Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

34 reviews

chavagrenville's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

A good opening to the series though it is clear not everything within the Snicketverse has been fully developed yet

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Pedophilia

theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

A dark children’s book but not so dark that it’s inappropriate. Definitely check the content warnings and make sure you feel this series is appropriate for your child’s age. But there is no cursing or mature content.m; it’s just dark and has realistically scary things. 

We are continuing with the series as a family! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Child abuse, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol

authorannafaundez's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I first read this book (and series) when I was a kid in the early 2000s. After a read as an adult, I'm sure this book (and its counterparts) had a great impact on my vocabulary! So many definitions were inserted into the book in a unique and fun way that didn't detract from the story.

The narrator, despite the sad story, felt kind. I'm a firm believer that children's books should talk about difficult topics, and A Series of Unfortunate Events does that well without leaving the reader feeling hopeless and defeated. That takes talent.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Physical abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Confinement

staceyinthesticks's review against another edition

adventurous funny sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent

Minor: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, and Child abuse

maggieoc_x's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Kidnapping

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Confinement, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

erebus53's review

adventurous dark informative lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This series had been on my radar for well over a decade, but I didn't have the motivation to start until I was in a book club that has it on the reading list. The vibe of the whole thing is a bit Dickens meets Roald Dahl with less of the child slavery and fart jokes. I can't stand Roald Dahl, so it you're a fan at least you are aware of my bias.

The tone of the story is charming and peppered with conversational notes for children on vocabulary and grammar ("vocabulary and grammar", in this sense means, the words that are used, and in which order, so that they make good sense.) I laughed at parts of the story such as when a child is reading late at night and is so tired that he repeats the same part over and repeats the same part over and repeats the same part over.

I find it a little irksome that to have scary adult characters they lean into the body horror, caricaturing an amputee with two hooks for hands and a fat, gender indeterminate person with white eyes. It's a bit circus freakshow, and challenges my desire for positive representation of Disability. Call me a snowflake, I dare you.

For a book that ostensibly has nothing but unfortunate happenings, sad beginnings, and sad endings, I was still not surprised that the children use their extensive resourcefulness to solve problems. It would be utterly unengaging if there was no hope, but the whole point is that these children are relatively irrepressible (which means that compared to most people, they don't let unfortunate or difficult things stop them). Yes the ending faces them with a new valamity, but such is the way with serial stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Grief, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Violence, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, and Bullying

dreamerfreak's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Alcohol, and Child abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

thechocolatefinger's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, and Grief

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Physical abuse

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Alcoholism

The adult/minor relationship (villain adult man with 14-year-old girl) isn’t real, it’s a

fake marriage

but they do discuss it quite in depth (nothing sexual/romantic, but she imagines having to sleep in the same bed). Many evil adults are creepy towards the children calling them “pretty” and “beautiful” but it’s not supposed to be genuinely paedophilic. Alcoholism is that they call Count Olaf “a drunk” and say he drinks too much wine.

mckiheather's review

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Having seen the Netflix show a couple times and finally getting to read it, it’s such a good story because I don’t think there’s really any other story like it and it’s told in such an interesting way. I think the audiobook format also adds to that story telling in a really interesting way.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Grief, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

micaelacccc's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Why is this marketed to children? So so so creepy and gave me the ick at Count Olaf and the men who thought Violet was a "pretty thing"

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, and Death of parent

Minor: Grief