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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
Anyone who has read all 13 books of [b: A Series of Unfortunate Events|65112|The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #13)|Lemony Snicket|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441565208s/65112.jpg|838691] knows that While the original 13 novels left some questions unanswered, they did so in (what I thought was) a satisfactory manner, as satisfactory as unanswered questions go; the point was that love and family were the only things that truly mattered, and it was often the only thing you could count on in an uncertain world. This book, though, takes us past the end of book 13, but doesn't tell the reader how said events occurred or if the events were ever resolved. I've loved every other Lemony Snicket book, even the "unauthorized" autobiography, but this installment was pretty much useless. Mostly the 3* are because it's Lemony Snicket and I felt that this was pretty much the only misfire in the series.
Spoiler
there a two characters that bear the name Beatrice: Beatrice, mother of the 3 orphans and Lemony Snicket's object of affection; and Beatrice, who is born in the final book, the daughter of Kit Snicket and Lemony Snicket's neice. This book consists of correspondence between L.S. and both Beatrices, but the letters aren't laid out in a way that makes it automatically clear which Betrice is writing, or receiving, each ketter. The only indication is the shifting tones of the letters in terms of familial and romantic affection, plus a few hints concerning events before and after the Baudelaires became orphans. (ETA: Some reviews more or less say that these letters are to, and from, a single Beatrice, probably the mother of the orphans, but those reviews were written before book 13 came out (The Beatrice Letters was sandwiched between books 12 & 13, so I don't know if I'm plain wrong or if that was Snicket trying to deliberately throw readers off the trail, as he is sometimes cheeky enough to do.)
It's weird to me that this used to be my favorite in the ASOUE series and now I think it's just the fun formatting because what I adore about ASOUE is the complex character structure, the dark themes of great despair but just enough hope to keep going, and the gorgeous, literary style. This book has very little of that and I still like that it exists but it doesn't really do that that much for me now like it did before, probably because I've sat with the loose ends it ties up for a decade now.
It's been years since I've read A Series of Unfortunate Events and it's probably for that reason that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I had hoped I would. I don't remember the later books in the series very well- I don't even remember how it ends, therefore many of the references in this book mean nothing to me. I like the idea of it, but ultimately this was a boring book.
Very amazing book I love reading the letters and trying to find a anagram in the pages is a fun part. Iove how lemony makes the telegrams so real.
In a world too often governed by corruption and arrogance, it can be difficult to stay true to one's philosophical and literary principles.
Re-read: August 2019
This book is so amazing. I really, truly love it. It's funny, mysterious and, at times, romantic. I was in the mood to re-read AOUE but didn't want to re-read a 13 book series so I decided read this instead. This is very different than the main books in the series but it contains Lemony Snicket's signature writing style that satisfied my itch to re-read the entire series. I love all of Snicket's books and this is no exception. I can't wait until I have time to re-read the entire series!
Original Review
I love A Series of Unfortunate Events and I loved [b:The Beatrice Letters|74720|The Beatrice Letters|Lemony Snicket|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442762872l/74720._SX50_.jpg|591409]. I thought it was completely brilliant! Aside from being beautifully published, it provides a few answers to the many questions I have regarding the Baudelaire Orphans, and had an interesting storyline to follow. That being said, I would only recommend this book to hardcore [a:Lemony Snicket|36746|Lemony Snicket|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1199734355p2/36746.jpg] fans. Not only that, but I think that you should only read this if you've read ASOUE recently. If you don't remember tiny details about the series, you won't get much out of this book, and you won't have any "aha!" moments. Still, I adored this book, and I'm definitely going to re-read it in the future.
That, Beatrice, is how I will love you even as the world goes on its wicked way.
This book is so amazing. I really, truly love it. It's funny, mysterious and, at times, romantic. I was in the mood to re-read AOUE but didn't want to re-read a 13 book series so I decided read this instead. This is very different than the main books in the series but it contains Lemony Snicket's signature writing style that satisfied my itch to re-read the entire series. I love all of Snicket's books and this is no exception. I can't wait until I have time to re-read the entire series!
Original Review
I love A Series of Unfortunate Events and I loved [b:The Beatrice Letters|74720|The Beatrice Letters|Lemony Snicket|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442762872l/74720._SX50_.jpg|591409]. I thought it was completely brilliant! Aside from being beautifully published, it provides a few answers to the many questions I have regarding the Baudelaire Orphans, and had an interesting storyline to follow. That being said, I would only recommend this book to hardcore [a:Lemony Snicket|36746|Lemony Snicket|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1199734355p2/36746.jpg] fans. Not only that, but I think that you should only read this if you've read ASOUE recently. If you don't remember tiny details about the series, you won't get much out of this book, and you won't have any "aha!" moments. Still, I adored this book, and I'm definitely going to re-read it in the future.
Alright, so let's get the most important part out of the way: I have not actually read the A Series of Unfortunate Events series. While I have watched some of the TV show adaptation, I did not actually finish it, so my reading of this book is definitely affected by my gaps of knowledge in the characters and world.
To all those fellow readers who are unfamiliar with A Series of Unfortunate Events and will come out of this book about 50% confused here are three pointers:
HOWEVER, I do not regret reading The Beatrice Letters whatsoever.
There is an interesting and yet incredibly sad love story within its pages (that was also confusing, but that's due to those gaps of knowledge of mine) and I did nearly cry at Lemony Snicket's to Beatrice #5. It's four-five pages long, but the most significant part is when Lemony answers Beatrice's question Number 9 from her previous novel-length letter regarding why she cannot live with him, which is presumably if Lemony will love her after all this, or something. I'm attaching the points which struck me the hardest, but seriously. His answer to this question is four pages long.
Due to me becoming disillusioned with rating every media I consume, I have decided to simply say if others should read this. And the answer has multiple parts.
Absolutely, if you've read the original series. Yes, if you like to read, but don't know much about the series, because honestly, it's a very short book. No, if you don't like to read that much, but even then, truly, I do hope that someone one day will read out to you that four-page long ode of love in the form of an answer to Question Nine in Snicket's letter to Beatrice #5.
To all those fellow readers who are unfamiliar with A Series of Unfortunate Events and will come out of this book about 50% confused here are three pointers:
Spoiler
1, Lemony Snicket is the fictional narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events; 2, he often references Beatrice Baudelaire, who is the dead mother of the three orphaned main characters (Violet, Klaus, and Sunny), in the books, strongly implying that Snicket and Baudelaire were lovers at one point; 3, there are TWO Beatrice Baudelaires, and there are letters from both to Snicket. The younger one - NOT the one he was in a relationship in with once - was raised by the previously mentioned orphaned main characters.HOWEVER, I do not regret reading The Beatrice Letters whatsoever.
There is an interesting and yet incredibly sad love story within its pages (that was also confusing, but that's due to those gaps of knowledge of mine) and I did nearly cry at Lemony Snicket's to Beatrice #5. It's four-five pages long, but the most significant part is when Lemony answers Beatrice's question Number 9 from her previous novel-length letter regarding why she cannot live with him, which is presumably if Lemony will love her after all this, or something. I'm attaching the points which struck me the hardest, but seriously. His answer to this question is four pages long.
Spoiler
Question Nine: Always. Continuously. With increasing apprehension, and decreasing hope. I will love you with no regard to the actions of our enemies or the jealousies of actors. [...] I will love you no matter how your soccer team performed in the tournament or how many stains I received on my cheerleading uniform. [...] I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you every Tuesday. [...] I will love you if you drop your raincoat on the floor instead of hanging it up and I will love you if you betray your father. [...] I will love you as the manatee loves the head of lettuce and as the dark spot loves the leopard, as the leech loves the ankle of a wader and as a corpse loves the beak of the vulture. I will love you as the doctor loves his sickest patient and a lake loves its thirstiest swimmer. [...] I will love you as misfortune loves orphans, as fire loves innocence and as justice loves to sit and watch while everything goes wrong. [...] I will love you until all the codes and hearts have been broken and until every anagram and egg has been unscrambled. [...] I will love you if you don't marry me. I will love you if you marry someone else [...] and I will love you if you have a child, and I will love you if you have two children or three children, or even more, although I personally think three is plenty, and I will love you if you never marry at all, and never have children, and spend your years wishing you had married me after all, and I must say that on late, cold nights I prefer this scenario out of all the scenarios I have mentioned. That, Beatrice, is how I will love you even as the world goes on its wicked way.
Due to me becoming disillusioned with rating every media I consume, I have decided to simply say if others should read this. And the answer has multiple parts.
Absolutely, if you've read the original series. Yes, if you like to read, but don't know much about the series, because honestly, it's a very short book. No, if you don't like to read that much, but even then, truly, I do hope that someone one day will read out to you that four-page long ode of love in the form of an answer to Question Nine in Snicket's letter to Beatrice #5.
This is a NEED TO READ book in A Series of Unfortunate Events. I'm kinda mad at myself that I didn't have a chance to read it before. It was really good, written in Lemony Snicket's humorous style and it cleared up a whole lot of questions that I had from the series. I really enjoyed it and would suggest that anyone who read the series read this ASAP.
mysterious
fast-paced