Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

38 reviews

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 against another edition

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

sadiaa's review against another edition

5.0

Definitely started reading for the nostalgic element, can't wait to get through the whole series

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Death of parent

anonymousbiblioholic39's review against another edition

dark funny sad fast-paced

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

3.25

** SPOILERS AHEAD **
Enjoyment: 5/5
       * The Bad Beginning was a very fast-paced and enjoyable read. I finished it in less than a day, and I think it would be perfect for anyone who wants a quick read to fly through. 
Writing: 3/5
       * I really enjoyed all of the creative interjections to the story that the author added in where he addressed the reader. Idk, I just thought that was a cool way of narrating a story. Outside of that, the writing wasn't anything remarkable or lousy, just what you'd expect for the genre.
Characters: 1/5
       * There wasn't much character development. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny did have their own separate interests and personalities, but they didn't feel all that real. We never got to see why Count Olaf wanted the Baudelaire estate outside of just simple greed, either. Pretty much all of the side characters were shallow and some even useless, should I say so myself. Justice Strauss was flat as a character, and the descriptions of Count Olaf's theatre troupe were unnecessary filler.
 Plot: 4/5
       * The book was well plotted, but the marriage shenanigans were creepy, so  minus 1 star for that

Overall rating: 13/20, 65%

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol

Minor: Grief and Injury/Injury detail

booksjessreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.0

I read this for my StoryGraph genre challenge, since I had wanted to read this as a child and never got round to it. I feel weird reviewing this when I am not part of the target audience, but here we are. 

I thought this was quite enjoyable, and certainly super weird. It isn't something I would have picked up as a child but it was interesting. Lemony Snicket was very clear in that there isn't a lot of happiness in this book, and he wasn't wrong, but some part of me felt like perhaps it was too much for a children's book. But, children might like this... idk?

I felt like there should have been some sort of trigger warning for the child abuse

Klaus getting slapped and adults literally laughing at him would certainly not be comfortable for some children to read here.

However, I thought it was written well and it was comical in places. I also liked how Snicket was both the narrator and a character in the book. This just added a great dimension to the story. 

Some people have mentioned how they didn't like the definitions of words being brought up constantly within the text. I didn't mind them so much and I knew why they were there. They did break up the writing, but I am not who the book was aimed for, so I skimmed past the definitions and just kept reading. 

Overall, a good read and I have decided to continue reading the series. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Confinement

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

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?

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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

sara_n's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

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

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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