Batty About The Archived by Victoria Schwab - Wrapping it all up

Batty About Books presents

The Archived

by Victoria Schwab

Here we are wrapping up this edition of Batty About Books. I enjoyed learning about The Archive and visiting with Mac and Wes. I look forwarding to learning more about them in The Unbound. As I look back over the past weeks, I wonder, were my questions from the beginning of the book answered? Let's take a really quick look.

In case you missed it:

Week 1 - Cover Appeal

Week 2 - The Beginning - pg 1-110

Week 3 - The Middle - pg 111-214

Week 4 - The End - pg 215 - end

Here we are in the final pages of The Archived and I want to step back and see if some of my questions were answered - spoiler free…  It’s so hard to discuss without some spoilers! I’m hoping I can gather some local friends over a glass of wine and just let loose with no concerns.

Why Mackenzie?

Hm. I know she takes the job seriously and she can’t imagine her life without the Archive in it. “Truths are messy and lies are messy, and i don’t care what Da said, it’s impossible to cut a person into pielike pieces, neat and tidy.” (281) Her dedication to the Archive, which constantly puts her life in danger, shows she was the right choice. I’m guessing he saw this in her. And that she would do even better than he did.

I agree. I also would like to know how Da ended up with the job. He sounded so cynical near the end of his life. Did he have a smooth transition into his job? Mac not only is dedicated, she’s willing to pick herself back up when she falls. I love that she knows she’ll make mistakes, and she understands there are consequences, but she still wants to persevere. That’s a fabulous example.

Why The Archive?

“Because the only way to truly record a person is not in words, not in still frames, but in bone and skin and memory.” “...I don’t know whether that should terrify or comfort me, that everything is backed up like that. That somewhere my History is compiling itself.” (301)

I am still fascinated by this. Do we get more or less bias when our History comes directly from the skin and bone of the person involved? I know I try to impress upon my students that even “nonfiction” carries bias. Even primary sources are inherently biased. It is our job as historians to understand that bias and let it inform our understanding of the time period we study.

Why is Wesley at the Coronado?

“...the Coronado is being hit harder than other territories...”(228) ”...if any evidence presents itself that Mr. Ayers is unable to keep his own numbers down...” (258)

So fascinating. I’d like to think that Roland also hoped that Wesley would be a good partner for Mac. He seems to have her well being in his heart in each decision he makes.

Why isn’t Owen slipping?

Ah. “...our histories don’t slip.” (296)

Oooo… clever use of a quote here, my friend. Very ambiguous, and yet for those who have finished the book it helps us remember the reveal.

What happened to Robert?

“I know and I made him pay for that.” (288)

Were those other residents murdered?

Ah. “...Those people saw...” (285)

I LOVED this. I felt it really tied everything together well. The magical nature of The Archived also housed a wonderful murder mystery.

Did your questions get answered?

These past two weeks we’ve jumped into The Archive and learned about what we would do for the people we loved. How some of that stems from who we are and what we want. We strive to carry on the legacy of those we love and admire but sometimes it’s too much and we get tired. And we make mistakes. How do we honor the memories of the people we loved? While staying true to who we are?

I think Victoria Schwab did a great job of answering my questions.  The questions I have now come from me wanting to know more about this world, and one or two from the ending. I feel satisfied with the story and look forward to visiting The Archive again in The Unbound later this year.

I agree! There were just a few things that didn’t completely gel for me at the end. I’m hoping that the main questions - the ones that are about this fascinating world - get filled in during the next book.

We hope you enjoyed traveling with Batty About Books!  If you like this style of book discussion stay tuned! 

Next up we will have Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis (Goodreads). We’ll discuss the Cover on March 29th.   It’s a fairly new release so available in Hardcover or ebook.  Here’s the trailer:

Hope you can join us!

Don't forget to stop by Maria's Melange where she explores the end of the book and talks about the different ways we feel about mysteries in novels.

Batty About Books - Facebook - join our page and post your questions for Victoria Schwab.

Have a great reading week!

Batty About The Archived by Victoria Schwab - Week Three

Batty About Books presents

The Archived

by Victoria Schwab

This week we meet Owen, find a knife, people are shelved where they died not where they lived, about alterations, that Wesley carries a bo staff, that archive paper can be used to send messages both ways, the Histories are getting older and more numerous, that either Wesley or the Coronado are bringing Mac's parent’s back to life, and Ben is awakened. Oh, I forgot to mention the bo staff… so cool!

If you missed it:

Week 1 - Cover Appeal

Week 2 - The Beginning - pgs 1-110

Here are my thoughts in blue (@thebrainlair) and Maria's (Maria's Melange, @mselke01) in purple.

Don't forget to head on over to Maria's Melange to see what she was thinking and my responses to her!

Week 3 - The Middle - pgs 111-214

Being Mackenzie

“I should backtrack, but it’s too late to lie when the truth is halfway up my throat.” p142

“...there’s finally something good in my life and I’m already making a mess of it” p143

“...hanging up feels like letting go” p147

Maria: Great selection of quotes! I’ll have to make some of these into images for the page.

Mackenzie is this strange mix of teenager and adult. On the one hand she wants be “M”. Just a girl who hangs out with friends but she is so steeped in being a Keeper that she doesn't easily communicate with other teenagers. She takes life seriously and thinks it would be easier to just be alone. She wouldn't have to remember to lie and she could focus on her job.  But, she recognizes that she is missing out. That having Wesley and Lyndsey in her life are “something good”. I wonder how she will deal with this now that she has Owen.

Maria: While Mac’s life is extreme - I think it’s a good reflection of that awkward time in our lives when we are stuck ‘between lives’. I think that’s one of the reasons I identify with Mac in some ways. There are always the lies we tell our parents, the lies we tell our friends… I guess even as an adult, right?

Kathy: Right!

Parenting

“Mom squints at me, and for a moment, part of me begs for her to see through this, a flimsy, half-concocted lie. p148

“He’s supposed to care. ...And suddenly I need him to care.” p164

“I’m not, not at all; but his worry gives me the strength I need to lie. To pull back and tell him I’m fine.” p165

These two scenes with her parents also remind me that she is still a child. And no matter how old we are, we want to know our parents care. The scene with her mom illustrates how far apart they’ve grown. She wants her mom to know she is lying so they can talk but she doesn’t expect her to, really. The scene with her dad also illustrates their relationship. While she doesn’t think her mom will get it, she depends on her dad to be there for her. Even if she can’t tell him the truth, it’s somehow ok if he knows she’s lying. He must have always supported her in the past. Again, it makes me think he knows she’s a Keeper.

Maria: I think the loss of her brother really made the rift between Mac and her mother bigger. It sounds like Mac’s thought her mom was a bit “wifty” for a while… her strange predilections and impulsive behavior sound like an established pattern that just got worse once Ben died. I wasn’t happy with her father in the first section of the book, but I think this chunk really helped show that there is strong relationship there. She WANTS their help… but she knows she can’t have it. Another big part of Mac’s journey to adulthood.

Kathy: "Wifty", yes. We hope that her mom settles down with the coffee shop and they can start sharing again. They love each other. They just need to find their way back to each other.

History

M  - “I understand clinging to one’s own past, but when it comes to the pasts of other people, I don’t get it.”

A - “Everything is valuable in it’s own way. Everything is full of history...”

“A tether to other people in other times. As long as I have that, I’m not alone. And they are not really gone.”

A - “Some things should be allowed to fade.”

M - “Everything deserves to be remembered.” p145

This conversation between Ms. Angelli and Mackenzie brings to mind an earlier conversation about memories and the purpose of Histories.

In a way, it seems like Mackenzie is of two minds, that she doesn’t care about other people’s past, just her own but she also says that everything should be remembered. Does she just mean, each person’s family should be responsible for their memories? But what about your friends? Wouldn't you want to help them preserve their memories? Ms. Angelli is an antiquities collector because she wants to remember the past. It gives her a connection. But she also says that some things aren’t worth remembering. So, like Mackenzie, she is of two minds. They both want to select what should be remembered.

Like we do, though it doesn’t always work. I sometimes remember painful experiences that I’d like to forget and sometimes forget the good things. But, can we really forget or do we just have a hard time accessing those memories?

Maria: I think the theme of memory and history is so important to this story (I talked about it, too!) As a history minor in college, I have to say I think history is vital. When we lose our connection with the past, we lose so much. We lose our ability to learn from the patterns of success and failure. We lose our sense of being part of a bigger picture. We lose the idea of how far we have come - or how much farther we have left to go in issues of human rights and equality. When people ask me what superpower I would like to have, I often respond with “memory”. I want the ability to choose, though. To choose what to remember with crystal clarity and what to blur into just the shape of what has gone past. I hate the idea of losing my memories, and especially the idea of having someone ELSE choose what I can keep and what gets tossed.

Kathy: I wish social studies classes focused more on the connections through history instead of just trying to memorize dates or judge the leaders of the past. It would be great if we thought more about what was happening in society that allowed each leader to "succeed" or led some to "failure". What had the people experienced or what were they hoping to experience? How does that relate to us now? Students would get so much more out of school, I think.

Busyness

“But it’s not just the simple absence of sound and life. It is a silence that spreads behind my eyes, where memories should be. It is a silence that doesn't stop at our skin, but reaches into me, fills me with cottony quiet, spreads through me like calm.” p166

This passage brings two things to mind; being so busy that your mind can’t rest and the silence reaching where “memories SHOULD be”. There are times I need to slow myself down and just be. I’m running myself ragged and need to get some downtime and some sleep. I know that relaxation and sleep are restorative but have also led myself to believe that I’m too busy. And when I want to relax, I can’t. So I crave this silence Mackenzie finds with Owen. This absence of not just noise but thoughts and this bearer of calm. This was why I chose the word preparation this year. Because the more prepared I am, the more time I have to step back and relax and reflect.

What do you think of the statement “where memories should be.”Does Owen’s silence bury Mackenzie’s memories?

Maria: That’s an interesting question. I know I’m often so busy that I can’t take the time to really reflect and store my memories. I feel like Owen’s gift of silence gives Mac the chance to rest, but I didn't get the sense that it would damage her memories in any way. Sometimes just the break from the constant barrage of noise and thoughts can help me regain the energy to deal with things. But maybe that’s just my introversion talking.

Just for fun

“You know...that despite my title, this isn't really a library, right? We don’t lend, we don’t check out, we don’t even have a reference-only reading area. ” p173

Ha. Even though the first two things mean the same thing - lending and checking out - I find it funny and sometimes tease the students that I’m not there to help them, I’m too busy reading all the books!

Maria: This also reminds me of one of my bigger questions about this world - what IS the point of the Archive? What role do the Librarians play? I get what Keepers and Crew do… as long as we accept that the Archive is needed. But what is the actual role of this library of memory?

Kathy: I'm going to search for this - to see if it's answered in the next part. That's a great question.

Overall

So we answered the question of who Owen is but not the question of why? How did he die and why isn't he slipping?  I also wonder what happened to Robert. And who killed all the Coronado residents? Time to finish the book and, hopefully, get all my questions answered!

Check out our Batty About Books Facebook page where we will post quotes from the final pages of the book. Or at least Maria will! What are your thoughts so far?

Batty About The Archived by Victoria Schwab - Cover Appeal

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Welcome to all those who decided to do a read-along with Batty. Welcome to those who are just stopping by the blog to hear about The Archived. Today’s post is entirely spoiler free, as we are just chatting about the outside of the book! Want to join in the fun? 

Check out our…

Post on Nerdy Book Club explaining how we’re opening up our Batty Duo to everyone this time around!

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Now, let’s talk Cover Appeal!

As always, Maria's posts are in purple and mine (Kathy) are in blue! Check out Maria's Melange for more science fiction fun. 

Since I've already read The Archived, we decided that I would only respond to Maria's thoughts because we wanted to keep this SPOILER FREE!

Spine:

Maria: I’m going to start with the spine. In some bookstores, The Archived may not end up facing out. Would that spine design be enough to pull me in? Between the intriguing title (I admit it, I love books… and the word “archive” sounds fascinating) and the parchment-like quality of the letters themselves, it would absolutely cause me to at least yank the book off the shelf to learn more. The spine seems designed to appeal to a bibliophile. I am curious about where it might be shelved in a larger bookstore, because that would impact who would even get to see the spine!

Kathy: I love the spine. Like you, I’m a book lover and I’ve been known to buy books because they have pretty spines! The faded look of the font and the deep, dark blue would have pulled me over. And once I touched it?? That suede-like feel would have me rushing to the cashier.  Did you notice the leaves on the spine??? Also, I bet in our Barnes and Noble it would just be in the teen section alphabetically. I will pop over there later and see if I can snap a picture. If I find it, I’ll post the pic on Tumblr!

Front:

Maria: Once that book is in my hands, the front cover would absolutely lure me in. The face in the smoke billowing out from a golden key looks so intent. Honestly, what appeals to me most about that face is that it is clearly female and yet is not “posing” for me. She’s gazing into the distance, with a clear purpose in her eyes. So often the women on covers look like they are overly aware of the people looking at them. They pose to be “alluring”. This young woman breaks that mold, and I like it.

Kathy: Agreed! She looks intent and focused. She also looks a little sad to me. And also young. Despite the dark color to the cover, I started to wonder if this was MG or YA based on past experience. At this point, I still haven't’ read the back!

Maria: One question I have about this cover, though, is will it draw in boys? I think with the popularity of Hunger Games, boys are less likely to just ignore books that seem to be mostly about a girl. I think the color scheme and the lack of any “frills” on this cover would also make boys feel comfortable taking it off the shelf. What do you think?

Kathy: I agree with this. Especially since it was brought to my attention by one of the male teachers.  Also, lately boys have pretty much been checking out anything from our library. They know I’m not judging. The City of Bones series is popular right now, despite the shirtless boy on that first cover. I think the less I (or other adults) act as if it means something, the more students will pick up whatever reading material they are interested in - despite its cover.

Maria: The background of blue and black really makes the golden key and face stand out. I’m curious about the walls behind her. Are they brick? Is she in an alley? Or does the glint on those blocks behind her mean that material is something else?

Kathy: It looks like brick to me with some light glowing down, just not everywhere.  I also think the key looks important since it’s at the top and it’s sending the smoke down that leads to the girl’s head.  I have to tread lightly here, though, based on what I can remember about the story.

Maria: I’m also a fan of the current trend toward velvety type texture on the book jacket.

Kathy: I mentioned this above! I love this suede-y velvety infinitely touchable cover. I’m sad that students won’t get to experience it because we cover the books with plastic before putting them out. Neither will the people who have the e-book.  There’s something about this that makes the book holdable.  I’m inclined to carry it around. Which will hopefully spark conversations about it... It also makes the book appear more literary? important? ancient? I think deckle-edged paper would have been another perfect touch.

Back:

Maria: Did you spot those gargoyles hunkered down on the top of the building? Is that a weather vane? Gargoyles are awesome. Sometimes they are part of a rain spout system, but traditionally they protect against evil. (Did you watch the cartoon series as a kid?) These two look slightly bored.

http://www.authenticireland.com/gargoyles/ (this link is information about gargoyles in Ireland!)

Kathy: I have never heard of a cartoon series called Gargoyles! Was it good? When was it on? The rest of this comment has been REDACTED. LAUGH! Now I’m extra intrigued!

Maria: The rest of the building seems creepy. Are the top windows boarded up, or is that just the reflection? The clouds above the building make it look like a storm is coming. All of these elements, combined with the color scheme, definitely give The Archived a haunted and creepy feel.

Kathy:I think the windows are just a reflection, though it does appear that all the windows have been shuttered from the inside. Add the crumbling paint and yes, it does look haunted! Is this why she needs the old-fashioned key? The building looks impossibly tall and I picture it on a hill somewhere sorta staring down at all who pass by. Huh, on closer look, those windows on the second floor do look painted over or boarded up at least on the bottom half!

Inside Cover Copy:

Maria: So the outside of the cover would definitely get me to pull it off the shelf and give it a chance, but the real test (for me) is the plot blurb inside the front cover.

Kathy: “Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.” I can imagine it! I like that the first paragraph sets up the entire book in less than 35 words! And again, she sounds like a young kid with a tough job. This will draw in the 7th and 8th graders.

Maria: I’m sold. Between my love of books and my love of history, it feels like this storyline is calling my name. Can you imagine walking up to the History of Joan of Arc, or Elizabeth I and getting the full truth? Now imagine that someone is purposefully destroying that information…. Yes, I know that The Archived is set in another world and my favorite faces from history won’t be in this tale, but I’m ready to hear about Mac’s world. Let’s get started!

Kathy: This appeals to my book lover and my librarian sensibilities! It’s beautiful on the outside and hints at beauty on the inside. Even without the jacket the book is appealing with it’s dark blue cover and silver writing. The end flaps have a nice silver fleur de lis on a black background. Did you notice that the author’s name matches the color of the key? And the title is actually a light blue instead of silver - same as the girl’s face? A lot of thought went into this book design. Let’s “uncover” how well it matches the story!

Pick up a copy of The Archived (Amazon Kindle Edition
| Amazon
| Shop Indie) and read along with us.  

Next Saturday, March 1st, we'll discuss pages 1 - 110.