Character Discussion : Marco

[buffyangellvr23.livejournal.com]

Now this guy had a lot of complications all the way through...mostly it was the "my mom is Visser One" stuff, but then toward the end there was the whole love triangle thing. I wish they had explored it more in the last book.

I do like how he always coped with humor...even if not all the jokes were funny lol

Comments

[iapetusneume.livejournal.com]

That's the first of Marco's books, book 5. It was at the very end of the book that his dad picks himself up again to keep trying. The two years or so is still a sore spot for Marco, but after that his dad starts to get on the road to healing. (He gets his old job back, they're able to move into a house again, etc.)

One time, in one of my writing classes, we had to bring in a small piece from a writer who influenced our work. I brought in the first two pages of the first book, and got to read it to the class. My teacher said she immediately could see that in my writing, and it's one of the best compliments I've ever received. K.A. is fantastic.

[sylverlining.livejournal.com]

Man, I need to read these again. xD Seriously.

But aww, that's wonderful. <3 And yeah, she really is.

[lisacharly.livejournal.com]

Let it also be noted that just because Peter is no longer a grief-ridden couch potato, he never really gets to the point of becoming a good parent. There are plenty of points throughout the series where I just cringe for Marco because Peter is such a clueless dad. It's usually played for subtle laughs (ice cream as a meal, baby aspirin for a teenager) but sometimes Marco will make snarky comments about how his Dad doesn't notice when he wakes up screaming or his Dad won't notice if he doesn't come home all night and it's like JESUS, Peter! Just because your kid is moderately self-sufficient doesn't mean he's just your BFF and not your child!

It's funny how much of it flew over my head as a kid, too. When I read #5 as an eight year-old I didn't see anything strange about sending a small 13 year-old to get groceries at ten pm through a neighborhood where people were getting mugged at gunpoint.

That's a wonderful compliment. :) Do you still write?

[iapetusneume.livejournal.com]

I agree. I also like how we get a portrayal of a not-so-great parent who really, really loves his kid. I really liked the different forms of parents we see throughout the series. Even when he's making these big changes and moving forward, he's still making mistakes.

I think a part of it is, at the time, we (as kids) feel like we are totally responsible enough to handle things we're not ready for. Though I admit I wouldn't want to walk through Marco's old neighborhood at any age.

And I do! I'm working on a story and trying to get it finished so I can look for an agent.

[lisacharly.livejournal.com]

Peter totally was a loving but completely spacey and ineffectual dad. I do like that pretty much all the parents had different personalities, even if they were subtle differences. It's something that I never noticed as a kid, but as an adult reading it it really makes the home life segments in the series shine.

Yay! Good for you. I wish I had the patience for original work.