The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (Book Review)

The Bad Beginning
A Series of Unfortunate Events #1
by Lemony Snicket

162 pages
HarperCollins, 1999
gothic fiction/absurdist fiction/steampunk/mystery
Read in 1 day

My Rating: ★★★★

Amazon.com / BN.com

"If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book."

Review: I read this book in two hours flat. That should tell you how easy a read it is. But don't let the fact that most sites will say it's for ages 10+, in fact, the vocabulary is quite advanced. It was helpful that along the way Lemony Snicket would define those harder words and phrases for the reader.

If you've seen the movie, where Jim Carrey portrays Count Olaf, then reading this book will become even faster for you. I saw the characters in my head as I read along. In most cases I don't find it helpful or I try to read the books before watching the movie. Seeing as how it has been many years since I've seen the movie and I've only seen it once, I felt there was no harm done.

The story is a simple one, seeing as it's for children mostly, I think it ought to be. There are these three children, two who are 14 and 12, while the other is just an infant. All of them are very intelligent for their age, raised by two loving parents. Unfortunately they are met with one unfortunate event after another in their very young lives. It all starts when both of their parents die in a house fire. Now, this series is 13 books in total and each one gets a bit longer in length, like the Harry Potter series. This book just covers their encounter with a distant relative who is given guardianship over the children because of his proximity. Of course all he wants is the fortune that the Baudelaire parents left behind. Only hiccup is, it will go to the oldest child, Violet, when she turns 18. The Count can't wait that long so he cooks up a scheme on how to get his hand on the money.

I would've loved my mom reading this to me when I was younger like she did with so many other great books. As I was reading it I found myself getting animated with the dialog. If you have children I recommend reading this to them. And if you don't, try reading it out loud to yourself. You'll find you're reading it very fast and enjoying it all the more along the way.

Synopsis: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are intelligent children. They are charming, and resourceful, and have pleasant facial features. Unfortunately, they are exceptionally unlucky.

In the first two books alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, a lumpy bed, a deadly serpent, a large brass reading lamp, a long knife, and a terrible odour.

In the tradition of great storytellers, from Dickens to Dahl, comes an exquisitely dark comedy that is both literary and irreverent, hilarious and deftly crafted. Never before has a tale of three likeable and unfortunate children been quite so enchanting, or quite so uproariously unhappy.

Dear Reader,

The book you are holding in your hands is a short-lived edition of a book that will likely make your life shorter as well. The tale of three Baudelaire children, who find themselves thrown into an unhappy situation containing a treacherous villain with an evil scheme and bad manners, becomes more and more dreadful on each page, and everyone so foolhardy as to read it will find themselves weeping and moaning by the end of the book.

This book is offered at an introductory price, but it introduces the reader to such unpleasantries as a disastrous fire, itchy clothing, a baby trapped in a cage, a plot to steal an enormous fortune, and dusty curtains.

I made a solemn promise to write down these wretched tales, but you have no such promise, and if I were you I would put down a book this terrible, no matter how reasonably priced.

With all due respect,

Lemony Snicket

To learn more about Lemony Snicket, please visit his site.

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