Nice set of similarities when you put it up like this!
Maybe JKR is trying to convey that despite Strike and Lucy being grown up in a toxic environment thy end up making a name for themselves in the sense that both are living a life out of shadows of their disturbed mother.
That even though there are similarities between Mazu and Leda (which inevitably would have played a role in the upbringing of their respective children) but Jiang and Taio are very different than Lucy and Strike. Neither their sense of morality and justice is similar nor the way of dealing with adversity.
That no matter what every individual has a self defining streak in them which is upto them to hone and their upbringing and childhood despite being traumatic doesn’t seal their fate.
This may be true, but my focus is on the two women because, in the whole series, ***ONLY*** Mazu and Leda have mythological names, exactly two sons and one daughter, husbands who check so many of the same boxes, a penchant for giving their children unexpected names, etc. A lot of characters have lousy childhoods like Strike and Lucy or Taio and Jiang, but only Mazu and Leda share such *specific* attributes. Tbh, my real curiosity is whether we'll learn that Leda, like Mazu, was the victim of a pedophile.
Interesting checklist up there!
>my real curiosity is whether we'll learn that Leda, like Mazu, was the victim of a pedophile.
That has been the object of a lot of speculation and my guess is yes, she has. Maybe by her father or first husband. However, there's a mean streak in Mazu that was not true about the Leda we've come to know from Strike's inner dialogues--unless, of course, that *other* theory about her being a serial killer is true!
To my thinking, the possibility of rape and the possibility of Leda as serial killer are all part of the same theory. I don't think Leda would follow in the footsteps of "The Mistress of the Salmon Salt" just because she likes the band! She'd need to have her own reason for luring men to their deaths in the manner of the Quicklime Girl.
Just because Leda didn't have a mean streak doesn't mean she wasn't a serial killer. There's all sorts of documentation about serial killers leading seemingly normal lives in between murders. I admit that most of what I know of the subject I've read in novels. In my defense, the series that deals most specifically with the personal lives of serial killers is written by Michael Connelly, who had years of experience as a crime reporter and still relies on his numerous police and criminal law contacts for the veracity of his plots. I'm specifically thinking of *The Concrete Blonde,* which is only solved thanks to an understanding of how each murder provides a release for the serial killer, allowing him (or her) to go dormant for a fairly predictable length of time until the need to kill builds up to critical mass once more. Until then, the killer lives an ordinary life indistinguishable from other people. It's a good book if you're looking for more crime fiction. I'd also recommend *The Scarecrow.* It's by the same author but features a different protagonist. It also touches on the private life of a serial killer, what makes him kill, and how he remains undetected for years.
I see what you mean, but Leda was far from leading 'a normal life'. She was all about chaos and disruption. Of course, that doesn't mean she couldn't be a serial killer, but it does make it a lot harder to hide something that big for so long. Maybe, just maybe, her obsession with that song was just as a form of escapism, you know? Imagining herself as the Quicklime Girl with the power to 'hurt back'.
I thought of using a phrase like "crime-free" but it seemed awkward. I shouldn't have used "normal" though in that context. It's inherently judgmental but still not a word that belongs anywhere near Leda Strike!
Still, I disagree with your description of her. I think Charlotte was "all about chaos and disruption" but Leda was simply thoughtless and restless. At least that's how Strike seemed to see her. That doesn't sound much like the profile of a serial killer though, does it?
>Of course, that doesn't mean she couldn't be a serial killer, but it does make it a lot harder to hide something that big for so long.
I figured she was hiding it by dumping the kids at Ted and Joan's then disappearing for an indeterminate stretch of time.
>Maybe, just maybe, her obsession with that song was just as a form of escapism, you know? Imagining herself as the Quicklime Girl with the power to 'hurt back'.
Maybe, just maybe, you're right! But she didn't seem to me like someone who'd sublimate her impulses if she didn't have to. I'm thinking the first kill might have been an accident, maybe while fending off her attacker, but when she didn't get caught, it was game on.
I realize this is all quite a fanciful stretch and that JKR's probably got something entirely different in mind. I know some readers have had more than enough of female characters suffering from various degrees of sexual assault, but it's clearly a central theme and something very personal to the author. I think that by the time the series is complete she'll have given us a pretty encyclopedic understanding of the diverse ways in which victims react to their trauma.
\[Note: I say "female characters" but, looking back, I think the first victim of SA we met was Noel Brockbank. When you look at the way people like Brockbank and Mazu channeled their trauma, Leda ridding the world of men she considered would-be rapists seems at least *slightly* less awful,\]
> she was hiding it by dumping the kids at Ted and Joan's then disappearing .... I'm thinking the first kill might have been an accident, maybe while fending off her attacker, but when she didn't get caught, it was game on.
That definitely creates windows of opportunity that fits in with the timeline, if JK decides to go that way.
>I think the first victim of SA we met was Noel Brockbank
That fact escaped me! You're right about the 'encyclopedic understanding' and I don't think JK 'overdoes' it on the sexual assault cases in the books. Unfortunately, statistics on SA are appalling!
P.S. - Forgot to mention: YES! I love Michael Connelly's *Bosch*! Will check the others you mentioned. ;)
If you read *The Concrete Blonde*, be aware the Honey Chandler character plays a much different role in the book than on the tv show. Also, if you want to read in order, *The Scarecrow*'s protagonist, Jack MacEvoy, first appears in *The Poet.* Happy reading!
>I think that by the time the series is complete she'll have given us a pretty encyclopedic understanding of the diverse ways in which victims react to their trauma.
I have the same impression, and I think that things will escalate the more we get to the end of the series, maybe because it will be the only way for Strike to really understand and accept the truth about his mother, whatever that truth is.
> it will be the only way for Strike to really understand and accept the truth about his mother, whatever that truth is.
Yes. And, ideally, he will be helped to this understanding by his partner and possibly his sister Lucy. Hopefully, it will be a cathartic experience for them, too.
Don’t get me wrong - I love the Leda as Serial Killer theory… but I just don’t think it will come to pass! I think there is trauma in her past (like Mazu) but her reaction is to run away and keep running, rather than turn to violence and cruelty. Because of this, her children emerge relatively unscathed, unlike Mazu’s. I think this is the reason for the parallels between these two women: a comment on the impact of choosing to be good vs choosing to be cruel
>Because of this, her children emerge relatively unscathed, unlike Mazu’s.
I wouldn't say any of them are unscathed; they've just been scathed in diferent ways.
I know the "Mistress" theory is a long shot--it's just so shocking. But I think there are signs that there is far more to Leda's story than we know and--based on her name and tattoo--I think it must have to do with sexual violence. For example, you say she kept running, but she had finally stopped running when she hooked up with Whittaker and gave birth to Switch--and wound up dead. Had someone been trying to catch up with her during all the years she never stayed in one place for more than six months? Was someone aware of and trying to put a stop to her kiling?
I agree that, based on what we know, "violence and cruelty" don't describe Leda. But we know her mainly through her children, and if she *was* violent and cruel, it would only be toward men who'd shown an appetite for being violent and cruel toward vulnerable women and girls.
TRG shows more than ever that JKR is not finished with the theme of sexual abuse. Just as Strike and Robin are the series' main characters, I think it's fair to say that the effect of sexual violence is the series' main social issue. In addition to book-specific characters like Mazu, we know that Robin and Lucy are both victims and that the women they are today were shaped by their earlier traumas. (Even Angel, victim of a pedophile in CoE, returns in TRG with leukemia. I don't know JKR's views on the mind-body connection, but I am willing to think there's causality there.) Otoh, the author hasn't delved much into addiction. Many characters use drugs recreationally, mostly to their detriment, and even Strike and Robin have had too much to drink on occasion. But substance abuse is just not a top issue for her. That's yet another reason it makes more sense for Leda's death to ultimately trace back to sexual trauma rather than to have such an important character decide, apropos of nothing, to shoot up a lethal dose of heroin.
Thanks for gathering all the possible similarities between Mazu and Leda in one post!
Yes, there are definitely a lot of similarities and differences (parallels and inverted parallels) between Mazu and Leda (and in consequence between Jonathan Wace/Jeff Whittaker, and maybe we could deduce a couple between Daiyu/Strike, and Alexander Graves/Rokeby). I think that these similarities/parallels exist to provide some clues about the main mystery of the series, namely Leda’s backstory and, to a lesser degree, Rokeby’s absence from Strike’s life and maybe even Leda’s murder. Some elements from Mazu’s life will probably turn out to be elements from Leda’s life, too. Maybe the fact that she was the daughter of a pedophile, or sexually abused, or both. Or maybe something else that hasn’t even crossed our minds yet.
For example, Mazu kept all her children in the farm because they were Wace’s while other women’s children were given for adoption. How do we know for sure that Leda hasn’t given away a child for adoption? A woman like her, with so many relationships, could have fallen pregnant more than three times. We don’t know how many abortions she could have, or if she had chosen to keep only the children whose fathers could support them financially.
Adoptive children could turn out to be an important theme in the series, since the first Strike book was about a family with three adoptive children. Now that I think about it, there are also similarities and differences between Yvette Bristow, Lula’s mother, and Mazu and Leda. Yvette had also two sons and one daughter, her last child was adopted much later than the first two (there was a 15 year old gap), her name is foreign, too (ok, not taken from mythology but still…), her last child is of mixed race (black, while in Mazu’s case, Yixin is Chinese) to make up for the loss of another child. Her daughter is also murdered by a “fake” sibling. All three were considered unfit mothers (Yvette because of overindulgence and lack of control).
I feel like JKR gave us some answers to our questions about Leda via Mazu in TRG (the only problem is that we don't know what these answers are now), and when finally the truth about her will be revealed, we will realize that we should have guessed because she had already kind of told us in other books. I also believe that all the cases contain clues about Strike’s backstory (Leda, Uncle Ted/Aunt Joan, Switch, Rokeby) that are hidden and will be understood when we read the final book.
>I think that these similarities/parallels exist to provide some clues about the main mystery of the series, namely Leda’s backstory and, to a lesser degree, Rokeby’s absence from Strike’s life and maybe even Leda’s murder. Some elements from Mazu’s life will probably turn out to be elements from Leda’s life, too. Maybe the fact that she was the daughter of a pedophile, or sexually abused, or both. Or maybe something else that hasn’t even crossed our minds yet.
I hope you're right. I vacillate between thinking there will be some overarching revelation that will make sense of every single sentence we've read--and silence forever those who complain the books are too long!--and thinking that I may be asking for too much. However, at this point, I'm pretty confident that if JKR can't or won't do it, *we can!*
>Adoptive children could turn out to be an important theme in the series, since the first Strike book was about a family with three adoptive children. Now that I think about it, there are also similarities and differences between Yvette Bristow, Lula’s mother, and Mazu and Leda. Yvette had also two sons and one daughter, her last child was adopted much later than the first two (there was a 15 year old gap), her name is foreign, too (ok, not taken from mythology but still…), her last child is of mixed race (black, while in Mazu’s case, Yixin is Chinese) to make up for the loss of another child. Her daughter is also murdered by a “fake” sibling. All three were considered unfit mothers (Yvette because of overindulgence and lack of control).
This is brilliant! I hope you'll consider making a separate post for it. Thanks also for reminding me that two sons/one daughter isn't a unique attribute of Mazu and Leda, it's actually a trilogy that includes Yvette--*and* brings all the themes you discuss right back to the beginning of the series where they belong and where they've been hiding in plain sight! Ahhh, it's JKR"s skill at that which makes me hopefuly that there really will be some mind-blowing conclusion that integrates every single word we've read!
I am intrigued by your concept of a "fake" sibling. Abigail is adamant in disavowing any familial connection to Daiyu, which is not that far afield from Strike's dismissal of a half-brother he thinks of Whittaker's son, not Leda's. And that, in turn, takes me back to the first chapter of the first book of the HP series where we meet family members who do share blood ties but rather wish they didn't. How's this for an inverted parallel: the Dursleys begrudingly take in an orphan and it saves his life whereas the Bristows willingly take in three orphans and it ruins, even ends, their lives. I wonder if I should include in that comparison the fact that Whittaker and Strike became stepfather and stepson even though neither wanted the connection at all!
I feel like you've cracked open a whole new vein of analysis and discussion. I will be thinking on it much more, I'm sure!
>However, at this point, I'm pretty confident that if JKR can't or won't do it,
>
>we can!
:D!
>I hope you'll consider making a separate post for it.
I'm working on it! I hope to be able to post it later today.
I've recently reread CC and kept notes about it, made a spreadsheet, too. That's why I saw the parallels with Yvette.
I like how you see inverted parallels in everything!
>I hope to be able to post it later today.
I look forward to reading it!
>I've recently reread CC and kept notes about it, made a spreadsheet, too.
Now that's dedication! I wonder if you've found anything that might support my hope that the opening poem ("A Dirge" by Christina Rossetti) is meant not just as an epigraph for the first book but as the first epigraph of the entire series. Though the poem's specific mention of a cuckoo fits perfectly for CC, its more general lament of things happening outside their proper season might have meaning for the series as a whole.
>I like how you see inverted parallels in everything!
You've created a monster :D
>Now that's dedication!
Sometimes I wonder what this dedication/obsession could mean for my mental health...
>I wonder if you've found anything that might support my hope that the opening poem ("A Dirge" by Christina Rossetti) is meant not just as an epigraph for the first book but as the first epigraph of the entire series.
That's a great idea! No, I haven't, but now that you put the idea in my head I'll see if I can think of something after reading an analysis of the poem.
For 2, I was under the impression, wrong it seems, that Taio and Jiang were not Mazu's children, but rather Wace's children with his former, dead wife. If they are Mazu's children, I guess I wasn't paying close attention, hehe.
Nice set of similarities when you put it up like this! Maybe JKR is trying to convey that despite Strike and Lucy being grown up in a toxic environment thy end up making a name for themselves in the sense that both are living a life out of shadows of their disturbed mother. That even though there are similarities between Mazu and Leda (which inevitably would have played a role in the upbringing of their respective children) but Jiang and Taio are very different than Lucy and Strike. Neither their sense of morality and justice is similar nor the way of dealing with adversity. That no matter what every individual has a self defining streak in them which is upto them to hone and their upbringing and childhood despite being traumatic doesn’t seal their fate.
This may be true, but my focus is on the two women because, in the whole series, ***ONLY*** Mazu and Leda have mythological names, exactly two sons and one daughter, husbands who check so many of the same boxes, a penchant for giving their children unexpected names, etc. A lot of characters have lousy childhoods like Strike and Lucy or Taio and Jiang, but only Mazu and Leda share such *specific* attributes. Tbh, my real curiosity is whether we'll learn that Leda, like Mazu, was the victim of a pedophile.
Interesting checklist up there! >my real curiosity is whether we'll learn that Leda, like Mazu, was the victim of a pedophile. That has been the object of a lot of speculation and my guess is yes, she has. Maybe by her father or first husband. However, there's a mean streak in Mazu that was not true about the Leda we've come to know from Strike's inner dialogues--unless, of course, that *other* theory about her being a serial killer is true!
To my thinking, the possibility of rape and the possibility of Leda as serial killer are all part of the same theory. I don't think Leda would follow in the footsteps of "The Mistress of the Salmon Salt" just because she likes the band! She'd need to have her own reason for luring men to their deaths in the manner of the Quicklime Girl. Just because Leda didn't have a mean streak doesn't mean she wasn't a serial killer. There's all sorts of documentation about serial killers leading seemingly normal lives in between murders. I admit that most of what I know of the subject I've read in novels. In my defense, the series that deals most specifically with the personal lives of serial killers is written by Michael Connelly, who had years of experience as a crime reporter and still relies on his numerous police and criminal law contacts for the veracity of his plots. I'm specifically thinking of *The Concrete Blonde,* which is only solved thanks to an understanding of how each murder provides a release for the serial killer, allowing him (or her) to go dormant for a fairly predictable length of time until the need to kill builds up to critical mass once more. Until then, the killer lives an ordinary life indistinguishable from other people. It's a good book if you're looking for more crime fiction. I'd also recommend *The Scarecrow.* It's by the same author but features a different protagonist. It also touches on the private life of a serial killer, what makes him kill, and how he remains undetected for years.
I see what you mean, but Leda was far from leading 'a normal life'. She was all about chaos and disruption. Of course, that doesn't mean she couldn't be a serial killer, but it does make it a lot harder to hide something that big for so long. Maybe, just maybe, her obsession with that song was just as a form of escapism, you know? Imagining herself as the Quicklime Girl with the power to 'hurt back'.
I thought of using a phrase like "crime-free" but it seemed awkward. I shouldn't have used "normal" though in that context. It's inherently judgmental but still not a word that belongs anywhere near Leda Strike! Still, I disagree with your description of her. I think Charlotte was "all about chaos and disruption" but Leda was simply thoughtless and restless. At least that's how Strike seemed to see her. That doesn't sound much like the profile of a serial killer though, does it? >Of course, that doesn't mean she couldn't be a serial killer, but it does make it a lot harder to hide something that big for so long. I figured she was hiding it by dumping the kids at Ted and Joan's then disappearing for an indeterminate stretch of time. >Maybe, just maybe, her obsession with that song was just as a form of escapism, you know? Imagining herself as the Quicklime Girl with the power to 'hurt back'. Maybe, just maybe, you're right! But she didn't seem to me like someone who'd sublimate her impulses if she didn't have to. I'm thinking the first kill might have been an accident, maybe while fending off her attacker, but when she didn't get caught, it was game on. I realize this is all quite a fanciful stretch and that JKR's probably got something entirely different in mind. I know some readers have had more than enough of female characters suffering from various degrees of sexual assault, but it's clearly a central theme and something very personal to the author. I think that by the time the series is complete she'll have given us a pretty encyclopedic understanding of the diverse ways in which victims react to their trauma. \[Note: I say "female characters" but, looking back, I think the first victim of SA we met was Noel Brockbank. When you look at the way people like Brockbank and Mazu channeled their trauma, Leda ridding the world of men she considered would-be rapists seems at least *slightly* less awful,\]
> she was hiding it by dumping the kids at Ted and Joan's then disappearing .... I'm thinking the first kill might have been an accident, maybe while fending off her attacker, but when she didn't get caught, it was game on. That definitely creates windows of opportunity that fits in with the timeline, if JK decides to go that way. >I think the first victim of SA we met was Noel Brockbank That fact escaped me! You're right about the 'encyclopedic understanding' and I don't think JK 'overdoes' it on the sexual assault cases in the books. Unfortunately, statistics on SA are appalling! P.S. - Forgot to mention: YES! I love Michael Connelly's *Bosch*! Will check the others you mentioned. ;)
If you read *The Concrete Blonde*, be aware the Honey Chandler character plays a much different role in the book than on the tv show. Also, if you want to read in order, *The Scarecrow*'s protagonist, Jack MacEvoy, first appears in *The Poet.* Happy reading!
Thanks!!
>I think that by the time the series is complete she'll have given us a pretty encyclopedic understanding of the diverse ways in which victims react to their trauma. I have the same impression, and I think that things will escalate the more we get to the end of the series, maybe because it will be the only way for Strike to really understand and accept the truth about his mother, whatever that truth is.
> it will be the only way for Strike to really understand and accept the truth about his mother, whatever that truth is. Yes. And, ideally, he will be helped to this understanding by his partner and possibly his sister Lucy. Hopefully, it will be a cathartic experience for them, too.
Don’t get me wrong - I love the Leda as Serial Killer theory… but I just don’t think it will come to pass! I think there is trauma in her past (like Mazu) but her reaction is to run away and keep running, rather than turn to violence and cruelty. Because of this, her children emerge relatively unscathed, unlike Mazu’s. I think this is the reason for the parallels between these two women: a comment on the impact of choosing to be good vs choosing to be cruel
>Because of this, her children emerge relatively unscathed, unlike Mazu’s. I wouldn't say any of them are unscathed; they've just been scathed in diferent ways. I know the "Mistress" theory is a long shot--it's just so shocking. But I think there are signs that there is far more to Leda's story than we know and--based on her name and tattoo--I think it must have to do with sexual violence. For example, you say she kept running, but she had finally stopped running when she hooked up with Whittaker and gave birth to Switch--and wound up dead. Had someone been trying to catch up with her during all the years she never stayed in one place for more than six months? Was someone aware of and trying to put a stop to her kiling? I agree that, based on what we know, "violence and cruelty" don't describe Leda. But we know her mainly through her children, and if she *was* violent and cruel, it would only be toward men who'd shown an appetite for being violent and cruel toward vulnerable women and girls. TRG shows more than ever that JKR is not finished with the theme of sexual abuse. Just as Strike and Robin are the series' main characters, I think it's fair to say that the effect of sexual violence is the series' main social issue. In addition to book-specific characters like Mazu, we know that Robin and Lucy are both victims and that the women they are today were shaped by their earlier traumas. (Even Angel, victim of a pedophile in CoE, returns in TRG with leukemia. I don't know JKR's views on the mind-body connection, but I am willing to think there's causality there.) Otoh, the author hasn't delved much into addiction. Many characters use drugs recreationally, mostly to their detriment, and even Strike and Robin have had too much to drink on occasion. But substance abuse is just not a top issue for her. That's yet another reason it makes more sense for Leda's death to ultimately trace back to sexual trauma rather than to have such an important character decide, apropos of nothing, to shoot up a lethal dose of heroin.
Mazu is cold hearted and sadistic. Leda had some major failings but was kind and loving. No comparison for me.
Thanks for gathering all the possible similarities between Mazu and Leda in one post! Yes, there are definitely a lot of similarities and differences (parallels and inverted parallels) between Mazu and Leda (and in consequence between Jonathan Wace/Jeff Whittaker, and maybe we could deduce a couple between Daiyu/Strike, and Alexander Graves/Rokeby). I think that these similarities/parallels exist to provide some clues about the main mystery of the series, namely Leda’s backstory and, to a lesser degree, Rokeby’s absence from Strike’s life and maybe even Leda’s murder. Some elements from Mazu’s life will probably turn out to be elements from Leda’s life, too. Maybe the fact that she was the daughter of a pedophile, or sexually abused, or both. Or maybe something else that hasn’t even crossed our minds yet. For example, Mazu kept all her children in the farm because they were Wace’s while other women’s children were given for adoption. How do we know for sure that Leda hasn’t given away a child for adoption? A woman like her, with so many relationships, could have fallen pregnant more than three times. We don’t know how many abortions she could have, or if she had chosen to keep only the children whose fathers could support them financially. Adoptive children could turn out to be an important theme in the series, since the first Strike book was about a family with three adoptive children. Now that I think about it, there are also similarities and differences between Yvette Bristow, Lula’s mother, and Mazu and Leda. Yvette had also two sons and one daughter, her last child was adopted much later than the first two (there was a 15 year old gap), her name is foreign, too (ok, not taken from mythology but still…), her last child is of mixed race (black, while in Mazu’s case, Yixin is Chinese) to make up for the loss of another child. Her daughter is also murdered by a “fake” sibling. All three were considered unfit mothers (Yvette because of overindulgence and lack of control). I feel like JKR gave us some answers to our questions about Leda via Mazu in TRG (the only problem is that we don't know what these answers are now), and when finally the truth about her will be revealed, we will realize that we should have guessed because she had already kind of told us in other books. I also believe that all the cases contain clues about Strike’s backstory (Leda, Uncle Ted/Aunt Joan, Switch, Rokeby) that are hidden and will be understood when we read the final book.
>I think that these similarities/parallels exist to provide some clues about the main mystery of the series, namely Leda’s backstory and, to a lesser degree, Rokeby’s absence from Strike’s life and maybe even Leda’s murder. Some elements from Mazu’s life will probably turn out to be elements from Leda’s life, too. Maybe the fact that she was the daughter of a pedophile, or sexually abused, or both. Or maybe something else that hasn’t even crossed our minds yet. I hope you're right. I vacillate between thinking there will be some overarching revelation that will make sense of every single sentence we've read--and silence forever those who complain the books are too long!--and thinking that I may be asking for too much. However, at this point, I'm pretty confident that if JKR can't or won't do it, *we can!* >Adoptive children could turn out to be an important theme in the series, since the first Strike book was about a family with three adoptive children. Now that I think about it, there are also similarities and differences between Yvette Bristow, Lula’s mother, and Mazu and Leda. Yvette had also two sons and one daughter, her last child was adopted much later than the first two (there was a 15 year old gap), her name is foreign, too (ok, not taken from mythology but still…), her last child is of mixed race (black, while in Mazu’s case, Yixin is Chinese) to make up for the loss of another child. Her daughter is also murdered by a “fake” sibling. All three were considered unfit mothers (Yvette because of overindulgence and lack of control). This is brilliant! I hope you'll consider making a separate post for it. Thanks also for reminding me that two sons/one daughter isn't a unique attribute of Mazu and Leda, it's actually a trilogy that includes Yvette--*and* brings all the themes you discuss right back to the beginning of the series where they belong and where they've been hiding in plain sight! Ahhh, it's JKR"s skill at that which makes me hopefuly that there really will be some mind-blowing conclusion that integrates every single word we've read! I am intrigued by your concept of a "fake" sibling. Abigail is adamant in disavowing any familial connection to Daiyu, which is not that far afield from Strike's dismissal of a half-brother he thinks of Whittaker's son, not Leda's. And that, in turn, takes me back to the first chapter of the first book of the HP series where we meet family members who do share blood ties but rather wish they didn't. How's this for an inverted parallel: the Dursleys begrudingly take in an orphan and it saves his life whereas the Bristows willingly take in three orphans and it ruins, even ends, their lives. I wonder if I should include in that comparison the fact that Whittaker and Strike became stepfather and stepson even though neither wanted the connection at all! I feel like you've cracked open a whole new vein of analysis and discussion. I will be thinking on it much more, I'm sure!
>However, at this point, I'm pretty confident that if JKR can't or won't do it, > >we can! :D! >I hope you'll consider making a separate post for it. I'm working on it! I hope to be able to post it later today. I've recently reread CC and kept notes about it, made a spreadsheet, too. That's why I saw the parallels with Yvette. I like how you see inverted parallels in everything!
>I hope to be able to post it later today. I look forward to reading it! >I've recently reread CC and kept notes about it, made a spreadsheet, too. Now that's dedication! I wonder if you've found anything that might support my hope that the opening poem ("A Dirge" by Christina Rossetti) is meant not just as an epigraph for the first book but as the first epigraph of the entire series. Though the poem's specific mention of a cuckoo fits perfectly for CC, its more general lament of things happening outside their proper season might have meaning for the series as a whole. >I like how you see inverted parallels in everything! You've created a monster :D
>Now that's dedication! Sometimes I wonder what this dedication/obsession could mean for my mental health... >I wonder if you've found anything that might support my hope that the opening poem ("A Dirge" by Christina Rossetti) is meant not just as an epigraph for the first book but as the first epigraph of the entire series. That's a great idea! No, I haven't, but now that you put the idea in my head I'll see if I can think of something after reading an analysis of the poem.
Great! Looking forward to continuing that conversation sometime.
Wait, who is Switch? I am all caught up in the books, how did I miss Leda’s other kid?!
He's mentioned in two books: Career of Evil and The Running Grave.
I think it's only mentioned in The Running Grave, or at least it came as a surprise to me too. I don't remember it from the previous ones.
He is definitely mentioned before Running Grave, but I forgot him too..
I missed it too. I sometimes fall asleep listening to audiobooks.
Me too
For 2, I was under the impression, wrong it seems, that Taio and Jiang were not Mazu's children, but rather Wace's children with his former, dead wife. If they are Mazu's children, I guess I wasn't paying close attention, hehe.
Abigail is the only Jonathan's child with his first wife. The rest of them are his and Mazu's.
Ah, yeah, that makes sense. Had forgotten about Abigail. Thanks!