Author: Lemony Snicket
Year of Publication: 1999
Number of pages: 167 [trade paperback]
Available in: English, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Greek, Italian, Polish, French, Japanese, Turkish, Swedish and many more.
I read it in: English
"If you are interested in happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle. This is because not very many happy things happened in the lives of the three Baudelaire youngsters."
The author, Lemony Snicket, has dedicated his
entire life to investigate the details of the tragedies that surrounded the
Baudelaire orphans since the fire that ended their parent's house and life, and
warns us from the beginning: this story does not have a happy ending. Not only
that, throughout this, which is the first book of 13, he reminds us that we
could be reading a less tragic and sad book.
However, the adventures of Violet, Klaus and Sunny
are too intriguing and crazy to listen to the author so, as we continue with
the story, we embark with them in a journey in which they have to discover how
to get out of the situations that Count Olaf puts them in, make it out without
the help from the adults around them, who just won't listen, and deal with
their incredible parent's death. And even though you know by constant remarks
from the author that nothing can end well and that the little victories are ephemeral,
there is always a little bit of hope between the lines.
A Series of Unfortunate Events is a book series
written for children, but that doesn’t mean that the author will stop
discussing delicate and obscure themes, but he will rather speak to the reader
as the reasonable human being capable of finding a way out of a problem even if
a bigger one comes next, capable of understanding the complexity of the
situation, the fear and despair. Snicket's narrative is dark and witty, he
doesn't miss any details and is capable of connecting with the reader who he
speaks to throughout the whole length of the story. Reading him as an adult (or
something like that) makes you remember how it was to be a child in the adult
world, not being listened to, being thought of as unreasonable and made feel un-capable,
so the fact that Lemony Snicket is so open with his readers is not only
refreshing, but necessary.
I feel like it's my duty to mention, if it wasn't
revealed to you already by a quick search on the Internet, that Lemony Snicket
is actually the pen name of the writer Daniel Handler, who wrote several other
books by Lemony Snicket talking about his beloved and deceased Beatrice (who he
mentions constantly). The fact that the author of the book uses a character to
write gives the story an aura of mysticism and realism, makes it even more
unique, in case the multiple warnings in the cover telling you that you should
read something else weren't enough.
It's also worth mentioning that a film was made
from the books, with an excellent cast (Jim Carrey as a perfect Count Olaf,
Meryl Streep, Jude Law and others), in which they tried to squeeze the more
relevant parts of some of the books in just one movie and create a coherent
story. Even if there wasn't a good reception from the critics (specially
between the lovers of the books) I thought it was excellent, as I saw it before
I read the books.
Regarding the book, despite its short length, I was
completely captured by the story and the narrative, and I plan to read all of
the books in the series. If you're ever walking down the library looking for
something to read and you find one of those best-sellers of love triangles,
happy people and happy endings, I will go against the advice from the author
and ask you to not think about it twice: go to the kids section and look for
one of Lemony Snicket's books, but proceed with caution.
- Where to buy: The Book Depository. Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
- A vide from the real author, Daniel Handler.
- Lemony Snicket's web page.
- Where to watch the film: Buy it from Amazon, Best Buy or look for it on Netflix.
- Netflix will create a Tv Show based on the books.
