Hey readers,
I thought it was about time I actually started writing this review as it's been in my drafts for the last few months. I re-read A Series of Unfortunate Events last year and I then plotted out the review for it. However, I just haven't had the chance to publish it. So as it's a new month I thought I'd look at all the books in the series, divided into four parts as I actually wanted to do before Christmas. So, here goes;
A Series of Unfortunate Events (SUE) is made up of thirteen books and follows the lives of three siblings.
The books are aimed at a young audience, but adults will find them a good read. The first book, The Bad Beginning, was published in 1999 and written by Daniel Handler under his pen name of Lemony Snicket. As with every first book this creates the starting block for the series. The reader is introduced to Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire, who suddenly find their normal lives turned upside down by the death/murder of their parents in a fire that has also destroyed their entire home.
Mr. Poe, the banker and the person in-charge of the Baudelaire family fortune, is the messenger of the bad news and he is forced to take the children in. However, they are quickly taken to their new guardian a distain cousin; Count Olaf, who also turns out to the the antagonist for the series. He only wants one thing and that's the Baudelaire fortune and he'll do whatever it takes to get it. Both these characters appear throughout the series and other then a few characters in later books, there's not many other recurrences.This also starts a pattern off as in nearly all the books the children start out with a new guardian.
Each of the children has a special talent which they always put to good use throughout the series. Fourteen year old Violet is an inventor. Klaus, twelve, is an avid reader/researcher and their baby sister, Sunny, likes biting things. When they arrive and meet Count Olaf, he puts them to work in his house. Each day he then leaves them a list of chores to do. Olaf is an actor and has his own acting troupe. The reader is introduced to them, but its soon clear that they are actually Olaf's henchmen/women. They are working on a new play, The Marvelous Marriage, which they perform and give a leading role to Violet. However, the play is staged so that Olaf can be married to Violet so that he can claim the fortune. Luckily, this doesn't work out, but Olaf ends up escaping and the siblings are forced to live in fear of him finding them.
The characters are all likable and can be sympathized with. There is no lengthy introduction about them, instead we learn and are reminded about things as the series goes on. The descriptions make it easy to imagine each different character. They also age and grow throughout the series too.
The settings of the series seems to be a sort of steampunk/alternate/mock-gothic 19th century America, though with a slightly 20th century feeling in some places. However, it's never made clear enough. Real places are mentioned though, but none are traveled too. Being given this 'timeless' setting does have an impacted on the characters, because it allows them not to be grounded to an actual time and able to get away with more. Snicket doesn't stretch the bounds of this and tries to keep things true to the world he has created. For the reader, this undefined setting doesn't cause too many problems.
The language and tone of the books also follows the suggested setting. The narrative switches from third person to first as Snicket is also a character. The reader gets snippets about his life throughout and this has a deeper connection to the story of the Baudelaires. Sometimes, there is also digressions and long explanations of words, but this is understandable when having the readership as children.
Overall, the first book is a good introduction to the main characters and the setting.
The Reptile Room is the second book in the series. This is possibly my favorite one. I think because it seems more humors to me and also because the characters become more defined. It follows on well from book one as it starts almost straight afterwards. The children meet their second guardian, uncle Monty, who is a snake expert and has a large collection of them, including the deadly viper which appears with Sunny on the front cover. This is also the first time we get to see Count Olaf appear in one of his disguises. In mostly does this in every book and pertains that he is someone else, who doesn't know the Baudelaires. Of course, they and the readers are well aware of who he really is, but the guardians often don't know until the end.
The plot of this book is that Monty is going to Peru to study a snake and he's having to take the Baudelaires with him. Olaf appears as an replacement assistant as Monty's normal one has suddenly be called away. As the children try to warn Monty, Olaf threats them and it turns out that he believes it would be easier to kidnap the children whilst in Peru and then get his hands on the fortune. However, things don't go to plan and Monty his found dead in the reptile room. The deadly viper is blamed for his death and Olaf tries to take the Baudelaires away. He's stopped when they find evidence that he's behind the murder and he flees the scene.
There are lots of recording themes throughout the series; such as disguises, spies, death, friendship, secrets and the truth. One thing that really attracted me to this series was Lemony warning readers about the books nature in the blurb, at the start and in certain perilous scenes. I liked how he wanted to make the readers aware that books contained a lot of sadness and bad luck. Of course, who wanted want to read a book after being told not to? Especially if it's children! Though it probably is over used, I did't get tried of the warning, rather it made me more interested to find out what trouble the Baudelaire orphans had found themselves in!
The series is also filled with literary references. There are countless names of writers being used, references to novels, plays and poetry. Also inventors, artists and musicians show up. Children won't get most of these, but adults will get the bulk of them. For instance in The Reptile Room;
The plot of this book is that Monty is going to Peru to study a snake and he's having to take the Baudelaires with him. Olaf appears as an replacement assistant as Monty's normal one has suddenly be called away. As the children try to warn Monty, Olaf threats them and it turns out that he believes it would be easier to kidnap the children whilst in Peru and then get his hands on the fortune. However, things don't go to plan and Monty his found dead in the reptile room. The deadly viper is blamed for his death and Olaf tries to take the Baudelaires away. He's stopped when they find evidence that he's behind the murder and he flees the scene.
There are lots of recording themes throughout the series; such as disguises, spies, death, friendship, secrets and the truth. One thing that really attracted me to this series was Lemony warning readers about the books nature in the blurb, at the start and in certain perilous scenes. I liked how he wanted to make the readers aware that books contained a lot of sadness and bad luck. Of course, who wanted want to read a book after being told not to? Especially if it's children! Though it probably is over used, I did't get tried of the warning, rather it made me more interested to find out what trouble the Baudelaire orphans had found themselves in!
The series is also filled with literary references. There are countless names of writers being used, references to novels, plays and poetry. Also inventors, artists and musicians show up. Children won't get most of these, but adults will get the bulk of them. For instance in The Reptile Room;
- One of the snakes in the Reptile Room is a Virginian Wolfsnake, a reference to the novelist Virginia Woolf. Uncle Monty warns the Baudelaire children never to allow the snake near a typewriter.
- Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, the herpetologist (a person who studies reptiles), may be a reference to Monty Python's Flying Circus.
- Both the name of the boat to Peru, Prospero, and the name of Count Olaf's disguise, Stephano, are allusions to William Shakespeare's The Tempest. *
*Quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reptile_Room.
This is a theme that appears throughout the series. It does add a sense of realism and dark humor to the books. It also gets you interested to do more research and read other writers' books as well.
This is the third book, The Wide Window. The Baudelaires go to live with their aunt Josephine. She is afraid of everything and lives in an unstable shack of a house above a lake. Whilst the children try to get use to her odd lifestyle, they meet Olaf disguised as Captain Sham. He charms Josephine and she ignores the children as they try to warn her about him. That same night, the children hear a crashing sound and discover a suicide note next to the broke window.
However, knowing that Josephine was very particular about grammar, Klaus reveals a hidden message in the note. Josephine is alive and hiding in a cave across the lake. With a hurricane about to start, the Baudelaires escape from Olaf and Mr Poe, steal a rowing boat and head out to the cave. They rescue Josephine, but then get rescued by Olaf as they try to return. Olaf sends Josephine to her death and then tries to take the children once they get back to land. However, they reveal who he is and once again he's force to escape.
This plot does become something of the same for most of the other books. It's a simple format really, but its the different dangerous, how the Baudelaires escape and the fact that Olaf gets away all the time. In the next three books more subplots are added and it becomes a lot more interesting. Also none of the guardians are relented to them, but are more friends of the Baudelaire parents, more on that next week.
Lastly, they made a movie of the first three books. I think people have very mixed feelings about it though. It basically mashes the books together, with the start of the first one being split between the beginning and the end of the movie and the other two books being in between them. I thought it did no justice to the books when I first saw it, but I've become more accepting of it now.
However, knowing that Josephine was very particular about grammar, Klaus reveals a hidden message in the note. Josephine is alive and hiding in a cave across the lake. With a hurricane about to start, the Baudelaires escape from Olaf and Mr Poe, steal a rowing boat and head out to the cave. They rescue Josephine, but then get rescued by Olaf as they try to return. Olaf sends Josephine to her death and then tries to take the children once they get back to land. However, they reveal who he is and once again he's force to escape.
This plot does become something of the same for most of the other books. It's a simple format really, but its the different dangerous, how the Baudelaires escape and the fact that Olaf gets away all the time. In the next three books more subplots are added and it becomes a lot more interesting. Also none of the guardians are relented to them, but are more friends of the Baudelaire parents, more on that next week.
Lastly, they made a movie of the first three books. I think people have very mixed feelings about it though. It basically mashes the books together, with the start of the first one being split between the beginning and the end of the movie and the other two books being in between them. I thought it did no justice to the books when I first saw it, but I've become more accepting of it now.
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