Mini Book Review: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

 

Dear Reader,

I’m sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe. From the very first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing on through the entire story, disaster lurks at their heels. One might say they are magnets for misfortune.

In this short book alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.

It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of thing.

With all due respect,

Lemony Snicket

I never read this series when I was a kid, I was too busy with Harry Potter to give this one any thought. My library had the ebook so I just shrugged my shoulders and read it for fun.

I actually watched the movie long before I even considered reading this book or this series and I loved it, it’s still a great movie. That being said I think the books are on par with it but they are aimed at younger children. Where Harry Potter can be read by all ages I think A Series of Unfortunate Events is a little too childish for my taste.

I liked this book though, it was entertaining enough. Just not enough to want to read 12 more books of it, but who knows? Maybe I will one day.

The writing is simple to understand, it is for children after all. It’s just a little too simple for me to enjoy it however.

I really loved the characters: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are some exceptional kids who get put through some really awful shit. Do they let that stop them? No. They’re brave and loyal to each other, they’re also very creative and clever. The things and inventions they come up with to get themselves out of situations are fantastic and made for some of the most interesting reading. Count Olaf also makes for a despicable villain, I of course never rooted for him but I can’t help but admire how villainously clever he was.

The plot was short, sweet, and easy to understand. I think what made it most interesting to read was the fact that my mind doesn’t comprehend these horrible events the kids go through. I’m thinking “But they’re just kids! That can’t happen!”. It can happen though, which makes this book fun to read.

Also even though it’s a children’s series the storyline isn’t all that easy to predict, who could predict horrible things happen to a bunch of orphaned children?

Another pretty drawing point of the plot is the mystery of their parent’s death and the mysterious eyes that inhabit Count Olaf’s home decor. If I continue reading it will be to figure that all out.

So why don’t I give it more than 3 stars you might ask? Because I didn’t really like how simple the writing was and I just think it’s a bit too Middle Grade for me. I read the entire Percy Jackson series and loved it, I’ve read other Middle Grade books and loved them. This one? Not so much. Maybe I would’ve liked this book and series more if I had actually read them when I was a kid.

Links: Goodreads / Amazon

 

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