one of the best-worst things about these books are the long stretches where I don’t know if ANYTHING I’M READING is really happening. I mean this sincerely.
And like, the parts where I start to doubt it are often not ... that much weirder than the rest of the books? Sometimes gorier (but not all that much); sometimes more ridiculous (DEFINITELY a hard bar to clear); sometimes a little more Jack-specific or tropey than they feel like they should be.
Like, there’s the level of ‘some of these things don’t actually happen’ (which we know happens at least a little) and also the level of ‘Jack is a self-pronounced unreliable narrator (potentially way less so than he thinks he is and potentially way more!) , and everything is in first person so little to none of this is verifiable by outside source’
It’d be unsatisfying to me to have the conclusion actually be ‘and actually he’s delusional and most of these people don’t exist or do but never did this stuff’ or some crap
but the fact that it COULD be true (at the point where I’m at) IS fantastic if that makes sense
I would absolutely categorize Tales as gothic btw because it fulfills the main requirements imo: A) the horror of mistrusting sanity is at least as big a deal as the horrific events B) the setting haunts the narrative (and is in a state of decay) and is kind of inescapable C) the past intrudes on the present D) looming fear is a constant element
Like. It doesn’t sound like a gothic series because it’s modern and snarky but it TOTALLY is (in much the way Gideon The Ninth is. Harrow the Ninth is more obviously one but GTN absolutely still is one: more in some ways, it’s just that Harrow’s more explicitly about madness while Gideon ... I mean Gideon is the Jerry, in multiple ways)
(Gideon and Harrow would be a healthier relationship if they were more bromance and less yearning, probably, though: let’s not turn Jack and Jerry into Griddlehark.)
Anyway! On that note-ish: HEAD IN A BOX! Which is what prompted this. ...Sort of. (Every single holiday...🎵 yeah I caught that reference. Which was good bc I would have made it if it hadn’t been there.)
And now I should get back to stuff so I can tag later
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: Yeaaah I thought I’d throw in some context for my meta TO BE CLEAR I have been mulling over the gothic-ness of this series already bc that’s how I do but. I got into this part and was already like and then the devil showed up
Also the brief mention of child mimics FUCKED ME UP -- even being like ‘there’s NO WAY this is actually happening’ (I mean, even Jack’s comment about the word mimic is better proof that it’s not!) adjsfl it’s such a fucked up thing to imagine him experiencing
I think that echoes something I ...feel like we were talking about -- something the books do so well is get you into the unreality/liminal space (/what is “real”/it doesn’t matter if it’s NOT real, the experience is) and I think that’s another reason 3 is taking me a little longer, because the experience of empathizing with someone as they spiral is A LOT
like - even if everything in that section WAS actually happening, Jack trying to hold shit together while out of cash, the only thing he really DOES with his life is collapsing - it’s SO DISTRESSING! and there’s like this echoing cyclone of weird shit that reflects it, which is fantastic writing:
one thing I love to consider with the hindsight of knowledge that Jack is a little bit supernatural, is... beyond just what's real and what's fake, there's also the question of how much Jack is accidentally manifesting himself
because of his slightly psychic slightly impossible reality bendery nature, is his deteriorating mental state causing any of the insane shit happening around him?
(Also the concept of ‘it doesn’t matter if it’s not real,’ has me thinking about psychosis/delusion and like, both people I’ve known and people who’ve talked online about how to deal with that and like - the way liminal spaces and reality twisting in fiction works as an analogy - ANYWAY)
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: I LOVE that idea. Like, I’m spoiled for that obv bc of the RP but haven’t gotten to the explanation (well, or.....not ALL of it?? Unless I missed something?) in the books -- but that’s a PERFECT idea, and I like the concept that we just can’t know
You haven't gotten to it yet, it's mostly in Bedside Manor and then volume 4, but the thing is lmao Tales never ever gives clear explanations for anything so even when you get there it won't clear up much
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: It’s so good for red string fans XD I don’t actually WANT a definitive answer all the time (sometimes that drives me crazy, but half the time when people try to wrap looming questions up it’s just ...vaguely disappointing?)
Who knows! I love it!
but the fact that it COULD be true (at the point where I’m at) IS fantastic if that makes sense
and so are the ‘waaait a minute’ parts
which is why I like gothic horror !
A) the horror of mistrusting sanity is at least as big a deal as the horrific events
B) the setting haunts the narrative (and is in a state of decay) and is kind of inescapable
C) the past intrudes on the present
D) looming fear is a constant element
Which is what prompted this. ...Sort of.
(Every single holiday...🎵 yeah I caught that reference. Which was good bc I would have made it if it hadn’t been there.)
And now I should get back to stuff so I can tag later
TO BE CLEAR I have been mulling over the gothic-ness of this series already bc that’s how I do
but. I got into this part and was already like
and then the devil showed up
YES. Plurk just refreshed, ha