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A review by inkdrinkers
The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket
dark
mysterious
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
3.0
“There are few sights sadder than a ruined book.”
The Baudelaire orphans are back and more miserable than ever. Following the events of the Reptile Room, the three children find themselves relocated to a distant relative's home on a dark lake. But with Count Olaf hot on their heels, they must navigate more than murky waters and terrible guardians.
Unfortunately, the above quote from this book is right. A sadder sight is returning to an old favorite and realizing it aged really, really poorly. I remembered the Wide Window not being my favorite of the series as a kid - what I didn't realize was that it's because unlike the first two in the Series of Unfortunate Events, it has nearly no bearing on the rest of the story. Everything that happens to the orphans in this book has no plot relevance, and it's tied up in a nice little package with some transphobia and fatphobia just... for fun, I guess?
I'm not going to reiterate what many other reviewers have said about the transphobia and fatphobia in this book. It's bad. It made me nearly DNF and it's honestly kind of sad to return to these pages and realize how poorly it's handled. I will say the audiobook didn't even help ease the misery because Daniel Handler was the narrator. I set out for a good time with Tim Curry and instead got... this.
Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and move on to the Miserable Mill. But just know I'm listening to these 2x speed to get back to Curry's narration. (which starts back up for book six and carries through to The End)
Content warnings: Death, Transphobia (pretty rough, refers to a character as "it"), Murder, Grief, Death of parent (past), Suicide, Fatphobia
The Baudelaire orphans are back and more miserable than ever. Following the events of the Reptile Room, the three children find themselves relocated to a distant relative's home on a dark lake. But with Count Olaf hot on their heels, they must navigate more than murky waters and terrible guardians.
Unfortunately, the above quote from this book is right. A sadder sight is returning to an old favorite and realizing it aged really, really poorly. I remembered the Wide Window not being my favorite of the series as a kid - what I didn't realize was that it's because unlike the first two in the Series of Unfortunate Events, it has nearly no bearing on the rest of the story. Everything that happens to the orphans in this book has no plot relevance, and it's tied up in a nice little package with some transphobia and fatphobia just... for fun, I guess?
I'm not going to reiterate what many other reviewers have said about the transphobia and fatphobia in this book. It's bad. It made me nearly DNF and it's honestly kind of sad to return to these pages and realize how poorly it's handled. I will say the audiobook didn't even help ease the misery because Daniel Handler was the narrator. I set out for a good time with Tim Curry and instead got... this.
Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and move on to the Miserable Mill. But just know I'm listening to these 2x speed to get back to Curry's narration. (which starts back up for book six and carries through to The End)
Content warnings: Death, Transphobia (pretty rough, refers to a character as "it"), Murder, Grief, Death of parent (past), Suicide, Fatphobia
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Transphobia, Murder, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Suicide