Twelve Months, chapter one

[Mira]

I think some readers tend to forget that all of these books are technically Harry's Journals. He wrote them. So therefore there are going to be issues like this, especially someone who is impacted by this much trauma.

Additionally, it feeds into an ongoing theory that Harry is not a reliable narrator. This is something that pops up every now and again.

I also feel like the books are getting closer to (Harry's) present time. The early books often read like they are furtner in the past, while as we creep close the end, they feel more "current".

Just one mans opinion.

Oh what Harry is feeling in that chapter is very reliable and actually normal.  It would be worrisome if he wasn't feeling some of those emotions, how he learns to cope with it that is important.  Those flashbacks are real and they don't go away.

[Dina]

I think some readers tend to forget that all of these books are technically Harry's Journals. He wrote them. So therefore there are going to be issues like this, especially someone who is impacted by this much trauma.
Additionally, it feeds into an ongoing theory that Harry is not a reliable narrator. This is something that pops up every now and again.
I also feel like the books are getting closer to (Harry's) present time. The early books often read like they are furtner in the past, while as we creep close the end, they feel more "current".
Just one mans opinion.

That is the point. Harry is not a reliable narrator. We know that, at least since Shiela, his fire spells and, well, who hired the killer in Changes. But it is not always so clear when he is writing the files. He has been distressed before, but we had not seen him in writing. Like, we know when Susan happened he was a mess. He told us so. But his actual words were tidier and clearer than now.

BTW, Jim is already writing Mirror Mirror and I am happy to hear that, as I hope it is a funnier book. We know is necessary for Harry to live through the twelve months, but being with him won't be easy.

[Mira]

That is the point. Harry is not a reliable narrator. We know that, at least since Shiela, his fire spells and, well, who hired the killer in Changes. But it is not always so clear when he is writing the files. He has been distressed before, but we had not seen him in writing. Like, we know when Susan happened he was a mess. He told us so. But his actual words were tidier and clearer than now

  I think it is safe to assume that three weeks after the events of Battleground that Harry is a mess. Paragraph one, he isn't sleeping, every time he closes his eyes he has flashbacks to Murphy's dying and dead face.  THAT IS REAL!  I've been through that both the grief and the trauma of seeing a loved one with in minutes of a violent death, believe me, you don't sleep and it plays back like a bad movie in your mind every time you close your eyes.  What ever happens in the rest of the story may or may not be reliable as far as Harry's narration goes, but THIS is accurate as to what he is experiencing in during this time. 

What is interesting in my opinion is the difference between his reaction to the death of Murphy verses Susan. 

[LaraBeck]

What is interesting in my opinion is the difference between his reaction to the death of Murphy verses Susan.

It is, that's one of the things that bothered me after Ghost Story, that we went to Harry staying on the island for 1+ year and then jump to Skin Game and we never see him deal with what happened with Susan.

I think what makes the difference (in part) are:
1. That the romantic relationship with Susan was long over, and it would have been anyway (by his own words) after she hid Maggie from him. His relationship with Murphy, however, at the time of her death, was his present, and also his future. He makes a point to say that he saw their future together die along with her. So, that would hit different. He had hopes with Murphy at the time her death happened.
2. Building on the previous point, the relationship with Susan was something that was the past, and it didn't work for one reason or the other. The relationship with Murphy was just starting out, it was full of expectations, he could still imagine/believe they would work. Loosing that is hard. (though, tbh, I felt Harry was pretty cold during what we saw in PT/BG about the relationship, like he was holding back a lot, but that's expected from a person with so much trauma around relationships).
3. He wasn't in love with Susan anymore. I dunno, he was more than ready to jump into bed with Murphy right after she died (which is kinda fucked up imo, but *shrug*).
4. Susan was in on what was about to happen, she (to some extent) consented to it in the moment, and it was a good cause, to save their child. Murphy, well, to be frank, she consented to the danger of it when she went out into the battlefield, but the moment itself is too sudden maybe?
5. As painful as it was, with Susan's death, Harry still won something, his daughter. He will always have Maggie thanks to Susan's sacrifice, and he has a part of her, even. He gained nothing from Murphy's death. You could argue that he's alive thanks to her, but in his mind that wouldn't count. And he has no children with Murphy, no piece of her left.

I think, the reason why Harry would grieve Murphy harder is because he was imagining a future, he had hope, he could believe that they had time to figure out and develop the relationship, but now her death robes them of that opportunity. With Susan, maybe he could file that under the "I already know it doesn't work", there's no hope there. Harry wasn't in love with Susan anymore.

Now, personally, I could add that Murphy is/was his greatest love, or at least, his more mature one, and that might play a part in his grief, too, in comparison to the death of Susan. I know it's canon that Harry and Susan shared true love, but if I'm judging from what I see, I don't buy it. I could buy the relationship with Murph as something more true.

Having said all that, I think Twelve Months is supposed to be about Harry doing the balance on all his loses, Jim said it was necessary, so we might see him dealing with Susan's death in this book too in other chapters.

[Dina]

Mira, I absolutely agree about the grief that Harry is living feeling realistic. I think you are using "reliable" in two different senses. One is, you can relate with the narrator. I totally agree with that. I had terrible grief moments myself. But I think most of us were talking about the term "reliable narrator", in the sense that if you can trust in what Harry told us. When Harry hallucinates, forgets something, and perhaps has been mentally affected, we as readers only have his words to go by. An objective narrator would have told us that Harry was talking alone in the bookstore, but Harry talk us how nice and pretty was Shiela. That is what we were talking about.

LaraBeck. I agree with what you said, but when I mentioned Harry's depression about Susan, I was talking about when she was bitten. Harry told us that he was a mess for a lot of time, but we barely see it on page.

[Mira]

Mira, I absolutely agree about the grief that Harry is living feeling realistic. I think you are using "reliable" in two different senses. One is, you can relate with the narrator. I totally agree with that. I had terrible grief moments myself. But I think most of us were talking about the term "reliable narrator", in the sense that if you can trust in what Harry told us. When Harry hallucinates, forgets something, and perhaps has been mentally affected, we as readers only have his words to go by. An objective narrator would have told us that Harry was talking alone in the bookstore, but Harry talk us how nice and pretty was Shiela. That is what we were talking about.

LaraBeck. I agree with what you said, but when I mentioned Harry's depression about Susan, I was talking about when she was bitten. Harry told us that he was a mess for a lot of time, but we barely see it on page.

Dina, I disagree that Harry is unreliable as a narrator.  Why?  Because he is telling us his story as he saw it at the moment he saw it.  Yes, he could be very wrong about what he saw as in the case of Sheila, but he does go back and correct it when he finds out the truth.  That is presenting the whole picture, as it happens warts and all.  Mistakes and all, Harry presents it as he saw it at the time. 

I disagree that we barely saw Harry's depression on page at the beginning of Summer Knight after Susan got infected and left him.  It was on every page, his hygiene, the state of his apartment, going to a Council meeting in his bathrobe, because he didn't take care of his official robe and Mister threw hairballs up all over it, everyone from Lea to Murphy telling him he looked like warmed over crap!  More to the point, Harry didn't seem to care, wouldn't or was unable to do anything about it.  That screams clinical depression, Harry doesn't have to tell us he was going through a deep depression, he was describing it truthfully and reliably.

[RobReece]

Hi Mira, I'm not so sure about when Harry is recording his experiences, is there anything to say that he writes them down on a regular basis?  I always figured that a significant amount of time had occurred between the experiences and when Harry writes his memoirs.

For instance,  he finishes the first book with the phrase

   My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. 

At that point, he really wasn't a threat to those who could summon him by his name, not like he is now or as he will continue to grow in strength.   
I always took that as an indication that he wrote these long after the event took place and that was why he'd be considered a unreliable narrator.

[Mira]

At that point, he really wasn't a threat to those who could summon him by his name, not like he is now or as he will continue to grow in strength.   
I always took that as an indication that he wrote these long after the event took place and that was why he'd be considered a unreliable narrator.

 However we don't know if he isn't keeping a journal, do we?  There is a hint that he is, not proof positive, but a hint.  The fact in Turn Coat when he is in Eb's quarters, and not only comes across Eb's journal, but journals handed from master to apprentice clear back to Merlin.  That means tradition, it also might mean it is the duty of a wizard to keep a journal.  To me that's a hint that more likely than not, Harry is also keeping a journal.  It's also in the name of the series, "The Dresden Files."  Files are something you keep records of your cases in.. If the series is a memoire, Harry is still using files or journals, not memory alone to write it. 

For instance,  he finishes the first book with the phrase
Quote
   My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk.
At that point, he really wasn't a threat to those who could summon him by his name, not like he is now or as he will continue to grow in strength.   
I always took that as an indication that he wrote these long after the event took place and that was why he'd be considered a unreliable narrator.

Maybe, but if you will remember Harry had a pretty high opinion of himself, even in Storm Front and in Fool Moon he is very careful not to give his full name to Chauncy.  Harry knows that names have power, he knew this even as a young wizard, he had kicked butt and got out from under the Doom at the end of Storm Front, so feeling a little full of himself and young, he might dare you to conjour using his name.

[RobReece]

Definitely maybe,

But will we ever know for sure

Lol

[Dina]

Hi Mira
Well, effectively we disagree in the things you mentioned in your answer to me, but I completely agree with your response to RobReece about the files/journal.

[RobReece]

Ouch, nobody likes me

[Dina]

  You may be on the right though, who knows?

[Mira]

Hi Mira
Well, effectively we disagree in the things you mentioned in your answer to me, but I completely agree with your response to RobReece about the files/journal.

 The thing is Dina, what Harry says he is going through happens three weeks or so out from the events of Battleground and Murphy's death.  THAT, is no time at all from the actual event of Murphy's death, what Harry describes is authentic on that level.
The debate on whether Harry is or isn't a reliable narrator can be left for another time, another book, other events, but what Harry says he is going through in chapter one of Twelve Months is authentic, even if he is writing it years after it happened, because after going though it, one doesn't forget or is mistaken on how one felt.