*

[ninety6tears]

So, for my Tana French people, I have to pass on these little tibits somebody shared on Tumblr. Um.

"She knows exactly what happened in the woods but isn’t going to tell us yet (if ever)"



I mean, is this news to everyone or just to me? But of course she does. I have long suspected that she actually does, and excuse me while I feel entirely vindicated about all of the critics who felt the unresolved nature of In the Woods was lazy. She has said that she couldn't come up with a way for Rob to come across the answer that felt true to the character and couldn't come up with a way for the answer to come to him that didn't feel all deus ex machina, and when she said that I wondered if it was possible she actually had worked out what happened and just didn't feel it was best for the story to give it away.

I'm kind of, I don't know, equally excited and uneasy about it and would probably be completely okay with her never revealing what happened, but if she was ever going to I think waiting quite a while to do it was the right thing to do. I just don't want Rob Ryan's entire story defined by those events, unless it has a very different, possibly more healthy resonance with where she might take him next if/when she makes him a main character again.


I really can't believe I haven't cracked open Broken Harbor yet, but I'm in the middle of a couple trilogies I think I want to finish first.

Comments

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Yes! She talks about this thing in that podcast I linked. How Rob was running and running the entire book... It's around the 25 minute mark I think more or less.

I have to say though for the first time after Broken Harbor, I felt like if she did outline more ahead of time the book would have been more satisfying. :/

[ninety6tears.livejournal.com]

I do think all of the events that happen in ITW are just fine, but I can't help wondering if there's something about the whole flow of it that may have worked a little better if she'd known where it was ending the entire time. (Personally I've fallen out of the habit of outlining but I can't imagine just like free-writing my way into something like a murder mystery like she apparently does, so I kind of admire it but at the same time it probably wouldn't hurt to do more planning.)

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

I guess, and she says as much in the podcast, it just ends up meaning a lot more rewriting later when you figure it out. I'm lazy so I like to outline so i don't have to do as much work later. Ha, Also I like having my ducks in a row.

[ninety6tears.livejournal.com]

I think I end up just hesitating to write until I'm more sure of what I'm doing when I don't outline; I always have to be fairly confident I'm not going to have to rewrite, which can be stubborn and unproductive, but meh.

[cosetteferaud.livejournal.com]

LOL, THAT GIF

Yup, I am with you. It’s always been very difficult for me to contemplate the idea that Tana wrote In the Woods without knowing what happened to Jamie and Peter. I always assumed that she knew, or at least that she had a general idea even if she hadn’t work out all the details. Anyway, this might sound a bit odd because this is a mystery we are talking about, but maybe because I am far from a mystery purist I don’t care that much? And I am just fine with the possibility that we never know. *shrugs* All I really want is to read more from Rob, because I love him and he breaks my heart and I need to know that he is going to be OK, eventually (Also, I have to admit that though I am dying for her to go back to Rob and Cassie, I admire Tana’s choice of creating those incredibly fascinating characters and then walking away from them instead of making the typical crime series).

Obviously, now I am thrilled to hear that she has in mind to bring my bbs back! I don’t really know about Cass because she seemed in a good place (??)
after The Likeness, but I definitely want to see Rob grow as a human being. And I trust Tana that when/if she goes back to him, it will be for the right reasons. It might take a while, but I am good at waiting, so it’s OK :) --Personally, I wouldn’t mind to read a redeeming storyline for him because I am absolutely fed up with those reviews saying that he is a jerk and a horrible person and a PSYCHOPATH (WTF?) and well, such stuff, you know :P

As for Broken Harbour… I have mixed feelings about it. It’s definitely my least favorite of Tana's books, possibly because Scorcher is not my type of character at all and I couldn't connect with him, but I can see what she was trying to accomplish and I appreciate that. Personally, I ended up liking it… The mystery was quite interesting and horrifying, and I liked Mick and Richie’s partnership and all the social commentary/rant… It's definitely better than most of the stuff I read, so.

[ninety6tears.livejournal.com]

I admire Tana’s choice of creating those incredibly fascinating characters and then walking away from them instead of making the typical crime series Yeah, I think it works well because, as she says in the podcast Tara posted, she prefers to write about these rare life-changing periods in people's lives and you just can't have the same characters bombarded with so many personally emotional things without it feeling unrealistic.

I have never understood even reading Rob as a sociopath or anything - I mean, I think some people are geared up for a twist when he warns them about how dishonest he is at the beginning of the book so they take him with a grain of salt, but he is sooo sentimental about some things that he wouldn't bother sharing if he didn't actually care. It's okay to think Rob is a total dick but some of that is just not making much of an attempt to understand him.

It's funny that I pre-ordered BH and everything and now it's just sitting there while I finish other things...My interest is definitely still there but part of me has moved on to being more excited about her fifth book.

[cosetteferaud.livejournal.com]

I remember you saying that it drove you nuts when people said Rob was a terrible detective… Well, I think I can deal with that but can’t stand when they say he is a despicable human being. Acting like a jerk doesn’t mean being a jerk. I think it’s pretty clear that Rob is a messed-up individual but doesn’t qualify *at all* as a psychopath. I thought he felt too much and too deeply, actually, and I don’t care what he says about him lying at the beginning of the story, I found him endearingly honest for the most part. It still baffles me when I read this particular take on the character because it makes me wonder if we read the same book.

The fifth novel (I read somewhere it's provisionally called The Secret Place) sounds interesting! I liked Stephen in FP and I am quite excited to hear that Frank will show up :D