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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.
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.
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
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
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 amckiheather'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.
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
sadiaa's review
5.0
Definitely started reading for the nostalgic element, can't wait to get through the whole series
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Confinement, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Death of parent
daniellesharp's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, and Physical abuse
justinareads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Physical abuse
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
annoyedhumanoid's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
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
i feel weird critiquing when i know i'm no longer the target audience (🥲) but there are literally five plot points it’s so short. i don't think i fully realized, as a fourth grader, the gravity and emotional trauma of the Baudelaire's situation… like the slap to the face and all the other adults laugh ?!? pit in my stomach. also, this is not an attempt to "cancel" the book, but what must it be like to read this as a child going through abuse only to have Mr. Snicket tell you twenty times "it doesn't get better for these kids". i guess that’s its form of a trigger warning?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Grief, and Death
Minor: Incest, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Pedophilia
johannarose's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Violence, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Confinement, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment
inkdrinkers's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
“If you have ever lost a loved one, then you know exactly how it feels. And if you have not, then you cannot possibly imagine it.”
One stormy day the Baudelaire children's' lives change in an instant. When they're approached by a family friend, Mr. Poe, and told their parents have perished (which here, means died) in a house fire, the children have no idea what their future holds. For Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, they hope it means a kind relative to take them in, help them with their grief, and give them a loving home - the reality is so much worse than you, or I, could imagine.
I remember reading this series when I was just a kid, spending most of my spare time in libraries and clutching books to my chest. I would take stacks and stacks of whatever I could find home - but this is one of those series that never quite left me. I feel like these definitely shaped me, in both my personality and vocabulary in my tween years. I decided to pick up the audio now, over a decade after my first read of them, just to see if they still held the same charm for me. And I'm happy to say, they really, really hold up.
One of the criticisms I see a lot of these books is that a lot of the language is too vague, or purposefully bizarre, but I really find a lot of charm in that. The way Handler (Snicket, in this case) chose to navigate a world that is both incredibly similar to our own but add spins that make it seem otherworldly has just concreted these books as classics, unable to quite feel dated when they're almost twenty years old. Of course, some of the content does date them, with the inclusion of character descriptions that border on transphobic, fatphobic, or otherwise - I still find it hard to fault The Bad Beginning specifically because so many of it's characters are caricatures of humans, themselves, and show both the worst and best parts of humanity.
Even as an adult the nausea holds up from the plot, Violet and the rest of her siblings go through horrific things in this novel and the author doesn't shy away from them. What's refreshing is, they're also addressed as being bad without boiling each instance down to a palatable lesson. Sometimes bad things happen because of bad people, sometimes bad things just happen, and it's almost comforting to know that a lot is just out of the character's control. I also think, particularly, this one has an iron-clad plot steeped in a lot of loopholes and twists that set up payoff for the next twelve books.
Honestly, if you were a fan as a child like I was, I would really consider picking up the audio to revisit these! Tim Curry does an incredible job as the narrator while they have children voicing the Baudelaires and various other actors for the other adults. It was a great audio to listen to and a short one!
Content warnings: child abuse (present throughout, no one treats these kids well), death of a parent (mentioned, not seen), grief, emotional and physical abuse (Olaf gaslights them, the other adults are stupid), fire (the parents die in a house fire off page), adult/minor relationship (the end plot hinges on Olaf's disgusting plan, though no romance happens)
One stormy day the Baudelaire children's' lives change in an instant. When they're approached by a family friend, Mr. Poe, and told their parents have perished (which here, means died) in a house fire, the children have no idea what their future holds. For Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, they hope it means a kind relative to take them in, help them with their grief, and give them a loving home - the reality is so much worse than you, or I, could imagine.
I remember reading this series when I was just a kid, spending most of my spare time in libraries and clutching books to my chest. I would take stacks and stacks of whatever I could find home - but this is one of those series that never quite left me. I feel like these definitely shaped me, in both my personality and vocabulary in my tween years. I decided to pick up the audio now, over a decade after my first read of them, just to see if they still held the same charm for me. And I'm happy to say, they really, really hold up.
One of the criticisms I see a lot of these books is that a lot of the language is too vague, or purposefully bizarre, but I really find a lot of charm in that. The way Handler (Snicket, in this case) chose to navigate a world that is both incredibly similar to our own but add spins that make it seem otherworldly has just concreted these books as classics, unable to quite feel dated when they're almost twenty years old. Of course, some of the content does date them, with the inclusion of character descriptions that border on transphobic, fatphobic, or otherwise - I still find it hard to fault The Bad Beginning specifically because so many of it's characters are caricatures of humans, themselves, and show both the worst and best parts of humanity.
Even as an adult the nausea holds up from the plot, Violet and the rest of her siblings go through horrific things in this novel and the author doesn't shy away from them. What's refreshing is, they're also addressed as being bad without boiling each instance down to a palatable lesson. Sometimes bad things happen because of bad people, sometimes bad things just happen, and it's almost comforting to know that a lot is just out of the character's control. I also think, particularly, this one has an iron-clad plot steeped in a lot of loopholes and twists that set up payoff for the next twelve books.
Honestly, if you were a fan as a child like I was, I would really consider picking up the audio to revisit these! Tim Curry does an incredible job as the narrator while they have children voicing the Baudelaires and various other actors for the other adults. It was a great audio to listen to and a short one!
Content warnings: child abuse (present throughout, no one treats these kids well), death of a parent (mentioned, not seen), grief, emotional and physical abuse (Olaf gaslights them, the other adults are stupid), fire (the parents die in a house fire off page), adult/minor relationship (the end plot hinges on Olaf's disgusting plan, though no romance happens)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse and Child abuse
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
camelliagwerm's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Rereading this series as an adult makes you realise just how horrifying the experiences the Baudelaires face and just how much of it could have been avoided if Mr. Poe hadn't been so negligent.
Also: reading this alongside Tim Curry's reading makes Count Olaf that much scarier than he already was and the man deserves a Grammy for coughing up his lung as Mr. Poe.
CAWPILE rating: 9.29/10
Also: reading this alongside Tim Curry's reading makes Count Olaf that much scarier than he already was and the man deserves a Grammy for coughing up his lung as Mr. Poe.
CAWPILE rating: 9.29/10
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Physical abuse and Adult/minor relationship