Echo Lawrence AKA Toni Wiedling????
I haven't been on this site in years until recently, so I don't know if this has been mentioned before and apologize in advance if this was talked about lengthly before. I reread Rant this week for the 3rd or 4th time now, and had never noticed this before.
It started in the last Werewolf (V) chapter. There's an ominous character that appears. I say ominous, because that character actually has no backgroung except of being a party crasher. There is no direct link between this character and other characters in the book, yet this character seems to know a lot about the Rant clique in party crashing. That character is Toni Wiedling, and just like Echo, I first assumed it was man, until I read her contributor part. Then what's weird is that in the contributor's list, there is no Echo Lawrence. She's the only character in the book that doesn't appear in the list.
There are several things that make me think Echo and Toni are the same person. Tina Something mentions that if you'd ask her in a couple of months, she wouldn't even remember who Waxman was, because he had killed his parents in the past and that his existence was erased from everywhere even if he was still alive. Then Shot mentions that Echo, if she managed to go back in the past, she'd be here today, all healthy without her paralysis, that would probably mean she'd also kill her parents, maybe out of spite to her mother for what she did, so people would forget who Echo Lawrence was, hence those who gathered the testimonials and made the contributor's list. Then there's that part where Green Simms has his last interaction with Echo. He tells her that he's the one organizing party crashing and that without him there wouldn't be any party crashing. He then disappears leaving Echo behind. And then, in the contributor's list we read from Toni Wiedling :
""Continues to participate in party crash events but denies all rumors that she's assumed the role of game organizer.""
And it's actually the last sentence of the book.
It is also noticable that in the contributors list, there is no mention of boost peak technology. Echo says that if Shot went back into the past, we would wake-up in a world without boost peak. Although Shot does appear in the contibutors list. So I concluded that both these events took place, both Echo and Shot went back into the past.
Or, I then had a change of mind. Maybe Toni is Tina. Because she was last seen entering a Viper that crashed... with no one found dead at the scene. Probably in Wax's Viper. Still, why would Echo be missing from the contributor's list while Tina Something does appear there. But, there's also at the begining of the book... Palahniuk asks : "Do you ever wish you'd never been born?" So really, I think Toni is Echo's new name, just like Rant with Simms.
Or maybe Toni was just that 163 years old chick who climbs out naked and unscathed from a car crash. Or maybe Echo is that 163 years old chick, and then names herself Toni.
What's your thoughts?
Wouldn't it be nice?
Thank you so much. As being one of my favorite books, I also noticed there was no Echo in the back of the book. Puzzled me for the longest time. I let time pass by and soon had it just slip my mind, but since there may be a reason why Mr. Palahniuk had no Echo in the back, it makes me think again, and with your help, with a reason why I should start rethinking again.
Thank you!
Excellent observation. "Rant" is one of my favorite books and now I have an excuse to read it a fourth time,thanks.
I just finished reading Rant and I thought the same thing instantly. lol
When I was reading the last page I kept anticipating Echo's name but the last name there was Toni so I assume either Echo changed her name or she was also bifurcating like Green Taylor Simms/Buster Casey.
From what your saying this totally makes sense... The fact that Echo Lawrence IS Toni Wiedling.
If you look in the book on that chapter, page 295, the contribution of Toni Weidling revolves mainly around the reaction of the public to Rant's and Echo's relationship.
Its as if Toni (echo) is looking back at the effects her and Rant has had on the generation:
"Toni Wiedlin: Without exception, every kid swears she or he was infected by Rant Casey or Echo Lawrence..." (296)
"Toni Wiedlin: To young kids, Rant and Echo became the Adam and Eve of their era- the F.Scott and Zelda, the John and Yoko, Sid and Nancy, Kurt and Courtney. I remember that everyone who traced their rabies lineage back to Rant or Echo's mouth, they called themselves a 'Child of Rant' or 'Spawn of Echo.'" (297)
And how she's talked about in the contributors list kind of ties in the fact that she might be Echo - because it is assumed that she is the one who organizes Party Crashing.
Good find dude
Very good! Every time I've read the book I tried to figure it out, guess you're just way smarter than me. The one thing I was thinking, Echo's mom "Reverse Pioneered," in the crash that crippled Echo. Maybe then she just went back in time, but if she then became a Historian, Echo wouldn't be able to because her mom is already immortal, therefore couldn't be killed by Echo. Unless she went back to before she was immortal and made her not immortal meaning Historians CAN be killed... uh... yeah.
Something else I was wondering, since again, you're smarter than me, Echo says on page 313, that Rant and Simms are probably historians, but that would mean Rant's mom would be dead, but she's in the Contributors chapter. The whole paragraph on that page seems to contradict itself. What do you think? Hope people still read this page.
I like your theory, but I thought she wasn't in the back of the book because she went back in time to make herself immortal. Just like Wax, no one remembered him because he didn't has a past or a future.
In the audiobook, it says: "Echo Lawrence is missing and presumed immortal."
Toni's comments are very similar to Echo's in tone. She seems very certain that none of the "Chldren af Rant" really met Rant. She says that people idolize Rant so much that they make him seem different, implying that she knows what he's really like. But this raises a question.
If we accept that Rant is an oral biography compiled within the Rant universe, and that Echo is Toni, how could they both be interviewed for the same book? It is possible that Echo went became a historian after the book was compiled, and then her historian self was interviewed at the same time as her, but doesn't Tina say that people forget historians? I think that its more likely that Toni was the woman who Wax saw crash.
I don't think that Echo could have taken over Party Crashing. In chapter 40, Green says that he runs Party Crashing, but then he goes back in time again.
One thing everyone on this forum needs to check out is Chuck's not-so-subtle ass-covering insurance policy regarding the nature of oral biographies at the front of the book. That solves a lot of "plotholes" pre-emptively.
There's a lot of debate on whether or not the book is really "in" the Rant universe or just sort of telling the story about the Rant universe. If you don't know on which side of that fence you're on, you're going to struggle big time with pretty much all the intricate questions.
If it is IN the Rant universe, then that means Shot went back and got rid of the boosting technology because the book exists to begin with. Thus, same stuff with Echo. Although the timelines are blurry because this was assembled "at the same time" so characters shouldn't be different characters, you're forgetting the explanations about how time is fluid and the yesterday you know today won't be the same you know tomorrow,etc. The time in the book is constantly shifting because of historians shuffling things.
It really turns the book into a wonder when you start to look at it that way. I support the theory I'm elaborating on here if for no other reason than it's painfully obvious why Wielding was chosen as a name--to make it the very last contributor in chapter 42.
thank you so much i just now finished reading rant and i could not sleep because the fact that i didn't know what happened to Echo.
*Clap* *Clap* Clap*
I think you cracked it, I couldn't figure out why she wasn;t in the back of the book and it always bothered me, but I never re-read Rant. I knew there was some small detail I missed or over-read, but now you have me thinking.
douche