A review by brooketreads
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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

Read this with one of my daughters. She gives it a 4 out of 5 stars.

I give it a 2 out of 5 stars - so I am meeting in the middle for the marked star rating.

I will say, I’ve never read the books. I did watch the movie as a teen and then the Netflix series when it first came out. But, this hit different listening to it with one of my kids.

I love that the audiobooks are read by Tim Curry. And that’s where my positives end.

This felt so problematic for me… and by that I mean it is.

- their parents die
- their children placed with creepy (supposedly) distant relative
- kids treated like servants
- child abuse
- a literal adult man who is supposedly distant relative tries to trick a wedding between him and eldest daughter… who is 14?!
- threats of murder
Probably more ya’ll (I felt like there were a couple inappropriate insinuations)
this book was wilden out.

All this to say, that I’m not encouraging anyone to not allow their children to read this. Just know what your kids are reading and be prepared to talk with them about its contents.
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