The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket Review
The Bad Beginning: A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony SnicketHarperTrophy, August 1999.
Hardcover, 162 pages
ISBN: 0064407667.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
"I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding
in your hands is extremely unpleasant." So reads the
note from the author to the reader of this
amazing new series from the mysterious and elusive author
Lemony Snicket. The charming and clever
Baudelaire children have just gotten some horrible
news. Their parents have perished in a terrible fire
which also claimed their house. The three children,
Violet, Klaus and the baby, Sunny, must go live with
their distant cousin, the detestable and thoroughly weird
Count Olaf. Count Olaf treats them shamefully, all the while
scheming to get his hands on the fortune they inherited from
their deceased parents. It will take all of the ingenuity and courage of
the three siblings to defeat the evil Count Olaf, but, as the
author warns us, don't expect a happy ending.
The Bad Beginning is a wickedly funny book with a biting wit and wonderful illustrations. The morose narrator's tone is a perfect accompaniment for the bizarre and witty story, which owes more to Douglas Adams than it does to Ronald Dahl in its cheerful acceptance of the blatantly absurd. The always cheerful, always brave Baudelaire children leap from one disaster to the next, leaving the reader to hope against hope that the narrator is putting him on, and that a happy ending is just around the corner. Although published as a Young Adult title, this is one book that discerning adults will adore. Highly recommended.
--Claire E. White
A Series of Unfortunate Events continues with the second book, The Reptile Room.
Return to the October 1999 issue of The IWJ.
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