A review by morningtide
The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

"Our stepfather probably didn’t tell you what happened to me—he always said there were secrets in this world too terrible for young people to know. What a fool!"

While action/adventure in this entry to the series was technically exciting and very tense, I didn't care for it so much - I think at this point I am just wanting maybe a few answers before we get a dozen more questions.

As with the previous books, I did especially love the moral discussions. The Hook-Handed Man/Fernald became more than just a henchman and I enjoyed his observation that people are like chef salads ("good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.") Saying that this puts everyone in the series on equal footing is a bit drastic, but it does make me feel sympathy for Fiona. We know she's making the "wrong" choice, but at the same time I get it, and not everyone makes the right choice every time.

We don't always have all the information, and we don't always know who we can trust. I especially liked the detail that Violet is judging Fernand from the information she found in the newspaper clipping and we still get the conflict - it is written by Jacques Snicket (a reliable? noble? person) but it was published in The Daily Punctilio, an extremely unreliable source.

My favorite parts were the bits of learning about Volunteer Factual Dispatch and Verse Fluctuation Declaration, especially learning slowly of the different skills taught to VFD that people in the Baudelaires life have been using through the whole series (e.g. Aunt Josephine's letter in The Wide Window)

Seeing the children take a more active role in their well being rather than passively accepting what the adults around them choose is pretty satisfying. I did a little mental fist-bump when they got in the taxi instead of following orders.

Additional notes re: audiobook format - Tim Curry's enactments of Captain Widdershins' bits gave me the giggles almost every time, when I think they would have annoyed me to actually read through. I think in general, his delivery makes the repetition in the books more enjoyable, and I do usually have fun with the repetition, so it's like double fun for me.