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beynotce's review against another edition
5.0
This book was, on its face, so tremendously appealing to me that I have put off reading it for literally years for fear of being disappointed. I WAS NOT. It's deliciously tropey and self-aware enough about it that it makes even the most heinously abused YA tropes (authorial self-insert, for one) work without feeling like it's taking its own status as 'satire' too seriously (which is the death knell for most satire, honestly).
The twist ending to this was more of an unwinding than a twist, which I personally found to be its saving grace. It was so heavily foreshadowed that I began to strongly suspect it was coming on page 99, to the point where I think people who felt betrayed by it (as people are wont to do with these kind of endings) possibly weren't paying attention? And maybe that makes me sound a bit like Flan myself but I don't really care.
Flannery's complete unreliability as a narrator makes it impossible to clearly parse what 'really' happened from what Flan is confused about now from what Flan was confused about then from what Flan isn't confused about but is adding or changing to promote her own agenda. That would be annoying as fuck IF it weren't made explicitly clear that that is what is happening virtually from page one, PLUS Handler is such a master at narrative voice that god help me, I totally fall for it.
Discussion Questions:
1. Did you realize that this book predates A Series of Unfortunate Events? Compare and constrast Flannery Culp's narrative voice and personality with Lemony Snicket's. Does Lemony Snicket exist? Does Flannery Culp? Does Daniel Handler? Why or why not?
2. Did you know that Daniel Handler's second novel, Watch Your Mouth, has been described as an "incest opera"? If not, why not? If so, why have you not made this reviewer aware of that fact before now? Do you think this was the right choice? Please explain.
The twist ending to this was more of an unwinding than a twist, which I personally found to be its saving grace. It was so heavily foreshadowed that I began to strongly suspect it was coming on page 99, to the point where I think people who felt betrayed by it (as people are wont to do with these kind of endings) possibly weren't paying attention? And maybe that makes me sound a bit like Flan myself but I don't really care.
Flannery's complete unreliability as a narrator makes it impossible to clearly parse what 'really' happened from what Flan is confused about now from what Flan was confused about then from what Flan isn't confused about but is adding or changing to promote her own agenda. That would be annoying as fuck IF it weren't made explicitly clear that that is what is happening virtually from page one, PLUS Handler is such a master at narrative voice that god help me, I totally fall for it.
Discussion Questions:
1. Did you realize that this book predates A Series of Unfortunate Events? Compare and constrast Flannery Culp's narrative voice and personality with Lemony Snicket's. Does Lemony Snicket exist? Does Flannery Culp? Does Daniel Handler? Why or why not?
2. Did you know that Daniel Handler's second novel, Watch Your Mouth, has been described as an "incest opera"? If not, why not? If so, why have you not made this reviewer aware of that fact before now? Do you think this was the right choice? Please explain.
mattlefevers's review against another edition
2.0
Fight Club ruined a lot of books for me.
I found The Basic Eight on a list of postmodern books, or maybe a list of unreliable narrators, I'm not sure. I have read Daniel Handler's Why We Broke Up (really liked it) and the first Lemony Snicket book (liked it well enough) so this seemed like a no-brainer for me. Books with odd narrative structures, meta-textual tricks, or postmodern narrators are what I live for.
I was surprised how hard this one was for me to get into. The format is great -- the entire story is framed as a high school journal that is being typed up (and heavily edited) in the modern day by its author, the now 20-year-old Flannery Culp. In a parody of high school English courses, each chapter ends with three or four study group questions and a list of vocabulary words, many of which I'm pretty sure are nowhere in their corresponding chapters. The tone of the study questions was reminiscent of GLaDOS from the Portal games, sort of formal and businesslike with a layer of malice and sarcasm hiding underneath. The framing device of having the diary entries written in real time but the editorial comments written later gives an extremely unreliable tone to the story, as Flannery inserts foreshadowing into the narration and sometimes even ends a story by confessing that it never happened, or not quite like that. These slippery twists and turns are what I loved about the book, and what kept me turning pages.
The characters and story, however, I'm not so sure of. Flannery is supremely unlikeable, and most of her friends and love interests are no better. I don't demand that my fictional characters be super nice (I love Arrested Development and plenty of other fiction where there is hardly any clear person to root for) but the Basic Eight (her clique) are not as clever as they think they are, and not as interesting as I'd like them to be. The story amounts to little more than high school drama, with a revolving door of will-they-won't-they couples that I didn't really care about because they were all so selfishly obtuse. The tension climaxes in a long, surreal chapter at a party that is written in such fractured stream-of-consciousness that it made *me* feel drunk reading it. This ending is a testament to Handler's writing skill -- the loopy, distracted narration is perfect for conveying a drunken mental breakdown -- but as it dragged on I lost patience with the suspense, turning page after page after page waiting for the twists to click into place in the satisfying way I was sure he was building up to.
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
And here is where Fight Club comes in. In the same way that M. Night Shyamalan is the last person who will ever be able to pull off the "he was a ghost" twist, everything I have read or watched since Fight Club has failed at surprising me with an imaginary character twist. It's not the author's fault -- in this case, Basic Eight was written only a year or two after Fight Club and well before Secret Window and many others -- but I puzzled out the answer about halfway through the book, and the remaining half was an irritating wait for the story to catch up. I was very let down to discover in the last few pages that Handler had no more tricks up his sleeve, and the only surprise was the one he had telegraphed pretty early. The thing with an unreliable narrator is that when you figure out their game, the rest of the story should reveal itself in retrospect, and I feel like there are still plenty of mysteries and questions that the ending never explains. You never want to end a book with a feeling of frustration welling up in you, an aggravated "really? that's it?" your only response, and that's where this left me.
I found The Basic Eight on a list of postmodern books, or maybe a list of unreliable narrators, I'm not sure. I have read Daniel Handler's Why We Broke Up (really liked it) and the first Lemony Snicket book (liked it well enough) so this seemed like a no-brainer for me. Books with odd narrative structures, meta-textual tricks, or postmodern narrators are what I live for.
I was surprised how hard this one was for me to get into. The format is great -- the entire story is framed as a high school journal that is being typed up (and heavily edited) in the modern day by its author, the now 20-year-old Flannery Culp. In a parody of high school English courses, each chapter ends with three or four study group questions and a list of vocabulary words, many of which I'm pretty sure are nowhere in their corresponding chapters. The tone of the study questions was reminiscent of GLaDOS from the Portal games, sort of formal and businesslike with a layer of malice and sarcasm hiding underneath. The framing device of having the diary entries written in real time but the editorial comments written later gives an extremely unreliable tone to the story, as Flannery inserts foreshadowing into the narration and sometimes even ends a story by confessing that it never happened, or not quite like that. These slippery twists and turns are what I loved about the book, and what kept me turning pages.
The characters and story, however, I'm not so sure of. Flannery is supremely unlikeable, and most of her friends and love interests are no better. I don't demand that my fictional characters be super nice (I love Arrested Development and plenty of other fiction where there is hardly any clear person to root for) but the Basic Eight (her clique) are not as clever as they think they are, and not as interesting as I'd like them to be. The story amounts to little more than high school drama, with a revolving door of will-they-won't-they couples that I didn't really care about because they were all so selfishly obtuse. The tension climaxes in a long, surreal chapter at a party that is written in such fractured stream-of-consciousness that it made *me* feel drunk reading it. This ending is a testament to Handler's writing skill -- the loopy, distracted narration is perfect for conveying a drunken mental breakdown -- but as it dragged on I lost patience with the suspense, turning page after page after page waiting for the twists to click into place in the satisfying way I was sure he was building up to.
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
And here is where Fight Club comes in. In the same way that M. Night Shyamalan is the last person who will ever be able to pull off the "he was a ghost" twist, everything I have read or watched since Fight Club has failed at surprising me with an imaginary character twist. It's not the author's fault -- in this case, Basic Eight was written only a year or two after Fight Club and well before Secret Window and many others -- but I puzzled out the answer about halfway through the book, and the remaining half was an irritating wait for the story to catch up. I was very let down to discover in the last few pages that Handler had no more tricks up his sleeve, and the only surprise was the one he had telegraphed pretty early. The thing with an unreliable narrator is that when you figure out their game, the rest of the story should reveal itself in retrospect, and I feel like there are still plenty of mysteries and questions that the ending never explains. You never want to end a book with a feeling of frustration welling up in you, an aggravated "really? that's it?" your only response, and that's where this left me.
tac107's review against another edition
5.0
I thought I wasn't going to like this book because I didn't like a single character in it, even a little. The adults are all myopic and useless and the teenage characters are hopelessly pretentious. You would definitely not want to hang around these kids in real life.
And yet, I stayed up late to finish this book in one day because it was so gripping. You learn the end in a very casual way at the beginning, and you have to figure out how you get there. I admit that I figured out the plot twist in advance but it did not, in any way, dilute the story. It still felt satisfying when I got to the conclusion. The characters get what they deserve in the end - all of them. The book is written in such a twisting and turning way that you pick up crumbs of the plot and hints of what's to come as you go, but never in a way that makes you want to stop reading.
And yet, I stayed up late to finish this book in one day because it was so gripping. You learn the end in a very casual way at the beginning, and you have to figure out how you get there. I admit that I figured out the plot twist in advance but it did not, in any way, dilute the story. It still felt satisfying when I got to the conclusion. The characters get what they deserve in the end - all of them. The book is written in such a twisting and turning way that you pick up crumbs of the plot and hints of what's to come as you go, but never in a way that makes you want to stop reading.
megancrusante's review against another edition
5.0
I LOVED THIS. Loved it. I figured out the twist a bit before I was supposed to, but the reveal was amazing and just everything about this was what I love in a book.
teressac's review against another edition
1.0
Very rarely do I give up on a book. I usually push through, hate reading just so I can say I finished it. But I’m starting to realize life is too short to read books you don’t enjoy. This book wasn’t for me- almost 50% done and not engaged by any of the dozens of characters, the main characters desperate attempts at elitist wittiness, just boring. I know I would never be friends with a group like this when I was a teenager and I don’t enjoy reading about them either, fictional as they may be.
bps's review
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Homophobia
martewin's review against another edition
5.0
Right now the only thing that comes to my mind is: wow. I loved this. Maybe I should read it again.
beckydham's review against another edition
3.0
It's like you want to take a wrench and tighten it up in the places where it needs to fixed, to hold together at that speed. But then where it does rev up, you feel kind of scared and exhilarated at how fast he's able to drive this thing.
a_well_read_life's review against another edition
4.0
I've never read anything quite like this book. It isn't often that a book that tells you who was murdered and who committed the crime right up front manages to surprise you and keep you guessing but this book did. The closer I got to the murder the more difficult this book became to put down. I found the progression of Flannery's narration to be particularly interesting. If you like books with unreliable narrators this is about as unreliable as they get. This was my first time reading something by Daniel Handler rather than "Lemony Snicket" but you could definitely see glimpses of the writing style that people love in the Series of Unfortunate Events books. A good read, but not for the faint of heart.
stellaar's review against another edition
4.0
Yes it was about a murder after all.. and yes i am still confused on what really happenned and what i just read. brilliant