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A review by beynotce
The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler
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.