“One can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways.”
A Series of Unfortunate Events is a thirteen book series by Lemony Snicket. It follows the lives of three siblings: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. The story opens on a day when the Baudelaire siblings are at the beach. Violet, the fourteen-year-old inventor, is testing her newest machine with the help of her twelve-year-old brother Klaus, an intellectual and regular bookworm. They are taking care of their sister Sunny, the baby of the three, who is the proud owner of a made-up language only she and her sibling understand and four very sharp teeth. This would have been a rather ordinary day, if not for the news that would soon follow – that the Baudelaire mansion has gone up in flames, and that their parents perished in the fire. The children are quickly sorted by a rather incompetent banker and arrangements are made to send them to a man claiming to be a distant relative of theirs: Count Olaf. It becomes immediately clear that Count Olaf is not fit to care for three children, and that his interests lie more in the Baudelaire fortune than the Baudelaires themselves, a fortune that the siblings will have access to when Violet turns eighteen. What follows for the next thirteen books is a wacky journey consisting of hare-brained schemes, selfishly incapable adults, and three children trying to unravel the mystery of who their parents really were, the truth of their deaths, and the secret organization in the shadows, following their every step.
“There is a kind of crying I hope you have not experienced, and it is not just crying about something terrible that has happened, but a crying for all of the terrible things that have happened, not just to you but to everyone you know and to everyone you don’t know and even the people you don’t want to know, a crying that cannot be diluted by a brave deed or a kind word, but only by someone holding you as your shoulders shake and your tears run down your face.”
Snicket’s writing is full of emotion. Sorrowful and comedic, dramatic and lighthearted all in one. The fate of the Baudelaires is not a happy one, and misfortune haunts them constantly. Count Olaf and his acting troupe are trying to get rid of these three siblings, and there is not much support available from the authorities or other guardians. The few select adults who do care for the children must often be left behind, and the three children are constantly faced with negligence, violence, and terrors that no child should bear witness to. Nevertheless, the Baudelaires persevere, hunting for answers. They soon discover a hidden organization with a vast and complicated history, one that has been shaping their lives since before they were born. The novels are chock-full of cruel, yet realistic descriptions of useless adults, in-depth vocabulary lessons, and simple morals that you can carry from the pages of these books to the real world. Blunt, honest, and horribly, maddeningly wondrous, Snicket brings to you a series with a diverse cast of characters. Some are undoubtedly good, some are undoubtedly bad, and some teach you that things aren’t always what they seem, and that more often than not, it is circumstance that shapes a person, if you allow it to.
“People aren’t either wicked or noble. They’re like chef’s salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.”
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