BLACKWOOD FARM, CHAPTER EIGHT, PART THREE
May. 27th, 2015 02:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
a_sporking_ratIt occurred to me that there's one big reason that Anita will never come out as trans despite how much of a guy she says she is: A girl who is "one of the boys" and "thinks like a guy" is special. A guy who does is not.
Speaking of AB, what is it with fucking vampire novels?! Or movies, in this case:
http://morethanprinceofcats.tumblr.com/post/119405087654/forthegothicheroine-in-haunted-castle
http://morethanprinceofcats.tumblr.com/post/119408733859/forthegothicheroine-morethanprinceofcats-said
Remember how I've been mentioning that Anne Rice, unlike LKH, does understand the concept of different POVs for different characters and how a character, even a protagonist, can be wrong? It just hit me---the instances I was thinking of were only ever used to exonerate her favorites. See, in Interview, the protagonist Louis spins us a tale of fabulous villain Lestat and how delightfully awful he is, and fans fell in love with him, and I think Anne Rice did too...so when she wrote the sequel, from Lestat's POV, he tells us how that's all a bunch of bunk and he's not so bad, really. Taking these two things on their own, it's just two conflicting narratives of the same story, which is, in my opinion, a pretty good thing, with the reader left to figure out who they believe, or if the truth lies somewhere in-between.
But taken in the context of all her works afterwards, it's the beginning of her descent into Lestat-worship, where she wants him to be considered the biggest and baddest vampire ever but also not ever do anything wrong or have anyone mad at him.
Another villain in Interview that would later become a protagonist with his own book is Armand, the beautiful eternal teenager with long auburn hair who skeeves me right the fuck out in concept alone, and who basically gets used for Anne Rice's fetish fuel from what I know. In Interview, Armand facilitated the execution of Claudia, a truly dreadful deed, just to get Louis for himself. But according to The Vampire Armand, oh no, that's not what happened, instead it was that Claudia herself asked him to give her an adult body, and in return she would leave Louis willingly. So, with Claudia's agreement, he tried to transplant her head on to the body of another female vampire, believing that the healing abilities of vampires would allow her to survive this. But it didn't work, and he put her in the sun with Madeleine (the woman turned to be her caretaker and companion) because she was dying anyway. So not only is Armand not so bad, look, poor Claudia's tragic murder was in fact not a murder, it was a botched surgery she wanted and thus is her own fault! So don't be mad at poor widdle pretty Armand, everybody!
Again, this could be interesting, if not for the fact that, again, it's ONLY used for the ones who become her FAVORITES, and really, in my opinion, for the most shallow fangirly of reasons. I have read less VC than many of you, so I welcome correction if I'm wrong here, but I don't know of an instance where Armand or Lestat or one of her other darlings gets egg thrown in THEIR face by a big reveal like this, or where one of the characters we're supposed to DISLIKE---not dashing villains like Lestat, who even at his most wicked was still meant to be a Magnificent Bastard, but unsympathetic sorts like the reviled Patsy that the author clearly has no fondness for---is shown to be in the right about something? Especially at the expense of an Author's Darling?
Oh yeah, and speaking of exonerating her darlings---I looked ahead, the bride that Quinn kills is a nameless "tart" who just randomly tries to have sex with him on her wedding night and that's how he ends up killing her. His maker reprimands him for killing her when there was "a sea of killers" he could have fed on at the wedding instead, but let's be real, what seems to be real evil in this book: Being a sexual woman or being a man who is a murderer (especially of sexual women)? Of course precious Quinn would never kill someone who didn't DESERVE it like those awful awful slutty women!
God, this makes me so mad.
I also looked ahead and found out why Patsy hates Quinn---because it turns out he's right, she does hate him, because god forbid he be wrong---and without saying WHY because I don't want to spoil it....while she's wrong for it, I feel that she is, as I've said before, very human and while I might not like her as a person in this regard, I do feel for her and find her complex, both of which is more than I can thus far say for Quinn. For instance, when I disagree with what she does and how she feels, I at least GET it, I understand it, and while it is an awful thing, it doesn't feel like something you'd have to be an awful person to feel, just a human being with flawed human logic. And I'm not asked to see it as NOT being awful either. Whereas when Quinn does awful things, I don't connect empathetically with him or his reasons at all, I think you indeed would have to be an awful person to do it, and on top of all that I'm asked to not view it as awful.
While Anne Rice does have real talent, I do wonder if her popularity and acclaim isn't, like LKH, due in a good deal by simply having been very early on this scene and thus everyone's fave simply by default, because otherwise I don't see how the hell she's considered as good a writer as she is.
BLACKWOOD FARM, CHAPTER EIGHT, PART THREE
Quinn tells us that Lynnelle drives really fast but that the one time she almost got a speeding ticket she lied her way out of it really well, then gushes about how “Lynelle was beautiful” because she had made him “a dramatically educated young man” in just six years. Normally I wouldn't take issue with using “beautiful” to describe that, since teaching is indeed a beautiful thing, but given that there's been so much focus on Lynelle's looks, and that her looks were told to us first, it's kind of annoying that an adjective usually used for appearances is what he picks even here. And of course, it can't just be that she educated him, no, he had to wind up doing all the high school graduation exams at just sixteen and then scoring in the top percentile for college exams as well. You know what, Quinn, I still don't consider you smart, and until I hear you actually express an original thought that isn't just spiteful or shallow or parroting things that Rice thinks are cultured, I'm not going to. We heard a lot about Hermione Granger's studying, but we also saw its effects on a regular basis; it wasn't just an informed attribute. And 140 pages in, as the narrator no less, you've had ample time to intellectually impress me but I'm still waiting. Sorry, but I'm really so over being told how bright and gifted that Quinn is when he's yet to display any such quality after this long.
We bounce around some more---Lynnelle taught him to drive, she would have made him a great reader of books but Goblin was too jealous to allow that but his subsequent tutor Nash would manage it—and then Quinn mentions that Goblin seemed to feed off Lynnelle and was getting physically stronger, at which point we go to a moment when Quinn was twelve and Goblin made his computer turn off while he was using it because Goblin wanted to go play outside with Quinn in the rain. Quinn says no, that they're too old for that, and has Goblin pull up a chair to work with him (he's writing a letter to Aunt Queen) and Goblin types, in all one word, that “I am Goblin and Quinn is Goblin and Goblin is Quinn and we love Aunt Queen” and then dissolves from the exhaustion of it. Another time, when Quinn was fourteen, Goblin socked Quinn in the stomach (YAY) so hard it made Quinn sick. Quinn doesn't mention WHY Goblin did that, but he does mention he and Lynnelle had been waltzing to Tchaikovsky earlier that day because THEY ARE VERY CULTURED HIGH-CLASS PEOPLE ARE YOU GETTING THAT YET?!
Lynnelle is shocked by this, but believes Quinn about it, and admits she's felt Goblin pulling her hair on a few occasions. She says he has a strong ghosts, and the moment she does, the gasolier above them begins to shake. I feel like this sort of thing would be better told from a POV besides Quinn, so that instead of us knowing Goblin is objectively real from the start, it'd be more like this gradual Poltergeist buildup of shit. I feel like that'd also work better for the ghosts in the house, the family mysteries, etc. And if it has to be from Quinn's POV, I think that would be better done as something actually happening and that being the story, rather than Quinn recounting it to Lestat just to set up whatever our actual adventure is going to be. Especially since unlike Interview, this isn't supposed to be a memoir, and the bulk of this is so hugely irrelevant and lengthy that it makes me think the sun is going to be up before Quinn gets to recounting the next chapter's worth of pointless self-indulgent babble, sprinkled only with scraps of anything relevant and/or interesting, to Lestat.
Goblin pinches Lynelle on the arm, and Quinn vows to kill Goblin for doing it and writes to Aunt Queen about it. Right, because I'd totally vow to kill my sibling and only friend over pinching somebody else I liked. I don't think Quinn really meant it any more than most fourteen year olds mean anything like that, but I think that it's an unrealistic overreaction for that....then again, Quinn's a spiteful and immature little fuck, so maybe not. Aunt Queen writes back and says he has to control Goblin by punishing him via ignoring him, Quinn asks if this means she believes in Goblin now, AQ says she can't argue with him about Goblin from halfway across the world, that whether he's real or just a subconscious part of Quinn or what Quinn still has to control him. Well, that's pretty sensible, I'd say, and Quinn agrees with her. Quinn then tells us how Aunt Queen “raved about the coherence and style of my letter” and how his progress is due to Lynelle because Quinn is so great and Lynelle is so great. Also, coherence? He's getting complimented just for his letter being understandable when he's a TEENAGER? No wonder everyone thinks he's so gifted and brillaint if THAT'S their standards.
Goblin starts to communicate more by writing via Quinn, and Lynnelle is pretty surprised y this, as anyone would be I expect, but she finds out that she and Quinn can communicate without Goblin understanding by typing to each other on the computer using very big words, because Goblin can't read words on an advanced level (stuff like “Our gallant and ever-vigilant doppelganger” and so on) Lynnelle tries around this time to tell Patsy about all this and Patsy just says they're both crazy. I suppose this is meant to show us what an awful person Patsy is further, but if she's not around much, she probably hasn't seen this kind of evidence of Goblin, especially since he only got so strong recently...and if she has, she might be in denial about it like Sweetheart seems to be about the other ghosts and Quinn seeing them. As for Sweetheart and Pops, Lynnelle tells them about how Goblin's intellect hasn't progressed like Quinn's has as he's aged, they don't respond like Patsy, because we like them, but also they “appeared not to understand the significance” because they're not smart and special like Quinn and Lynnelle, who understand it means Goblin can't read Quinn's mind. Quinn says he thinks they felt Lynnelle, as a teacher, should understand that “this side of my personality” shouldn't be encouraged and Pops got so tough about it one time he made Sweetheart cry, and when Quinn found her sobbing in the kitchen she said she didn't want things to go bad for Quinn the way they did for Patsy.
….Pops is a huge dick, and I'm hoping we start to get a more sympathetic side seen of Patsy for that. But Sweetheart is no prize herself, because you know what she laments about? She doesn't lament about Patsy's emotional pain, of the rift in their family, or even that Patsy wasn't able to be a good mother to Quinn. No, here's what Sweetheart sobs about when it comes to her daughter:
“My daughter could have had a Sweet Sixteen Party in New Orleans. She could have made her debut. She could have been a maid in the Mardi Gras krewes. She could have had all that---Ruthie and I could have managed everything---and instead she chose to be what she is.”
Someone who followed her dreams and lives on her own terms instead of bowing to her backwards slut-shaming father and her classist shallow stage-mom mother and being one more boring Southern belle? Well, good for her. I'm on Team Patsy all the goddamn way.
Quinn's commentary is even better: “I might have pointed out to her that she herself had abandoned all the refinements of New Orleans for the spell of Blackwood Manor, that she had spent her whole life in the kitchen, only leaving it for paid guests. But that would have been mean of me.”
….so he wouldn't have defended Patsy at all, just been sure to insult Sweetheart in some way too. God, Quinn is unpleasant. Also, while he seems to mean that he could have criticized her for being hypocritical (which is really the LEAST of what's wrong with what she said) it comes off to me more like he's judging her for not having stayed a socialite. And we know he has no nice feelings towards Patsy, so his inclination to say this can't be coming from that, so all I can see his reaction as is just natural nastiness on his part. He didn't say it at least, but the fact it went through his mind still says something about him, especially considering Sweetheart is someone he claims to like and love.
Quinn assures Sweetheart there's nothing wrong with him or Lynelle, and both he and Lynelle decide not to talk about Goblin stuff with anyone but Aunt Queen from now on...which I feel is something that really should have been obvious. Or at least, it should have been obvious not to try to convince Quinn's family, who have been living with it this long. What should be equally obvious, however, is to get some scientists down here ASAP to check Goblin out. Goblin's clearly not shy and seems to love being acknowledged, I have no doubt he'd happily perform some poltergeist phenomena if merely asked. How is this not occurring to Lynelle at the very least, if not Quinn?
There's a bit about how Lynelle teaches him Shakespeare and what his favorite Shakespeare movies are, with namedropping of directors and actors and OH MY GOD HOW IS THIS RELEVANT and then there's THIS jarring little bit about his so-called education:
"There are gaps in my education which no one could ever get me to fill. But they don't matter to me. I don't need to know science or algebra or geometry. Literature and history, painting and music, these are my passions."
LYNELLE, YOU ARE THE WORST TUTOR EVER
THEY ARE PAYING YOU INSANELY AND YOU CAN'T FUCKING TEACH THE KID SCIENCE AND MATH?!
Look, I get that Quinn is a stupid spoiled little shit who thinks that he doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want, BUT WHAT THE FUCK LYNELLE?! You know better!
And what about all that BULLSHIT about how he did oh so well on his high school equivalent exams and college entrance exams and shit?! THOSE TESTS INCLUDE MATH AND SCIENCE, ANNE RICE
YOU DON'T GET TO SKIP OUT ON THE PARTS YOU DON'T LIKE
NOT EVEN IF YOU'RE QUINN
I am an English major who studied at a liberal arts college, I STILL HAD REQUISITE MATH AND SCIENCE TESTS TO GET IN AND REQUISITE MATH AND SCIENCE COURSES TO TAKE
YOU CAN'T JUST OPT OUT
IF HE DIDN'T KNOW THIS SHIT, HIS SCORES WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AS SKY-HIGH AS IS CLAIMED
END OF DISCUSSION
I agree that algebra isn't really necessary for the real world most of the time, I really wish I'd been taught about taxes instead of the quadratic formula, but something about his tone is so SMUG that I hate this sentiment simply for coming from him.
Fuck, at least Lestat is the fun, funny kind of smug, you know?
"But let me close out the history of my love of Lynelle."
....because this is entirely relevant to telling Lestat everything you can about GOBLIN whom you say you are so DESPERATE to get rid of. God, how is Lestat standing this? He doesn't seem to me like a guy who would have much patience for such a long, boring, meandering, irrelevant saga of self-absorbed bullshit as this.
Aunt Queen is coming back to the States and wants to take Lynelle and Quinn on a trip to New York. For some reason Quinn mentions that Sweetheart and Pops tell her they're having her room redone in Lynelle's favorite shade of blue, which AQ apparently requested herself. God, this needs an editor. It does serve a purpose, to show closeness between AQ and Lynelle, but it's out of place. Quinn insists on Goblin getting his own seat on the plane (isn't Quinn a teenager now?) and the stewardess even serves Goblin "graciously" (that stewardess is a saint, she's very nice for entertaining what probably seemed a mentally ill young man rather than scoffing and refusing or acting uneasy) Naturally Quinn must mention they rode first class; heaven forbid the reader just assume it, what if they fail to and think he rode COACH?! HORROR!
...sorry, I'm just so done with every little reminder of how richy-rich he is isn't he so rich btw he's rich
and then THIS:
"Though we had suites as big as big as Aunt Queen's, eternally filled with fresh flowers and Aunt Queen's beloved chocolate-covered cherries, Goblin and I bunked with Aunt Queen as we had in the past. I was sixteen by this time, but it doesn't matter much to people whether or not a teenager or even a grown man bunks with his great-aunt or his granny; those are our ways. In fact, to be utterly frank, I was still sleeping with Jasmine's mother, Little Ida, at home, though she was now very old and feeble and sometimes dribbled a bit of urine in the bed."
NO
COMMENT
NO COMMENT
NOT EVEN GONNA GO THERE
MOVING ON
Oh, and just in case you wondered if maybe he just sleeps with Aunt Queen like, say, the way my sister and I sleep in the same bed when we're on a trip and have (emphasis on "have"--as in we don't each have our own damn suites) to share a hotel room, no he sleeps "cuddled in her arms"
Goblin becomes weaker as the trip progresses, able to do less, but Quinn doesn't even think about it much just because he wants to see New York. I find that pretty unrealistic, even taking into account that Goblin isn't remarkable to Quinn as to most people because he's had him all his life. If my ghost symbiote was undergoing such a change due to changed surroundings and this had NEVER happened before in our lives, I think I'd damn well find time to be interested no matter where I was. But then, I'm not a shallow idiot. There's a page about all the fancy artsy things they saw, and then they return to New Orleans and Goblin is back to normal and Quinn is relieved because "I thought had the trip to New York had mortally wounded him"
SO YOU THOUGHT HE WAS PERMANENTLY DAMAGED AND AT THIS POINT YOU STILL LOVED HIM, SUPPOSEDLY
BUT YOU STILL THOUGHT SEEING NYC WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN WORRYING ABOUT HIM
YOU ARE SOMETHING, QUINN
YOU ARE REALLY SOMETHING
He does at least mention that he also thought that his "inattention to him" might have caused said wound, but again, it really says something that this is only something he considered AFTER the damage was done, and not during the whole ten days they spent in New York.
Lynelle is hired to work in Mayfair Medical in New Orleans, and Quinn is "in tears" over this though he says he understands what it meant to her and how she had dreamed of studying human growth homone under the world-famous Dr. Rowan Mayfair (name-dropping the protagonist from The Witching Hour) because suddenly his liberal arts-focused is a scientific doctor? Lemme check back on her qualifications upon her introduction...okay it does mention that she is a "scientific genius of sorts" with a pre-med degree. You know, on top of being a concern pianist, French teacher, mother of six, and well-versed in art and history and all those other things she taught Quinn WHILE NOT EDUCATING HIM IN *SCIENCE* AT ALL?!
Oh, and of course it must be emphasized that Rowan is a revolutionary doctor and the Mayfair Medical facility is the best and has the best equipment and yada yada because anything Rice's characters do or own must be THE BEST. I'm not saying you can never write about a multi-talented person like Lynelle or brilliant doctor like Rowan or rich family like the Blackwoods and Mayfairs, but when it's this repetitive, it becomes annoying and, frankly, a weird sort of snobbery in itself, like people who are average or even underdogs just aren't WORTH writing about to her. And of course, ALL of these people must ALWAYS be BEAUTIFUL on top of everything else---god forbid Lynelle have been plain despite her talents and intellect, right? I get having a 'type' for characters, I do to, but this is such a SHALLOW type. At least Stephen King's repeated use of self-insert alcoholic writers, cheating/abusive spouses, and over-the-top Bible-beating hypocrites can still be interesting to read about (imo) but boring perfect beautiful rich people with no real problems or flaws are harder to make a good story about, let alone multiple stories, even when you add in ghosts and vampires and witches.
Before she goes, he tells her he loves her. She dies on the road in a car accident, and Quinn is sure to note that despite her habit of speeding, this wasn't her fault because she wasn't even at the wheel of the car, her friend was. Because "foreshadowing" and "paying for a flaw" aren't Anne Rice's style, I guess. Sorry, it just bugs me that even the one flaw Lynelle was given still can't end up costing her, even in a situation perfect for it. If she wasn't otherwise so perfect, if EVERYONE wasn't otherwise so perfect, it wouldn't bother me, I might even credit it as a decent use of irony, but because of all the perfection of her and everyone else we're supposed to like, IT JUST DRIVES ME NUTS THAT OH OF COURSE THIS HAD TO BE SOMEBODY'S ELSES FAULT IT COULDN'T BE THAT SWEET WONDERFUL LYNELLE SCREWED UP IN ANY WAY ugh this just bugs me so muuuch
Quinn was so devastated that he just paced around saying her name over and over when he found out, but Goblin clearly doesn't understand Lynelle is dead, because at the Mass that is held for her, he keeps asking where she is. Quinn tells Goblin "flatly and furiously" to shut up after he receives the Communion wafer. This is not a sign of his grief, however; he says that he always tells Goblin this after the Communion. What's unusual, however, is how Goblin reacts this time: After Quinn tells him this, he turns to see Goblin right beside him, shoulder to shoulder, "sharply glaring at me, and for the first time in all my life, he frightened me." Despite Goblin not doing anything, Quinn gets so scared that "I wanted to banish him. I wanted him dead. I wished that the journey to New York had killed him."
I really do not understand this reaction. I don't get it. To be honest, Goblin has thus far in Quinn's story been completely harmless. Goblin as he is NOW is dangerous, yes, albeit only to Quinn, so I can understand Quinn wanting him gone now, but at this point in the story...Quinn's actually kind of a shit to him? The worst thing he's done is pinch Lynelle and make some lights flicker, and Quinn, who understands him to be a sentient thinking feeling being with a child-level intellect, wants to kill him just because he glared at him? I don't get this. Hasn't he been mad at Quinn plenty of times already? We've frequently heard of him having a tantrum, disappearing or doing the aforementioned pinching/poltergeist stuff, etc. Why is this different? Why is him glaring so scary? It's not explained at all, so it just seems random and makes Quinn seem paranoid and mercurial to the point of murderous against the currently-harmless currently-innocent being that is his one and only friend.
Congrats, Quinn, you've gotten the point where the voiceless ghost is actually more sympathetic than you and I'm siding with him.
Quinn is so devastated that he doesn't talk to anyone for days, just thinks of Lynelle, and Goblin makes lots of efforts to get his attention. On a more interesting note, Quinn's not the only one upset; Aunt Queen, who does not arrive in time for the funeral, is so overcome when she sees her room painted, as ordered, in Lynelle's favorite blue, that she throws herself upon the bed in tears. Hmmm....anyone thinking these ladies might have been more than friends?
Back to Quinn and Goblin, Quinn decides he still loves him and doesn't want to kill him. I guess it was a heat of the moment thing. I still don't understand it, but you know, people react in weird ways to grief a lot, and Quinn isn't the most well-adjusted guy to begin with, so maybe I judged him too hard...at least on THIS particular moment.
He finally explains to Goblin that Lynelle is dead, and Goblin doesn't know what that means, and Quinn tries to explain but Goblin still doesn't get it. Goblin talks back to Quinn about this via typing on the computer, since, recall, Goblin can't talk, and while Quinn is talking to him this way, he sees a reflection in the computer screen of a lit candle, even though there's no candle in the room to reflect. Quinn asks Goblin about it, but Goblin just keeps asking about Lynelle, and Quinn goes quiet thinking about her some more, wondering if she suffered, and if she knew that "her beautiful face had been crushed." Because I'm sure THAT'S what mattered most to her, Quinn, not leaving her husband and six kids behind, and all her dreams, etc. The face is definitely what she would hate most to realize was taken from her. This is so fitting, considering her looks were the FIRST thing he spoke of about her, of course they'd be the last thing too.
Needless to say, I'm not sorry that Goblin responds to Quinn's silence by pinching him and pulling his hair to try to make him tell him what happened to Lynelle, which the poor thing still doesn't understand. But Quinn turns things around and starts demanding that Goblin tell him where Lynelle has gone instead, asking him if Lynelle had "gone into the light" reasoning that Goblin is a spirit, so he ought to know what happened to Lynelle's spirits. But Goblin doesn't get this either, so Quinn explains to him the difference between a body and a soul, and how dying is when the soul leaves the body. Goblin puts his hand on his and asks him "Don't die. I will cry."
Goblin is so much more likeable than Quinn.
Quinn continues to ask him where Lynelle's spirit is and saying he should know this, poor Goblin just keeps begging Quinn not to die, Quinn asks him "where is the place where spirits live, like I live in this house?" and after about two dozen tries Goblin still doesn't get it, and asks Quinn "Why did Lynelle's spirit leave her body?"
You know, this makes me wonder---Quinn never thought to ask Goblin stuff about spirits before? Yeah, I don't buy Quinn being as bright as we're supposed to believe if he's sixteen years old and this never occurred to him till now.
Quinn writes out a description of the accident to Goblin (which seems to be a bit insensitive considering the child-like level Goblin seems to be on) and Goblin goes quiet and leaves. Quinn says that after that "a great gulf had opened between me and Goblin" that had been steadily "widening for all the years I knew Lynelle" because it's not like that would have been important to mention before now or anything. I guess it was more important that we knew what his favorite Shakespeare movies were.
Aunt Queen invites Quinn to go to Russia with her, and tells him "it was either go to college or see the world." That's a bit early for sixteen, but yeah, Quinn needs to get out, he's been cloistered up in this little world with the same people forever, who all cater to him and are none of them his peers, it's no wonder he's selfish and insensitive and weird.
He tells her he's not ready, he's not over Lynelle, and he needs "a year off".
A year off from...what? He has no job, he doesn't attend school, what?
"I needed to read and absorb more fully many of the lessons that Lynelle had taught me (that really won the day for me!) and to hang around the house."
TO HANG AROUND THE HOUSE
He also cites that he needs to help Pops and Sweetheart with the tourists, but the times he cites they need help are all holidays, he could still go to college and come back home on the holidays to help. Seriously, college would be great for Quinn. He'll have to live in a dorm or apartment and do things for himself, maybe have a roomie, and a bunch of people his own age who won't put up with his shit and professors who sure as hell aren't going to either. Shit, man, I loved my college profs, and I never had any problems with any of them, but I can't see them or my fellow students tolerating some sheltered little smug asshole who thought he was a genius and entitled to pick and choose what he deigned to do for class based on whether he enjoyed it or not. Interaction, self-reliance, and lots of good swift kicks in the ass---that's exactly what Quinn needs! He might flunk out after the first semester, sure, but shit, he could still get a place in town, his folks can afford it! Just having to make his own meals and go to the store on his own and having people within walking distance would be a great improvement for him!
He says that in retrospect, he was in a state of great anxiety during this time, and that he became afraid of both twilight and vases of flowers, and that he considered Goblin "an ignoramus of a spirit, who could deliver me nothing of consolation or companionship."
Normally I'd rag on him for this remark, that because Goblin is so simple and child-like Quinn should be thinking of how he can comfort him or at least not resent Goblin for being able to do so for him, but since he is a teen and upset, I'll let it go. God knows I had some pretty selfish, shitty reactions to things going bad for me when I was sixteen.
But of course, Quinn can't look back on this as a young adult and see a teen kid dealing with a rough time by being angry at someone who doesn't deserve it. No, he sees his anxiety and angst and despair then as "Perhaps I had a premonition that there were terrible times to come."
Because he can't just be sad like everyone else. Nope, way too special for that. And it's not like one of the few people in his life dying terribly could EVER explain why he'd be so devastated, right? No, it HAS to be something supernatural too.
Gawd.
Speaking of AB, what is it with fucking vampire novels?! Or movies, in this case:
http://morethanprinceofcats.tumblr.com/post/119405087654/forthegothicheroine-in-haunted-castle
http://morethanprinceofcats.tumblr.com/post/119408733859/forthegothicheroine-morethanprinceofcats-said
Remember how I've been mentioning that Anne Rice, unlike LKH, does understand the concept of different POVs for different characters and how a character, even a protagonist, can be wrong? It just hit me---the instances I was thinking of were only ever used to exonerate her favorites. See, in Interview, the protagonist Louis spins us a tale of fabulous villain Lestat and how delightfully awful he is, and fans fell in love with him, and I think Anne Rice did too...so when she wrote the sequel, from Lestat's POV, he tells us how that's all a bunch of bunk and he's not so bad, really. Taking these two things on their own, it's just two conflicting narratives of the same story, which is, in my opinion, a pretty good thing, with the reader left to figure out who they believe, or if the truth lies somewhere in-between.
But taken in the context of all her works afterwards, it's the beginning of her descent into Lestat-worship, where she wants him to be considered the biggest and baddest vampire ever but also not ever do anything wrong or have anyone mad at him.
Another villain in Interview that would later become a protagonist with his own book is Armand, the beautiful eternal teenager with long auburn hair who skeeves me right the fuck out in concept alone, and who basically gets used for Anne Rice's fetish fuel from what I know. In Interview, Armand facilitated the execution of Claudia, a truly dreadful deed, just to get Louis for himself. But according to The Vampire Armand, oh no, that's not what happened, instead it was that Claudia herself asked him to give her an adult body, and in return she would leave Louis willingly. So, with Claudia's agreement, he tried to transplant her head on to the body of another female vampire, believing that the healing abilities of vampires would allow her to survive this. But it didn't work, and he put her in the sun with Madeleine (the woman turned to be her caretaker and companion) because she was dying anyway. So not only is Armand not so bad, look, poor Claudia's tragic murder was in fact not a murder, it was a botched surgery she wanted and thus is her own fault! So don't be mad at poor widdle pretty Armand, everybody!
Again, this could be interesting, if not for the fact that, again, it's ONLY used for the ones who become her FAVORITES, and really, in my opinion, for the most shallow fangirly of reasons. I have read less VC than many of you, so I welcome correction if I'm wrong here, but I don't know of an instance where Armand or Lestat or one of her other darlings gets egg thrown in THEIR face by a big reveal like this, or where one of the characters we're supposed to DISLIKE---not dashing villains like Lestat, who even at his most wicked was still meant to be a Magnificent Bastard, but unsympathetic sorts like the reviled Patsy that the author clearly has no fondness for---is shown to be in the right about something? Especially at the expense of an Author's Darling?
Oh yeah, and speaking of exonerating her darlings---I looked ahead, the bride that Quinn kills is a nameless "tart" who just randomly tries to have sex with him on her wedding night and that's how he ends up killing her. His maker reprimands him for killing her when there was "a sea of killers" he could have fed on at the wedding instead, but let's be real, what seems to be real evil in this book: Being a sexual woman or being a man who is a murderer (especially of sexual women)? Of course precious Quinn would never kill someone who didn't DESERVE it like those awful awful slutty women!
God, this makes me so mad.
I also looked ahead and found out why Patsy hates Quinn---because it turns out he's right, she does hate him, because god forbid he be wrong---and without saying WHY because I don't want to spoil it....while she's wrong for it, I feel that she is, as I've said before, very human and while I might not like her as a person in this regard, I do feel for her and find her complex, both of which is more than I can thus far say for Quinn. For instance, when I disagree with what she does and how she feels, I at least GET it, I understand it, and while it is an awful thing, it doesn't feel like something you'd have to be an awful person to feel, just a human being with flawed human logic. And I'm not asked to see it as NOT being awful either. Whereas when Quinn does awful things, I don't connect empathetically with him or his reasons at all, I think you indeed would have to be an awful person to do it, and on top of all that I'm asked to not view it as awful.
While Anne Rice does have real talent, I do wonder if her popularity and acclaim isn't, like LKH, due in a good deal by simply having been very early on this scene and thus everyone's fave simply by default, because otherwise I don't see how the hell she's considered as good a writer as she is.
BLACKWOOD FARM, CHAPTER EIGHT, PART THREE
Quinn tells us that Lynnelle drives really fast but that the one time she almost got a speeding ticket she lied her way out of it really well, then gushes about how “Lynelle was beautiful” because she had made him “a dramatically educated young man” in just six years. Normally I wouldn't take issue with using “beautiful” to describe that, since teaching is indeed a beautiful thing, but given that there's been so much focus on Lynelle's looks, and that her looks were told to us first, it's kind of annoying that an adjective usually used for appearances is what he picks even here. And of course, it can't just be that she educated him, no, he had to wind up doing all the high school graduation exams at just sixteen and then scoring in the top percentile for college exams as well. You know what, Quinn, I still don't consider you smart, and until I hear you actually express an original thought that isn't just spiteful or shallow or parroting things that Rice thinks are cultured, I'm not going to. We heard a lot about Hermione Granger's studying, but we also saw its effects on a regular basis; it wasn't just an informed attribute. And 140 pages in, as the narrator no less, you've had ample time to intellectually impress me but I'm still waiting. Sorry, but I'm really so over being told how bright and gifted that Quinn is when he's yet to display any such quality after this long.
We bounce around some more---Lynnelle taught him to drive, she would have made him a great reader of books but Goblin was too jealous to allow that but his subsequent tutor Nash would manage it—and then Quinn mentions that Goblin seemed to feed off Lynnelle and was getting physically stronger, at which point we go to a moment when Quinn was twelve and Goblin made his computer turn off while he was using it because Goblin wanted to go play outside with Quinn in the rain. Quinn says no, that they're too old for that, and has Goblin pull up a chair to work with him (he's writing a letter to Aunt Queen) and Goblin types, in all one word, that “I am Goblin and Quinn is Goblin and Goblin is Quinn and we love Aunt Queen” and then dissolves from the exhaustion of it. Another time, when Quinn was fourteen, Goblin socked Quinn in the stomach (YAY) so hard it made Quinn sick. Quinn doesn't mention WHY Goblin did that, but he does mention he and Lynnelle had been waltzing to Tchaikovsky earlier that day because THEY ARE VERY CULTURED HIGH-CLASS PEOPLE ARE YOU GETTING THAT YET?!
Lynnelle is shocked by this, but believes Quinn about it, and admits she's felt Goblin pulling her hair on a few occasions. She says he has a strong ghosts, and the moment she does, the gasolier above them begins to shake. I feel like this sort of thing would be better told from a POV besides Quinn, so that instead of us knowing Goblin is objectively real from the start, it'd be more like this gradual Poltergeist buildup of shit. I feel like that'd also work better for the ghosts in the house, the family mysteries, etc. And if it has to be from Quinn's POV, I think that would be better done as something actually happening and that being the story, rather than Quinn recounting it to Lestat just to set up whatever our actual adventure is going to be. Especially since unlike Interview, this isn't supposed to be a memoir, and the bulk of this is so hugely irrelevant and lengthy that it makes me think the sun is going to be up before Quinn gets to recounting the next chapter's worth of pointless self-indulgent babble, sprinkled only with scraps of anything relevant and/or interesting, to Lestat.
Goblin pinches Lynelle on the arm, and Quinn vows to kill Goblin for doing it and writes to Aunt Queen about it. Right, because I'd totally vow to kill my sibling and only friend over pinching somebody else I liked. I don't think Quinn really meant it any more than most fourteen year olds mean anything like that, but I think that it's an unrealistic overreaction for that....then again, Quinn's a spiteful and immature little fuck, so maybe not. Aunt Queen writes back and says he has to control Goblin by punishing him via ignoring him, Quinn asks if this means she believes in Goblin now, AQ says she can't argue with him about Goblin from halfway across the world, that whether he's real or just a subconscious part of Quinn or what Quinn still has to control him. Well, that's pretty sensible, I'd say, and Quinn agrees with her. Quinn then tells us how Aunt Queen “raved about the coherence and style of my letter” and how his progress is due to Lynelle because Quinn is so great and Lynelle is so great. Also, coherence? He's getting complimented just for his letter being understandable when he's a TEENAGER? No wonder everyone thinks he's so gifted and brillaint if THAT'S their standards.
Goblin starts to communicate more by writing via Quinn, and Lynnelle is pretty surprised y this, as anyone would be I expect, but she finds out that she and Quinn can communicate without Goblin understanding by typing to each other on the computer using very big words, because Goblin can't read words on an advanced level (stuff like “Our gallant and ever-vigilant doppelganger” and so on) Lynnelle tries around this time to tell Patsy about all this and Patsy just says they're both crazy. I suppose this is meant to show us what an awful person Patsy is further, but if she's not around much, she probably hasn't seen this kind of evidence of Goblin, especially since he only got so strong recently...and if she has, she might be in denial about it like Sweetheart seems to be about the other ghosts and Quinn seeing them. As for Sweetheart and Pops, Lynnelle tells them about how Goblin's intellect hasn't progressed like Quinn's has as he's aged, they don't respond like Patsy, because we like them, but also they “appeared not to understand the significance” because they're not smart and special like Quinn and Lynnelle, who understand it means Goblin can't read Quinn's mind. Quinn says he thinks they felt Lynnelle, as a teacher, should understand that “this side of my personality” shouldn't be encouraged and Pops got so tough about it one time he made Sweetheart cry, and when Quinn found her sobbing in the kitchen she said she didn't want things to go bad for Quinn the way they did for Patsy.
….Pops is a huge dick, and I'm hoping we start to get a more sympathetic side seen of Patsy for that. But Sweetheart is no prize herself, because you know what she laments about? She doesn't lament about Patsy's emotional pain, of the rift in their family, or even that Patsy wasn't able to be a good mother to Quinn. No, here's what Sweetheart sobs about when it comes to her daughter:
“My daughter could have had a Sweet Sixteen Party in New Orleans. She could have made her debut. She could have been a maid in the Mardi Gras krewes. She could have had all that---Ruthie and I could have managed everything---and instead she chose to be what she is.”
Someone who followed her dreams and lives on her own terms instead of bowing to her backwards slut-shaming father and her classist shallow stage-mom mother and being one more boring Southern belle? Well, good for her. I'm on Team Patsy all the goddamn way.
Quinn's commentary is even better: “I might have pointed out to her that she herself had abandoned all the refinements of New Orleans for the spell of Blackwood Manor, that she had spent her whole life in the kitchen, only leaving it for paid guests. But that would have been mean of me.”
….so he wouldn't have defended Patsy at all, just been sure to insult Sweetheart in some way too. God, Quinn is unpleasant. Also, while he seems to mean that he could have criticized her for being hypocritical (which is really the LEAST of what's wrong with what she said) it comes off to me more like he's judging her for not having stayed a socialite. And we know he has no nice feelings towards Patsy, so his inclination to say this can't be coming from that, so all I can see his reaction as is just natural nastiness on his part. He didn't say it at least, but the fact it went through his mind still says something about him, especially considering Sweetheart is someone he claims to like and love.
Quinn assures Sweetheart there's nothing wrong with him or Lynelle, and both he and Lynelle decide not to talk about Goblin stuff with anyone but Aunt Queen from now on...which I feel is something that really should have been obvious. Or at least, it should have been obvious not to try to convince Quinn's family, who have been living with it this long. What should be equally obvious, however, is to get some scientists down here ASAP to check Goblin out. Goblin's clearly not shy and seems to love being acknowledged, I have no doubt he'd happily perform some poltergeist phenomena if merely asked. How is this not occurring to Lynelle at the very least, if not Quinn?
There's a bit about how Lynelle teaches him Shakespeare and what his favorite Shakespeare movies are, with namedropping of directors and actors and OH MY GOD HOW IS THIS RELEVANT and then there's THIS jarring little bit about his so-called education:
"There are gaps in my education which no one could ever get me to fill. But they don't matter to me. I don't need to know science or algebra or geometry. Literature and history, painting and music, these are my passions."
LYNELLE, YOU ARE THE WORST TUTOR EVER
THEY ARE PAYING YOU INSANELY AND YOU CAN'T FUCKING TEACH THE KID SCIENCE AND MATH?!
Look, I get that Quinn is a stupid spoiled little shit who thinks that he doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want, BUT WHAT THE FUCK LYNELLE?! You know better!
And what about all that BULLSHIT about how he did oh so well on his high school equivalent exams and college entrance exams and shit?! THOSE TESTS INCLUDE MATH AND SCIENCE, ANNE RICE
YOU DON'T GET TO SKIP OUT ON THE PARTS YOU DON'T LIKE
NOT EVEN IF YOU'RE QUINN
I am an English major who studied at a liberal arts college, I STILL HAD REQUISITE MATH AND SCIENCE TESTS TO GET IN AND REQUISITE MATH AND SCIENCE COURSES TO TAKE
YOU CAN'T JUST OPT OUT
IF HE DIDN'T KNOW THIS SHIT, HIS SCORES WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AS SKY-HIGH AS IS CLAIMED
END OF DISCUSSION
I agree that algebra isn't really necessary for the real world most of the time, I really wish I'd been taught about taxes instead of the quadratic formula, but something about his tone is so SMUG that I hate this sentiment simply for coming from him.
Fuck, at least Lestat is the fun, funny kind of smug, you know?
"But let me close out the history of my love of Lynelle."
....because this is entirely relevant to telling Lestat everything you can about GOBLIN whom you say you are so DESPERATE to get rid of. God, how is Lestat standing this? He doesn't seem to me like a guy who would have much patience for such a long, boring, meandering, irrelevant saga of self-absorbed bullshit as this.
Aunt Queen is coming back to the States and wants to take Lynelle and Quinn on a trip to New York. For some reason Quinn mentions that Sweetheart and Pops tell her they're having her room redone in Lynelle's favorite shade of blue, which AQ apparently requested herself. God, this needs an editor. It does serve a purpose, to show closeness between AQ and Lynelle, but it's out of place. Quinn insists on Goblin getting his own seat on the plane (isn't Quinn a teenager now?) and the stewardess even serves Goblin "graciously" (that stewardess is a saint, she's very nice for entertaining what probably seemed a mentally ill young man rather than scoffing and refusing or acting uneasy) Naturally Quinn must mention they rode first class; heaven forbid the reader just assume it, what if they fail to and think he rode COACH?! HORROR!
...sorry, I'm just so done with every little reminder of how richy-rich he is isn't he so rich btw he's rich
and then THIS:
"Though we had suites as big as big as Aunt Queen's, eternally filled with fresh flowers and Aunt Queen's beloved chocolate-covered cherries, Goblin and I bunked with Aunt Queen as we had in the past. I was sixteen by this time, but it doesn't matter much to people whether or not a teenager or even a grown man bunks with his great-aunt or his granny; those are our ways. In fact, to be utterly frank, I was still sleeping with Jasmine's mother, Little Ida, at home, though she was now very old and feeble and sometimes dribbled a bit of urine in the bed."
NO
COMMENT
NO COMMENT
NOT EVEN GONNA GO THERE
MOVING ON
Oh, and just in case you wondered if maybe he just sleeps with Aunt Queen like, say, the way my sister and I sleep in the same bed when we're on a trip and have (emphasis on "have"--as in we don't each have our own damn suites) to share a hotel room, no he sleeps "cuddled in her arms"
Goblin becomes weaker as the trip progresses, able to do less, but Quinn doesn't even think about it much just because he wants to see New York. I find that pretty unrealistic, even taking into account that Goblin isn't remarkable to Quinn as to most people because he's had him all his life. If my ghost symbiote was undergoing such a change due to changed surroundings and this had NEVER happened before in our lives, I think I'd damn well find time to be interested no matter where I was. But then, I'm not a shallow idiot. There's a page about all the fancy artsy things they saw, and then they return to New Orleans and Goblin is back to normal and Quinn is relieved because "I thought had the trip to New York had mortally wounded him"
SO YOU THOUGHT HE WAS PERMANENTLY DAMAGED AND AT THIS POINT YOU STILL LOVED HIM, SUPPOSEDLY
BUT YOU STILL THOUGHT SEEING NYC WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN WORRYING ABOUT HIM
YOU ARE SOMETHING, QUINN
YOU ARE REALLY SOMETHING
He does at least mention that he also thought that his "inattention to him" might have caused said wound, but again, it really says something that this is only something he considered AFTER the damage was done, and not during the whole ten days they spent in New York.
Lynelle is hired to work in Mayfair Medical in New Orleans, and Quinn is "in tears" over this though he says he understands what it meant to her and how she had dreamed of studying human growth homone under the world-famous Dr. Rowan Mayfair (name-dropping the protagonist from The Witching Hour) because suddenly his liberal arts-focused is a scientific doctor? Lemme check back on her qualifications upon her introduction...okay it does mention that she is a "scientific genius of sorts" with a pre-med degree. You know, on top of being a concern pianist, French teacher, mother of six, and well-versed in art and history and all those other things she taught Quinn WHILE NOT EDUCATING HIM IN *SCIENCE* AT ALL?!
Oh, and of course it must be emphasized that Rowan is a revolutionary doctor and the Mayfair Medical facility is the best and has the best equipment and yada yada because anything Rice's characters do or own must be THE BEST. I'm not saying you can never write about a multi-talented person like Lynelle or brilliant doctor like Rowan or rich family like the Blackwoods and Mayfairs, but when it's this repetitive, it becomes annoying and, frankly, a weird sort of snobbery in itself, like people who are average or even underdogs just aren't WORTH writing about to her. And of course, ALL of these people must ALWAYS be BEAUTIFUL on top of everything else---god forbid Lynelle have been plain despite her talents and intellect, right? I get having a 'type' for characters, I do to, but this is such a SHALLOW type. At least Stephen King's repeated use of self-insert alcoholic writers, cheating/abusive spouses, and over-the-top Bible-beating hypocrites can still be interesting to read about (imo) but boring perfect beautiful rich people with no real problems or flaws are harder to make a good story about, let alone multiple stories, even when you add in ghosts and vampires and witches.
Before she goes, he tells her he loves her. She dies on the road in a car accident, and Quinn is sure to note that despite her habit of speeding, this wasn't her fault because she wasn't even at the wheel of the car, her friend was. Because "foreshadowing" and "paying for a flaw" aren't Anne Rice's style, I guess. Sorry, it just bugs me that even the one flaw Lynelle was given still can't end up costing her, even in a situation perfect for it. If she wasn't otherwise so perfect, if EVERYONE wasn't otherwise so perfect, it wouldn't bother me, I might even credit it as a decent use of irony, but because of all the perfection of her and everyone else we're supposed to like, IT JUST DRIVES ME NUTS THAT OH OF COURSE THIS HAD TO BE SOMEBODY'S ELSES FAULT IT COULDN'T BE THAT SWEET WONDERFUL LYNELLE SCREWED UP IN ANY WAY ugh this just bugs me so muuuch
Quinn was so devastated that he just paced around saying her name over and over when he found out, but Goblin clearly doesn't understand Lynelle is dead, because at the Mass that is held for her, he keeps asking where she is. Quinn tells Goblin "flatly and furiously" to shut up after he receives the Communion wafer. This is not a sign of his grief, however; he says that he always tells Goblin this after the Communion. What's unusual, however, is how Goblin reacts this time: After Quinn tells him this, he turns to see Goblin right beside him, shoulder to shoulder, "sharply glaring at me, and for the first time in all my life, he frightened me." Despite Goblin not doing anything, Quinn gets so scared that "I wanted to banish him. I wanted him dead. I wished that the journey to New York had killed him."
I really do not understand this reaction. I don't get it. To be honest, Goblin has thus far in Quinn's story been completely harmless. Goblin as he is NOW is dangerous, yes, albeit only to Quinn, so I can understand Quinn wanting him gone now, but at this point in the story...Quinn's actually kind of a shit to him? The worst thing he's done is pinch Lynelle and make some lights flicker, and Quinn, who understands him to be a sentient thinking feeling being with a child-level intellect, wants to kill him just because he glared at him? I don't get this. Hasn't he been mad at Quinn plenty of times already? We've frequently heard of him having a tantrum, disappearing or doing the aforementioned pinching/poltergeist stuff, etc. Why is this different? Why is him glaring so scary? It's not explained at all, so it just seems random and makes Quinn seem paranoid and mercurial to the point of murderous against the currently-harmless currently-innocent being that is his one and only friend.
Congrats, Quinn, you've gotten the point where the voiceless ghost is actually more sympathetic than you and I'm siding with him.
Quinn is so devastated that he doesn't talk to anyone for days, just thinks of Lynelle, and Goblin makes lots of efforts to get his attention. On a more interesting note, Quinn's not the only one upset; Aunt Queen, who does not arrive in time for the funeral, is so overcome when she sees her room painted, as ordered, in Lynelle's favorite blue, that she throws herself upon the bed in tears. Hmmm....anyone thinking these ladies might have been more than friends?
Back to Quinn and Goblin, Quinn decides he still loves him and doesn't want to kill him. I guess it was a heat of the moment thing. I still don't understand it, but you know, people react in weird ways to grief a lot, and Quinn isn't the most well-adjusted guy to begin with, so maybe I judged him too hard...at least on THIS particular moment.
He finally explains to Goblin that Lynelle is dead, and Goblin doesn't know what that means, and Quinn tries to explain but Goblin still doesn't get it. Goblin talks back to Quinn about this via typing on the computer, since, recall, Goblin can't talk, and while Quinn is talking to him this way, he sees a reflection in the computer screen of a lit candle, even though there's no candle in the room to reflect. Quinn asks Goblin about it, but Goblin just keeps asking about Lynelle, and Quinn goes quiet thinking about her some more, wondering if she suffered, and if she knew that "her beautiful face had been crushed." Because I'm sure THAT'S what mattered most to her, Quinn, not leaving her husband and six kids behind, and all her dreams, etc. The face is definitely what she would hate most to realize was taken from her. This is so fitting, considering her looks were the FIRST thing he spoke of about her, of course they'd be the last thing too.
Needless to say, I'm not sorry that Goblin responds to Quinn's silence by pinching him and pulling his hair to try to make him tell him what happened to Lynelle, which the poor thing still doesn't understand. But Quinn turns things around and starts demanding that Goblin tell him where Lynelle has gone instead, asking him if Lynelle had "gone into the light" reasoning that Goblin is a spirit, so he ought to know what happened to Lynelle's spirits. But Goblin doesn't get this either, so Quinn explains to him the difference between a body and a soul, and how dying is when the soul leaves the body. Goblin puts his hand on his and asks him "Don't die. I will cry."
Goblin is so much more likeable than Quinn.
Quinn continues to ask him where Lynelle's spirit is and saying he should know this, poor Goblin just keeps begging Quinn not to die, Quinn asks him "where is the place where spirits live, like I live in this house?" and after about two dozen tries Goblin still doesn't get it, and asks Quinn "Why did Lynelle's spirit leave her body?"
You know, this makes me wonder---Quinn never thought to ask Goblin stuff about spirits before? Yeah, I don't buy Quinn being as bright as we're supposed to believe if he's sixteen years old and this never occurred to him till now.
Quinn writes out a description of the accident to Goblin (which seems to be a bit insensitive considering the child-like level Goblin seems to be on) and Goblin goes quiet and leaves. Quinn says that after that "a great gulf had opened between me and Goblin" that had been steadily "widening for all the years I knew Lynelle" because it's not like that would have been important to mention before now or anything. I guess it was more important that we knew what his favorite Shakespeare movies were.
Aunt Queen invites Quinn to go to Russia with her, and tells him "it was either go to college or see the world." That's a bit early for sixteen, but yeah, Quinn needs to get out, he's been cloistered up in this little world with the same people forever, who all cater to him and are none of them his peers, it's no wonder he's selfish and insensitive and weird.
He tells her he's not ready, he's not over Lynelle, and he needs "a year off".
A year off from...what? He has no job, he doesn't attend school, what?
"I needed to read and absorb more fully many of the lessons that Lynelle had taught me (that really won the day for me!) and to hang around the house."
TO HANG AROUND THE HOUSE
He also cites that he needs to help Pops and Sweetheart with the tourists, but the times he cites they need help are all holidays, he could still go to college and come back home on the holidays to help. Seriously, college would be great for Quinn. He'll have to live in a dorm or apartment and do things for himself, maybe have a roomie, and a bunch of people his own age who won't put up with his shit and professors who sure as hell aren't going to either. Shit, man, I loved my college profs, and I never had any problems with any of them, but I can't see them or my fellow students tolerating some sheltered little smug asshole who thought he was a genius and entitled to pick and choose what he deigned to do for class based on whether he enjoyed it or not. Interaction, self-reliance, and lots of good swift kicks in the ass---that's exactly what Quinn needs! He might flunk out after the first semester, sure, but shit, he could still get a place in town, his folks can afford it! Just having to make his own meals and go to the store on his own and having people within walking distance would be a great improvement for him!
He says that in retrospect, he was in a state of great anxiety during this time, and that he became afraid of both twilight and vases of flowers, and that he considered Goblin "an ignoramus of a spirit, who could deliver me nothing of consolation or companionship."
Normally I'd rag on him for this remark, that because Goblin is so simple and child-like Quinn should be thinking of how he can comfort him or at least not resent Goblin for being able to do so for him, but since he is a teen and upset, I'll let it go. God knows I had some pretty selfish, shitty reactions to things going bad for me when I was sixteen.
But of course, Quinn can't look back on this as a young adult and see a teen kid dealing with a rough time by being angry at someone who doesn't deserve it. No, he sees his anxiety and angst and despair then as "Perhaps I had a premonition that there were terrible times to come."
Because he can't just be sad like everyone else. Nope, way too special for that. And it's not like one of the few people in his life dying terribly could EVER explain why he'd be so devastated, right? No, it HAS to be something supernatural too.
Gawd.
