishmael, to force you off the island and crown me as king!"

Bolding mine. So from here we know that Poe hid some adoption papers (that were not Bertrand's, which we remember from I believe PP is the Baudelaire's father) under his hat.

[nevermore]

oh that's interesting... I could have sworn the Baud dad was Charles, but maybe I'm getting that mixed up with the writer... I have to read TPP again... I found it odd, after another go around with TSS, that Esme Squalor was in charge of the Quagmire estate. And then Poe becomes the VP in charge of Orphan Affairs. I wonder... thinking back now... if Esme was the President of Orphan Affairs then... they never said where Esme worked as the city's financial adviser, but it makes sense that it would be Mulctuary Money Management... And also, how the heck did Poe know the three kids were at the beach that day? One would think that mere hours after a deadly fire, there would be too much pandemonium to stop and wonder where the kids were during all this. Only if whoever started the fire was watching the house to make sure that the kids were out safely, would anyone know that they weren't in there when the fire was started.

He really may have been in cahoots from the start then... :eek:

[Leeny]

Oh my goodness, I absolutely ADORE the ASoUE!!!!! But I've only read the 13, I haven't read any of the other books. Which I need to do.


And Nev, you brought home about seven books from the library? I went and checked out all 13 at once! :D And read them in three days. So now I'm going to check them out again along with the Unauthorized Autobiography so I can bring the series fresh to my mind.

[nevermore]

Yay! Read TUA after book 9. It's most relevant at that time. Then, after you read all 13, come join our RP because people who joined seem to regularly forget our RP exists, and with more RPers it would be easier to keep the story going if people decide to put their charries on the back-burner for a while. Once everyone manages to find their way home to the headquarters, we can make special missions for just whoever is actively RPing that week. So the more the merrier, and the more people who are well-read on the series, the better, because then we can foreshadow events that have yet to take place.

Frankly, I would love it if someone made a charrie who grew up to be either the man with a beard or the woman with hair, because then we can end the RP on a dark note with a building burning and a schism looming. Muaha.

EDIT: OMG thank you, Wikipedia for sharing this news with me. My heart doth skip a beat. Not only is Snicket writing more books, they're FINALLY discussing continuing the films! (http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/06/03/lemony-snicket-director-brad-silberling-plans-to-do-each-film-in-different-medium/) And they're thinking about doing what I think they should have done from the get-go: making stop motion claymation like Coraline and Nightmare Before Christmas. Thank heavens. Pleeeease Mr. Handler. Pleeeeeeeease please pretty please make them over again from the beginning! *fingers crossed*

[Qwill]

I've been pro Klaus/Isadora ever since Fiona did what she did to Klaus. I'm also pro Violet/Duncan. But I think my favorite pairing throughout the whol ASOUE would be Kit/Olaf or kit/Dewey.

[amypops]

to tell you the truth, i dont hate the ending. I wouldve been angry if it was a happy ending to be honest. It wouldnt be a Series of Unfortunate Events if the ending was extremely sappy and happy.

Hmm... but would Lou ever like Sim back?

EDIT: OMG what if Paxton dies and that totally splits them apart because of grief and Sim wants to help Lou but she finds comfort in Jason even though she really loves Sim although she would never say it... BWAHAHAHA

I kept hinting at a bit of Sim/Lou in the library, when Lou got upset that Sim looked like her old neighbour she had a crush on :p

Haha... tragedy in the end?? Your giving me ideas... XD

But yeah, on topic, i totally cannot at all remember what happened in book 13, and all 6 of my local libraried have it out on hold for the next few months. *GRR*.

[Malz]

UGH I HATE MR POE!!!

Like seriously, many many many times i have considered stopping the series because of him... obviously i didnt but still...URRRGH!!!

I wish the orphans had the sudden desire to shove him off a balcony or something... that would definetly stop the coughing :p

[Fla ante]

I never noticed the forshadowing in Olafs speech before,probably because I've only read the End once. I always liked Mr Poe and I dont think he was evil mostly because most of the time, e.g TRR he was the only thing stopping Olaf but then again Mr Snicket could've changed his mind about/developed the character by the End. Which would be quite annoying as there's something upsetting about inconsistency...

And by the end (probably TPP actually) Olaf was my favourite character.

What do people want to see in the four new books?

[Qwill]

i think i rather see some mysteries tied up, and whatever happend to VFD

[Malz]

I wanna see what happened to the Quagmires!!! I was crying when they disappeared forever in The End! :(

[ZigZag]

Yes, that would be interesting. I want to know about the origins of VFD, and about the sugar bowl. And about the Snicket Family.

[nevermore]

Muaha. That's what our RP is about. Making up our own answers to those questions. :D

You know, I think it must have been Ernest (the treacherous brother) who dropped the sebald code, for the two following reasons:
1) Quigley mentioned that both sides of the schism knew VFD code, so both sides were using it. This would probably include Sebald, then.
2) Frank was expecting the children, and knew that they were now VFD members. Why would he ask them if they were "in" if he already knew who they were?

Not that it changed anything because the Bauds didn't know sebald, but the person speaking to the Baudelaire during the sebald passage seemed awfully rude up to and after the sebald stuff. (Incidentally Mally, the sebald is on page 67 of TPP)

Another thing to debate: Did Fiona intentionally stuff Medusoid Mycelium into Sunny's dive helmet? She was the person who helped Sunny suit up for the return trip, and she was the one who described Sunny's suffering as "fascinating." Were Widdershins and Fiona on the bad side all along, and trying to lure in the Baudelaires with a false sense of security?

[ZigZag]

I used to think she did, but after we discovered that Kit believed the Widdershins to be on the good side I thought that she didn't.

Another thing to debate: Who are Fiona and Ferdinand's parents?

[Malz]

The man with no hair but with a beard and the woman with no beard but hair?

That is my theory.

[nevermore]

Mally, might I also suggest reading The Beatrice Letters? It's not very long, and more like a picture book, but it contains the final puzzle pieces that Snicket gives us to understand what happened before and after ASoUE.

I remember someone on UE suggesting this once, and I was a bit doubtful at first, but I kept it in mind as I re-read the Penultimate Peril, and now I agree.
Lemony Snicket was unquestionably (in my opinion) the man in the taxi who tried to rescue the Baudelaires, and the small, damp item on the seat next to him was the sugar bowl... and I'm theorizing that the woman hiding in the trunk was Kit...

[ZigZag]

I don't know if the woman was Kit because she said she wouldn't be coming to the hotel until Thursday and I believe she was helping out the Quagmires at the time. However I do agree with the rest of the theory, even if it does mean putting my pet theory, the Sir is Lemony Snicket, to rest.

[nevermore]

I'm going to go with no on that one, for personalities alone... Plus, Lemony is in love with Beatrice... Sir has a partner, Charles... *cough*

But yeah, Kit was the only noteworthy female character I could think of to be hiding in the trunk, however there was also the mysterious woman in the Gorgonian Grotto, the same mysterious woman who boarded the Queequeg (whom I think was Fiona's mother, but I'm not positive).

[ZigZag]

I know, I know it's ridiculous, I know I'm the only person on the planet who believed it for even a second, but I just love that theory. SIR WAS WEARING PJS THAT SAID LS ALL OVER THEM! SIR NEVER REVEALED HIS REAL NAME! BOTH OF THEM HID THEIR FACES!

[nevermore]

LS... Lucky Smells... :rolleyes:
It's an amusing theory, of course, but yeah... I've still gotta side with no on that one. Haha.

I've got to read The End still, because it might be revealed to me, but thus far it would appear that Beatrice and Bertrand killed... er... Mother Olaf at La Forza Del Destino after the baudelaires were born... but Olaf also said he was orphaned at age 7... how far apart in age is Olaf from Violet? :confused:

[ZigZag]

If Olaf is seven and Sunny is old enough to remember the opera...he'd be about 8. Yeah, does not compute.

[nevermore]

I'm hoping I misunderstood something there that will be cleared up in The End.
Perhaps losing his parents at seven refers to him being taken by VFD, and his parents didn't actually die until shortly before the fire. If that's the case, my theory about the timeline is

Olaf as a child is taken away at age 7
Olaf is trained by VFD and rarely sees his parents
As an adult, Olaf has turned his back on VFD
When sunny is about 1 or 2, Beatrice and Bertrand assassinate Olaf's parents
Seeking revenge, Olaf burns the Baudelaire mansion
ASoUE begins

[Malz]

Why would the Buas parents kill Olaf's parents?? I am so confused on that matter!

[ZigZag]

Probably because they were on different sides of the schism. I don't really know.

[nevermore]

I think it was just meant to come back around to the idea of everybody in the world having an excuse for the things they do. Olaf was trying to seek revenge on the Baudelaires for killing his parents, but we have to assume that Bertrand and Beatrice had a good reason to do what they did, too. I think they key question Snicket is trying to get his readers to ask themselves is "even if it was a good excuse, does it ever really excuse murder? And if it doesn't excuse murder, does the reason even matter?"

[Malz]

I am still trying to grasp the fact that the Quag's are gone forever.....can you see how intent i was on the Vio/Quig pairing....*sigh*

[nevermore]

For Mally's sake:

Ish is creepy as sin. Elaborate. :p

[Malz]

What side is he on anyways??? I am so confused!

Also... i really hate him for letting his people die and not letting them eat the apples, and he specifically knew that it would help them. I also dont like how he has an excuse not to use anything, and he rules over everyone even though he says, "I wont force you..." and he really is forcing them, and i dont like how he.....URGH....I just really hate him :mad:

[nevermore]

It didn't hit me so much the first time, but if you looked at it right, one could easily jump to the conclusion within the first few chapters of The End that the baudelaires and olaf were dead, and that Olaf had been denied entry into heaven. Then... you know... people start to die and you realize it's for real, but the white robes, and the whole "only good people are allowed here" thing... it could certainly have mislead me if I had been in that frame of mind when I first read the final book.

But.

That aside, I found it utterly beautiful, what happens to the kids on the island. I love the parallels of the viper bringing the children the bitter apple, and how, like the fruit of knowledge, the time that the children spend on the island HELPS the children get their knowledge of good and evil back, because by book 12, they simply didn't know what was right and what was wrong in the world. I haven't even gotten to that part in the book yet, but just remembering it is giving me goosebumps. :o

[BurningFire]

I've read all the series.

My favourite book was probably the ectraz elevater.
(Sorry if I spelt it wrong)

[nevermore]

You know, that may be mine too. Even though she's so wickedly evil, Esme Squalor cracks me up (but darling, if we give all the money to poor people... they won't be poor anymore...). I think Gunther may be one of my favorite Olaf Disguises, too, although his 30 seconds as Kit Snicket were also pretty amusing, despite real-Kit's dire circumstances...


So I finished The End last night. Cried like a baby, of course. Not as bad as the first time I read it, but Olaf just reduced me to a puddle of sobbing. What with using his last ounces of strength to rescue Kit, his horror when he realizes that the children thought he had burned their house down (I forgot that he hadn't), his apologies to Kit and the Baudelaires for all the times he'd wronged them, and then his final, quiet recitation of a poem before he died. I forget that as much as you hate Olaf for the first 12.5 books, you suddenly find yourself forgiving him and weeping for his death.

I really hope that the next series Snicket does discusses baby Beatrice. We know from the Beatrice letters that something has happened to cause her separation from the Baudelaires, and that she was trying to contact Lemony to help reunite her with them, so I sincerely hope that Snicket is going to tell us what happened to separate Beatrice from her family, what she did in the meantime, and whether or not she ever finds the Baudelaires again. It's too tragic not to know what happened. :(

[amypops]

all i remmber about Esme is her obsession with pinstripes in that book, and everything has to be 'IN!' Oh, and something about a cocktail of some kind...

[nevermore]

ah yes, the Aqueous Martini. My sister and I really wanted to try making some one day, but we were out of olives. *sob* haha

[Fla ante]

The bits from that book that stuck out for me were it's teaching me the word xenophobia and I was chuffed that I spotted Olafs accomplice and the red herring. Also Jerome cheering them up by sliding down the bannister. He was swell

[nevermore]

(yes, this post is for entirely selfish reasons)

We desperately need at least one more person to join our VFD roleplay asap. Our newest member, Libby, would like to join, but with our current situation, she is completely unable to. HOWEVER, if either UndercoverNinja or Qwill come back to us, or a new member reads the RP and joins, they can form a separate team with Libby (this seemingly incoherent rambling about "teams" will make perfect sense if you read the RP). Please please please. Even if you have never roleplayed before, I would be much obliged if you could commit for even a couple of weeks until everyone gets back to headquarters, at which point your character can disappear and Libby's charrie can join Mally, PIP, and Amy's team.

*end selfish announcement*

[Malz]

SHE SPEAKS THE TRUTH!!!
*sits down*

Well i would have to say my favorite book is The Slippery Slope. I thought it was really well written, though i wish i knew what happened with Violet and Quigley on that ledge when Snicket decided to give them some privacy. I my little fantasy world i dream that they kiss or something. :p I am such a girl :D I also wish i knew something about the man with a beard and the woman with hair. I am so curious to know who they are. I also REALLY want to know what the Snicket File contains

[nevermore]

I imagine that Violet and Quigley both got some quiet time to cry for their suffering, then held each other, than shared a kiss. :o

I was thinking last night, I think the 14th chapter in The End signifies to us, the readers, that the chain of unfortunate events has finally been broken. That the 12 previous books had 13 chapters each that all ended tragically, and then the 13th chapter of the 13th book was utterly tragic, but Snicket goes on to give us a 14th chapter for the first time, and it is the first peaceful chapter in the entire series. Realizing that made me feel a lot better. That yes, the Baudelaires would still live to see more tragedy, but that nothing would ever be as bad as that horrible year that was ASoUE.

[ZigZag]

Hmm, I like that theory Nevvie.

[nevermore]

Ah, the brain of the English Lit major. 4 years of my life were spent analyzing the crap out of literature in order to read between the lines to find deeper meanings and symbolism. This doesn't always work, especially with pulp fiction, but with a writer who's as big a literary geek as Daniel Handler, I think it's safe to say that he knew what he was doing, and that any conclusions drawn by literary analysis is probably 100% correct.

If I was ever an English teacher at a school with a more free-spirited curriculum, I would teach a year of ASoUE. We would pick it apart as literary analysis, and probably find the answers to every question we only thought Snicket didn't answer. I wouldn't be shocked if someone asked him about the sugar bowl one day and he just calmly responded "but I did tell you. You're just not looking hard enough."
*smiles adoringly at Daniel Handler*

[ZigZag]

I almost went to Brandeis to study English Lit, did I ever tell you guys that? I got in and everything. It was between that and cooking school and then I asked myself which I'd rather be doing for the rest of my life and the answer was obvious: I wanted to be a pastry chef.

So I know where you're coming from. I analyze the crap out of everything I read. Especially since right now I'm reading a lot of Victorian literature.

[Fla ante]

I happened upon this (http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/openbook) and felt you would all like to hear it

[nevermore]

ah that was good. And funny. My neighbors must think I'm insane, laughing as loudly and unrestrainedly as I just did. :D

[Espionage]

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH CURSE YOU LEMONY SNICKET!
I just finished THE END, and I still have a bunch more questions, like are Fiona and the Quagmires still alive, how did Beatrice fit in, etc. and at first I thought it was an awful ending, but then it sort of grew on me, and now I think it's cool that some is left to the imagination, and I thoroughly enjoyed the series, even if I'm still dying to know what that question mark thingamawhatsit was...

...Can you tell that I'm hyper today?

[nevermore]

The quagmires and fiona are dead (Kit was the only survivor), and Beatrice (Lemony's Beatrice) was the Baudelaire mother, who left Lemony Snicket and married Bertrand Baudelaire instead. Snicket researched the Baudelaire's case because of his love for their mother, but was always half a step behind, and could never rescue them. (There is speculation, however, that he was the man in the taxi in the Penultimate Peril)

13 books condensed down to two sentences. :D

[Espionage]

Well I got the Beatrice thing ( I accidentally skipped the last chapter at the VERY end) but what about the Quagmires? How do we know that? I thought that the question marky thing got them...

[nevermore]

I think the theory is that the question mark represented the great unknown, aka death. That in Grim Grotto, when Widdershins said there were worst things than Olaf, things we didn't even understand, that's what he was talking about. Although technically, that's all speculation and literary theory, but on UE, that's what was generally accepted as true...

[Amy]

i'm just passing through, but i found something on the internet that i absolutely had to show you nev :) i'm not sure if you've seen it/made the connections before but i never noticed while reading asoue and i found it very interesting ^_^ and i'm sure other people will too, though i know nev is crazy about asoue :)

names in asoue (http://nameberry.com/blog/2010/03/30/lemony-snicket-names/)

quite a lot of thought went into some of the characters names, to be generally overlooked by readers :)

[SunnyHawaii]

Seems like no posts in a about a month, buuuut...

I LOFF LEMONY SNICKET!!!!

For awhile, I felt dissed by him, disdained him, thought he was a cop-out, and wanted to snub the books cus he didn't even have the decency to end the series, like actually end it, when it should have ended, finished, fini, in the book called The End. Buuuut, I wouldn't have my Duende and have had such a wonderful experience on the UE forum if ASOUE did not exist. And, also, even having failed to answer the question, Snicket is truly one of a kind, with wonderful wit, and definitely accomplished writing a unique series all his own.


I want to read them again. :p



If only I had the time.

Oh, and I can't really converse about them cus I don't remember enough to keep up with the clues and plots anymore. But I will say, I always thought Beatrice was the Baudelaire's mother, don't remember why except that I stuck hard to the theory, even though there may have been evidence to signify otherwise and everyone else seemed convinced otherwise. I don't remember if we found out who she was, though. Did we?

Aha, just looked up. We didsy. I was right. ^_^

[ZigZag]

The quagmires and fiona are dead (Kit was the only survivor), and Beatrice (Lemony's Beatrice) was the Baudelaire mother, who left Lemony Snicket and married Bertrand Baudelaire instead. Snicket researched the Baudelaire's case because of his love for their mother, but was always half a step behind, and could never rescue them. (There is speculation, however, that he was the man in the taxi in the Penultimate Peril)

13 books condensed down to two sentences. :D

There was also speculation by one insane and dedicated fan that Lemony Snicket was Sir. :rolleyes: Don't judge me, I still quasi stand by that theory.

[nevermore]

For awhile, I felt dissed by him, disdained him, thought he was a cop-out, and wanted to snub the books cus he didn't even have the decency to end the series, like actually end it, when it should have ended, finished, fini, in the book called The End.

*mysterious voice*
Ahhhhhh, but it has recently been announced that The End is not really the end and that three more books are in the works. *fangirl squee*

I want the stories to follow Baby Beatrice (Kit Snicket's baby, adopted by the Bauds in the 13th book), because I think from her point of view we can find out what happened to the Bauds and VFD next.

[ZigZag]

I would totally be happy if that's what they ended up being about (maybe they could be about her search for the Baudelaire's after they were separated). But I want them to be a sequel about how the schism happened and what parts various characters (Beatrice and Bertrand Baudelaire, Esme Squalor, the Snicket siblings) played in it.

[SunnyHawaii]

*mysterious voice*
Ahhhhhh, but it has recently been announced that The End is not really the end and that three more books are in the works. *fangirl squee*

I want the stories to follow Baby Beatrice (Kit Snicket's baby, adopted by the Bauds in the 13th book), because I think from her point of view we can find out what happened to the Bauds and VFD next.

Yes, I did hear a little whisper of that earlier. :p But I thought I heard four books, not three. :confused:


But I have a question: Did he actually say it would have to do with ASOUE? I mean, what if they were completely different books, a different story altogether?!

[nevermore]

All we know is it's definitely going back to that whole VFD world, but no word yet on whether it's about the bauds or a whole different story. Whatever he does, I have complete faith in him.
I'm actually very content with the way the first 13 ended. I honestly think it's the best, most snicket-like ending the series could have ever had. I suggest you wait until you're older (say twenties or so) and re-read the whole series from start to finish. The ending will have a lot more meaning to you, and will knock your socks off. There's a lot of reading between the lines and literary theory you have to apply to the ending, which requires a lot more schooling under your belt, but I'll tell you--I re-read the series after I completed a university degree in English Literature, and I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's one of the most perfect endings in literary history.

Four books, three books, nine books. Whatever. :p
So long as he's writing more books!