|
|
Post by THE LADY OF MIDNIGHT on Jan 20, 2009 20:41:50 GMT -5
Hello everyone!
BEGINS: JAN 28
CHAPTER: Prologue - The Mission
I am posting this thread to make all aware that on Wed Jan 28, 2009 you all can begin discussing in this thread anything that has to do with the first chapter of the Abarat.
This also includes - The poem by Clive Barker at the very beginning and - The poem "The Mission".
Please remember to wait until said date so everyone has a chance to read the chapter of think of things they'd like to bring to the floor. If any one discussion point comes up that seems really interesting and others want to go further it with it let me suggest the starter of the topic begin a new thread for it so it doesn't congest this thread. I can't wait to hear all the points you want to bring up that you liked, dislikes, thought was interesting or whatnot. Thanks.
NEXT WEEK: FEB 4
CHAPTER: 1 - Room Nineteen
|
|
|
|
Post by THE LADY OF MIDNIGHT on Jan 28, 2009 16:39:15 GMT -5
Well today is the day.... where is everyone?
|
|
|
|
Post by Abaratian on Jan 28, 2009 21:30:52 GMT -5
Is no one else going to post?  Well... um... I don't really have anything to "discuss" per say, but this chapter, for me, is the one that poses the most questions. Here are the questions I feel are still unanswered. Maybe you guys can just give me opinions on these, or make up some ideas of your own answers? 1) Why did they take their cargo to Hereafter? 2) Why is this mission "holy" in their opinion? Isn't it the exact opposite, since they're messing with fate, life, and death? 3) How did they get Boa's soul in the box? More importantly, how did they do it without anyone noticing? 4) Why is Diamanda the leader? 5) Will we find out Joephi's and Mespa's stories? Also... I think the opening is the greatest book opening ever. It's so powerful and just dripping with delicious imagery. As for the poems, I absolutely love the nameless first one. But The Mission confuses me. I don't see how it applies yet to the story at all, but maybe it's foreshadowing something? |
|
|
|
Post by THE LADY OF MIDNIGHT on Jan 28, 2009 22:50:59 GMT -5
Thank you so much for starting us off AbaratianxSlasher!
Those are some great questions you've asked.
I must say I really get a kick out of "How did they get Boa's soul in the box?" thats a bloody good question!
1. Ok I'm thinking that the Abarat's turmoil and wars between night and day make it unsafe for Boa's soul's keeper. So they took it out of their world hoping that it could grow and settle in its new body without trouble or anyone interfering. I dunno if this has anything to do with anything but Candy's eyes are 2 different colors. So dark and light, night and day. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul so I find it interesting that Boa's soul is squished in Candy's body with her. If Boa would have married Carrion then there would be a better union between night and day right?
2. Now that Boa's soul has a body the holy mission might be that she has the chance to make things right in the Abarat by getting Carrion to fall for Candy. Or maybe its just that she has another shot at love with Finnegan. Its all confusing.
3. The Fantamoya seem to be like Goddesses of the Abarat even though they have their own Goddesses they pray to. It shows this never ending circle of higher powers. I'm thinking they must have some sort of power, maybe not magic per say but power of some sort that allowed them to harnass Boa's soul as if it were completely tangible.
4. Maybe its like a Narnia thing. You know how Narnia was only right when a daughter of Eve or a son of Adam was in charge? Maybe someone from the Hereafter has to be in power somehow for things to be right. Diamanda came from the Hereafter or atleast lived there long enough to marry Murkitt. Now Candy is coming, maybe she'll be the next to be in that power. Joephi and Mespa are not from the Hereafter but they look human from the paintings. Their ancestors must have come from the Hereafter then right? Wait do we know why Diamanda left Murkitt (looks in the book....)?
5. Maybe Joephi and Mespa came from other dimensions too?
I agree that the opening of the book is very powerful. It definatly reels the reader in.
The Mission Poem...
3 has always been associated with divine power hasn't it? The Romans loved the number 3. They thought it was lucky and used it frequently in their stories.
|
|
|
|
Post by Abaratian on Jan 28, 2009 23:25:13 GMT -5
This is really skipping ahead, so I'm not sure if it's okay to post... but this is something I've wanted to discuss... If it's too far ahead, just delete it and I'll post it when we get to the later chapters.
Does anyone else think Princess Boa was being... well... a terrible person? First of all, she writes all of those letters to Carrion, always leading him on, almost like she's toying with him. She speaks kindly, never says no, and really has him around her little finger. I understand the concept of being friendly, trying not to hurt his feelings, but there's a point where that crosses a line. Then she drops him like a bag of garbage. After that, she marries Finnegan. I sort of see that as selfish. Yes, she loves Finnegan, but marrying Carrion would have united the islands, been good for all the thousands and thousands of people living on the islands, and could have ended all wars.
I'm not saying she deserved to die, but... maybe the Fantomaya shouldn't have saved her soul? I mean... ehh... she didn't exactly get what was coming to her, because I don't wish death on anyone. But she died, she made some selfish choices, why get involved? Why bother trying to save her soul, when she was just sort of a spoiled princess? (all royals and leaders have to make sacrifices for the good of their countries)
I guess that just goes to show that a huge theme of this book is that there is no straight up good or evil. Everyone's shady and has flaws.
But I don't sympathize with Boa at all so far, and I think maybe the Fantomaya thinks too highly of her?
|
|
|
|
Post by THE LADY OF MIDNIGHT on Jan 28, 2009 23:45:28 GMT -5
No you're fine. You can skip ahead if you want. No one else is saying anything and I just want to get some discussions going  Yeah I don't know what Boa was thinking when she did that to Carrion. Maybe the Fantamoya are punishing her in a way. If they are able to get her back to that Abarat and Carrion falls for Cand she'd have to be with him anyways... if that makes sense... Yes I love how this book shows there is no plain good or evil. Everyone has many layers making it hard to distinguish exactly where they stand. |
|
|
|
Post by RedStockings on Feb 1, 2009 9:32:37 GMT -5
Admin, I can’t find the post that discussed what we could include in the way of spoilers, so I’m not sure if I’m allowed to speculate this far ahead in the books, but… Three women make the choice to take Boa’s soul to the hereafter; it’s not something divine. Therefore the possibility of that choice being wrong is, what, fifty fifty? I have a question that always stayed on my mind throughout the whole book. Who sends the storm?Later we learn that Mater Motley can control the weather, so I sort of assumed it might have been her. But now I’m not so sure. I’m worried that this seemingly small event in the book will in fact turn out to be something much more ominous. I agree with you AbaratianxSlasher that this chapter could be some awesome foreshadowing. How does Boa’s soul get into the box? I always thought they had gone to the twenty fifth hour for some magical help. But I can’t remember whether I invented that or it was in the book later on.  I can’t imagine that ripping someone’s soul out of, wherever it went, would be a quiet process. Someone must have noticed. Or at least Motley must have noticed, in order to know that Boa’s soul was within Candy. As for choosing the hereafter, they must think it’s the safest place. In the Abarat she’d always be a target. Plus if Diamanda once lived in the hereafter, she’ll know that the Abarat has no influence there. |
|
|
|
Post by Abaratian on Feb 1, 2009 11:04:33 GMT -5
"Who sent the storm?" was in my notes, too, but then the women sort of agree that they might have just upset the natural order, so I didn't think to mention it. It could be important in the future, but it could just be a storm. I don't want to predict too much until we get some more clues.
I didn't remember Mater Motley being able to control the weather. That could be the answer, but how would she have noticed it? And why would she have not done anything about it in the past?
So many questions!! I hope we get all of our answers! Clive's been pretty good about tying up loose ends in the past, but with something this epic it might be difficult.
|
|
gaz
Idjit
Choose the lesser of two evils.[Mo0:0]
Posts: 41
|
Post by gaz on Feb 1, 2009 13:48:19 GMT -5
I'm sure other people have made this connection too, but my sister and me always connect some of the main characters with Phantom of the Opera. Boa is a lot like Christine, Finnegan like Raoul and Chris like the Phantom. And I agree it did almost seem like Boa was stringing Carrion along. Once he started to get more persistent about marriage then she had to change her tactics. Which was to unceremoniously crush his hopes like a thingyroach on your kitchen floor.
Granted, we really don't know a whole lot about her. We know she loved Finnegan and to Carrion fans, toyed with our guy.
|
|
|
|
Post by Abaratian on Feb 1, 2009 15:29:11 GMT -5
Phantom of the Opera is one of my favorite books. I have to say, I really love romances where one party is a very unlikely candidate for a love story. Same goes with the Quasimodo-Esmeralda-Phoebus thing from Hunchback of Notre Dame.
In all of these stories, though, even though I really sympathize with the "monster" character, my dislike for the female character makes me not want them to get together. So I don't really want Christopher to end up with Boa in the same way I never really wanted Erik to end up with Christine or Quasimodo to end up with Esmeralda. The girls represent a lot of things I dislike and disagree with.
|
|
gaz
Idjit
Choose the lesser of two evils.[Mo0:0]
Posts: 41
|
Post by gaz on Feb 1, 2009 15:51:06 GMT -5
That's a good point. Even though it's upsetting that Boa crushed Carrion I never really wanted them to be together anyway. I just wish she would have handled the whole situation better than she did.
|
|
NoxLight
Pyon
[A:0]
Letheo Fan![Mo0:0]
Posts: 79
|
Post by NoxLight on Feb 2, 2009 19:18:45 GMT -5
Woah, I forgot about this in the excitement over the RP ;;;>_> One of my favorite lines in the books is this first one: "The storm came up out of the southwest like a fiend, stalking its prey on legs of lightning."It gave me goosebumps in summer! Usually I dislike/don't pay attention in passages like this that are made up of foreshadowing and 'things that you'll get later'. That being said, I liked that we got immediately into topics of the sea and stolen souls and other woefully uncommon things. It alerted me that a book I should not miss out on was to follow  I think the women of the Fantomaya are going to get a bit more story. However, if they don't I won't be mad. They seem like the type of mysterious character that doesn't have the need to get an interesting past, they just exist. Like how facts aren't for anyone to like or dislike, they just are. Does that make sense? I also like the poem. It's like the literary equivalent of a black screen and foreboding music at the beginning of a movie like LOTR or Narnia ;D |
|
|
|
Post by Abaratian on Feb 6, 2009 15:09:08 GMT -5
This just occurred to me: Shouldn't this be called "Official Abarat Book Discussion - Prologue" instead of Chapter 1? Since the next one would be Chapter 1?
|
|
rawk
Idjit
Posts: 44 
|
Post by rawk on Mar 22, 2009 22:38:16 GMT -5
Is it just me or does the Prologue echo Macbeth?
3 witches... Going through with a questionable mission, :/
|
|
|
|
Post by Abaratian on Mar 23, 2009 10:15:14 GMT -5
Oooh, never thought of that before... maybe it was an intentional thing? Now I fear I'm going to be going through the books searching for Shakespeare ties...
|
|
rawk
Idjit
Posts: 44
|
Post by rawk on Mar 23, 2009 10:51:04 GMT -5
Oooh, never thought of that before... maybe it was an intentional thing? Now I fear I'm going to be going through the books searching for Shakespeare ties... That's the only real one that I could find, but I'm not a big Shakespeare reader,  If you find any more let us know! |
|
I can’t imagine that ripping someone’s soul out of, wherever it went, would be a quiet process. Someone must have noticed. Or at least Motley must have noticed, in order to know that Boa’s soul was within Candy.
