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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
Jerome and Esmé were more frustrating than most of the Baudelaire's other guardians. Where Uncle Monty was jovial, if weird, and Aunt Josephine was afraid of everything, at least they cared somewhat about the orphans. Esmé didn't care at all and Jerome wanted to care but mostly didn't want to argue with Esmé.
I'm glad to see the Quagmires are still included in the story, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all gets resolved.
I'm glad to see the Quagmires are still included in the story, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all gets resolved.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I great continuation to the series, "The Ersatz Elevator" takes us back to the city that the Baudelaire's are from. Words cannot describe how much I adore this book. It's certainly one-of-a-kind and is such a lovely adventure! It's very thrilling while also being quirky and very adventurous. This book tackles a very clear mystery, which I enjoy, and it's interesting to see the Baudelaire's play detective in this. It's very different from the five books leading up to this one. Just like with "The Austere Academy," this book has a special place in my heart, and I enjoyed it my second time around just as much as I did when I initially read it.
The setting is so gorgeous and whimsical. It's very comical how the apartment is at the top, and how the apartment seems like a never-ending maze. As a kid it was so interesting and I wish the orphans had spent more time exploring and looking for secrets in the apartment. I'd like to hear a whole story about the stuff they find, even if it was just random, quirky stuff. I also wish they had spent more time outside of the house and going around the city. I wish they had maybe revisited and spent time at more of the old landmark's of their past. The things that were mentioned were quick and were thrown aside a moment later.
(Spoilers in the next two paragraphs)
One small complaint I have is that I wish less time had been spent in the elevator shaft. Even though that's what the book is centered on, it seemed unnecessary for them to be in it all the time. I believe the orphans went up and down it three or so times? However many times it was completely unrealistic, and they never even got tired in the process. It's just strange., because rope climbing can be exhausting if you don't have much upper body strength. It's also weird how it is described to take hours for the Baudelaire's to climb up or down, yet they were able to make a rope (that could have in now way realistically supported their weight) in a matter of minutes that was long enough for a climb that length. I've mentioned in some of my other reviews of these books, but the thing that bugs me the most is when aspects are very unrealistic to a level that it's frustrating. This is something that is an issue in the later books, but Snicket stretches the character's stamina so long. They can do laborious tasks for hours without getting tired and they can go days without eating or sleeping. It is just really annoying, and this is the book where Snicket starts to use it to his advantage, which is lazy writing.
Another minor- slightly off topic annoyance, was the part about the Baudelaire's coming out of tunnel and finding themselves in the ashy ruins of their house. One, why would the ashes still be there? There might be a bit of debris, but the orphans were gone for quite some time, so why would the ashes not have been cleaned up? I don't know if that was supposed to be symbolic or something, but it honestly made me think about how that city's cleanliness department was not doing their job. Second, and this is something I mentioned in my review of "The Bad Beginning," but why did the Baudelaire's not have much of a reaction when noticing their surroundings? They didn't have any flashbacks, they didn't cry, and they didn't even acknowledge it. They just got out of the tunnel and walked away without a word. It almost makes me wonder if Violet and Klaus don't have much reactions to traumatic stuff because they're psychopaths.
At the end of the day I highly recommend this book to readers. It's hilarious, comical, quirky, mysterious, thrilling, and adventurous. It has a fun setting, an interesting conflict, and goofy scenarios. It's absolutely amazing, and I always going to cherish this book forever. As I mentioned before, this book and "The Austere Academy" are my two favorite books in this series. I adore both of them and I think it's adorable how my two favorites are back to back. It pains when I finish this book, but I always smile whenever I think about this story.
The setting is so gorgeous and whimsical. It's very comical how the apartment is at the top, and how the apartment seems like a never-ending maze. As a kid it was so interesting and I wish the orphans had spent more time exploring and looking for secrets in the apartment. I'd like to hear a whole story about the stuff they find, even if it was just random, quirky stuff. I also wish they had spent more time outside of the house and going around the city. I wish they had maybe revisited and spent time at more of the old landmark's of their past. The things that were mentioned were quick and were thrown aside a moment later.
(Spoilers in the next two paragraphs)
One small complaint I have is that I wish less time had been spent in the elevator shaft. Even though that's what the book is centered on, it seemed unnecessary for them to be in it all the time. I believe the orphans went up and down it three or so times? However many times it was completely unrealistic, and they never even got tired in the process. It's just strange., because rope climbing can be exhausting if you don't have much upper body strength. It's also weird how it is described to take hours for the Baudelaire's to climb up or down, yet they were able to make a rope (that could have in now way realistically supported their weight) in a matter of minutes that was long enough for a climb that length. I've mentioned in some of my other reviews of these books, but the thing that bugs me the most is when aspects are very unrealistic to a level that it's frustrating. This is something that is an issue in the later books, but Snicket stretches the character's stamina so long. They can do laborious tasks for hours without getting tired and they can go days without eating or sleeping. It is just really annoying, and this is the book where Snicket starts to use it to his advantage, which is lazy writing.
Another minor- slightly off topic annoyance, was the part about the Baudelaire's coming out of tunnel and finding themselves in the ashy ruins of their house. One, why would the ashes still be there? There might be a bit of debris, but the orphans were gone for quite some time, so why would the ashes not have been cleaned up? I don't know if that was supposed to be symbolic or something, but it honestly made me think about how that city's cleanliness department was not doing their job. Second, and this is something I mentioned in my review of "The Bad Beginning," but why did the Baudelaire's not have much of a reaction when noticing their surroundings? They didn't have any flashbacks, they didn't cry, and they didn't even acknowledge it. They just got out of the tunnel and walked away without a word. It almost makes me wonder if Violet and Klaus don't have much reactions to traumatic stuff because they're psychopaths.
At the end of the day I highly recommend this book to readers. It's hilarious, comical, quirky, mysterious, thrilling, and adventurous. It has a fun setting, an interesting conflict, and goofy scenarios. It's absolutely amazing, and I always going to cherish this book forever. As I mentioned before, this book and "The Austere Academy" are my two favorite books in this series. I adore both of them and I think it's adorable how my two favorites are back to back. It pains when I finish this book, but I always smile whenever I think about this story.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This 5th segment in the unfortunate tales of the lives of the Baudelaire orphans, is one of the standouts in the series for me. It was a standout episode in the Netflix show, largely due to the acting of Lucy Punch as ‘Esmé’— but the thing that makes it stand out to me aside from the acting, that also resonates in the book, is the notion of “in” and “out” and the city’s propensity to change its direction at the drop of a dime when what’s “in” changes. I’ve always thought it was a hilariously accurate portrayal of fads and fad-culture and thus far, it’s my favourite instalment in reading The Series of Unfortunate Events.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another good installment of the series. Looking forward to carrying on in this series.