May TBR Results

This month, I am vindicated in my typical non-TBR existence. I completely forgot about my library holds when making my list, which really threw a wrench in my plans.

What I planned to read:

• Finish King Lear
• Finish Unnatural Creatures
• Finish The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
• The Casual Vacancy
• Throne of Jade
• The Mysterious Benedict Society

What I ended up reading:

• Finished The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (which I already reviewed here!)
• An Abundance of Katherine’s
• Neverwhere
• Started The Mysterious Benedict Society

An Abundance of Katherine’s and Neverwhere were library holds that I completely forgot about. My holds coming in worked out well, because I was feeling in a rut with my list and they pulled me out.

I started King Lear, and for some reason just wasn’t able to get into it. I was disappointed after I ended up enjoying Julius Caesar so much but I’m thinking I’ll give it another try in couple weeks.

The Casual Vacancy and Throne of Jade didn’t even get opened this month. With my new job, I wasn’t in the mood for the commitment these two longer reads would have required.

I’m currently about halfway through The Mysterious Benedict Society. So far, it has the kind of resourceful, mischievous kids I love now and would have loved had this book been out when I was younger.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The End.

Things get a little weird in The End of the Baudelaire’s story.

This book is such a dramatic departure from the rest of the series. The Baudelaires and Count Olaf find themselves marooned on an island governed by white-robe wearing Ishmael, whose feet are (literally and metaphorically) stuck in the ground. He says he never forces anyone to do anything, but it is clear that claim is tenuous at best. The people who live on the island all washed up from one place or another and avoid anything that could create conflict, real or imagined. Here, the Baudelaire’s discover more about their parents – including their parents’ own stint on the island – and experience a schism. It’s clear in the way they react to the schism that they’ve been paying attention to what happened to the VFD.

Many people are frustrated that not all the answers about the VFD are answered, but that is part of the beauty of The End. As quirky and unrealistic as the setting is, the Baudelaire stories have always been brutally honest about the dark realities of the world. And one thing of those realities is that your questions are never all answered. In many ways, the VFD serves less as the plot and more as a way for the Baudelaire’s to wrestle with moral ambiguity, come to terms with what they don’t know about their parents, and in the end the importance of not allowing schisms to form.

Though we have no idea what happens to the Baudelaires, they’ve moved on from being stuck in unlucky-13 chapters and have a new, 14th chapter, moving past their bad luck and into a new world. I like to think that they’ve made some sort of organization utilizing Klaus’s researching, Violet’s inventing, Sunny’s cooking, and whatever baby Beatrice’s talents are.

Re-reading this series was a great way to start the first third of the year. It was an enjoyable re-read, perfect for reading a book in a couple sittings. It is also fitting that I finished the series just before starting my job, a large portion of which is self-reflection and professional development. This series kind of started me down that route. Re-reading as an adult, I saw how this series shaped how I think. It introduced me to some heavy topics as a kid, and allowed me to begin to understand the world in shades of gray. I had no idea that this series had so shaped my worldview, but after reading it again it is obvious to me that it did, not only in the way I view the world but also in shaping my taste (anyone else see parallels between people who read these as kids and people who love Welcome to Night Vale?). It would seem that Kathleen Kelly was right about childhood reading:

A Series of Unfortunate Events 10-12

The Series of Unfortunate Events re-read is almost done! The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto, and the Penultimate Peril round out the last three books before The End. First of all, can we just acknowledge that a children’s/middle grade book has the word penultimate in the title? (continuing in my obsession with ASOUE not condescending to children).

These books are really exciting and layered. They also arguably show significantly more character development than any of the previous books.

The Slippery Slope

First, we have The Slippery Slope where the Baudelaire’s have been split up by Count Olaf. While this seems tragic, it sets the stage for Sunny’s evolution. It’s a little unclear how much time has passed since the series began, but it becomes abundantly clear in this installment that Sunny is no longer a baby. This development will become more important, but it’s also just nice to see some movement. This book also sees the Quagmire shocker and the return of Carmelita Spats. As I have mentioned before, Carmelita is one of my favorite characters. She is just so unbelievably awful – it’s amazing. This book finally gets some movement on the shadowy VFD. The VFD was just starting to get a little annoying, since it’s been around for a few books with little movement, but now the intrigue has returned.

The Grim Grotto

The Grim Grotto almost feels like two books. There’s the first half, where they are on the submarine and in the eponymous Grotto, then there’s the second half where they are captured by Olaf and have to once-again escape. It’s nice to see another young person, sometimes it seems like the Baudelaires are the only children in their world. The continuing lessons of moral relativism are so important in this book. Fiona and her brother raise really important questions, and it continues to be one of my favorite elements of this series. And of course, Carmelita making everyone (including an eye-rolling Count Olaf) listen to her performance is hilarious.

This book was, I thought, the darkest so far. It is unclear what happened to the Captain and Phil, Fiona betrays them, and Sunny almost suffocates to death. Even though Violet almost died at the hospital and Madame LuLu was eaten at the carnival, this seemed to have the largest number of dark occurrences. I think it seemed darker to me because many of the dark occurrences previous to now have been one-person tragedies. Here, though, they were betrayals and prolonged almost-deaths.

The Penultimate Peril

The Penultimate Peril reminded me in some ways of all the trailers for the Grand Budapest Hotel. The hotel from the commercials seemed just quirky enough to fit into the Baudelaire’s world. This book has some of my favorite small details, like the spatulas for flipping the sunbathers and the Dewey Decimal system. I have mixed feelings on some aspects of this book. After a while, the Frank or Ernest question became tedious and I just wanted to know which was which so we could move on with the plot. Also, the blindfolded trial seemed like it was taking the whole “adults will let you down” thing a little too far. This book has great plot elements, though, including Kit Snicket providing more background information and trying to figure out why (most) of their former guardians have all been gathered together.

Now we move toward The End, where things get weird and more than a little biblical.

ASOUE – 7-9

The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital, and The Carnivorous Carnival are where things just really go downhill for our Baudelaire friends. Things have obviously not been great thus far, but now we’re getting really messy. (I’ll try to minimize spoilers, but this is a series so future books WILL give away plot points of earlier books. You’ve been warned).

There have been hints dropping about VFD, but the Baudelaires have no idea where to begin. Mr. Poe introduces them to a program that allows an entire village to serve as guardian, and the Baudelaires see the Village of Fowl Devotees. The village has all sorts of strange laws governed by old people wearing bird hats.

I didn’t find the plot of this book that compelling, but this book is so crucial to the series. The Snickets become a larger part of the story, the Quagmires location is unknown, the Baudelaire’s have set in motion the rest of the series.

The Hostile Hospital is probably the most tense book in the series, for me. Usually the villain has the Baudelaires in his clutches, but this is the first time where it seems like things could go horribly, horribly wrong. This is also where moral relativism begins to be introduced to the series. One of my favorite things about this series is that it introduces ideas of nuance and relativity to children in a way that is accessible. Children’s books so often condescend to children by assuming they do not have the capacity for complexity. The popularity of this series suggests otherwise.

Finally, The Carniverous Carnival is where things really do go horribly, horribly wrong. There’s death, fire, and for the first time in a very long time, the Baudelaires are separated.

I love this set of books in the series. While still a bit formulaic (the stories start off by moving somewhere new, end with the next step unknown) they have really veered away from the Guardian/Olaf/Mr. Poe comes in formula. More than ever, the Baudelaires cannot count on the adults around them, who now are reporting that they are criminals. Mr. Poe dumped them with yet another terrible guardian, Madame LuLu doesn’t  save them from Count Olaf. They start to figure out that even their parents left behind mysteries in which they are implicated.

Beside moral relativism, I also love the way that these books explore parent-child relationships. Instead of canonizing the Baudelaire parents, we see that they were good and bad. They loved their children, but they also left them in a mess of poor guardians and mysterious organizations. The Baudelaires have to figure out what that means – were their parents trying to protect them? Did it work? Is there value in secrets?

A Series of Unfortunate Events: Second Three

Continuing in my Series of Unfortunate Events re-read, I read The Miserable Mill, The Austere Academy, and The Ersatz Elevator. These three start to move away from the more formulaic first three books, where they get a new guardian at the beginning and leave at the end after Olaf has killed him or her.

The Miserable Mill is one of my favorite books in the series because it’s so unexpected. There have been a long list of guardians, and then to suddenly see the Baudelaires in a new setting is refreshing. Sir is fantastic as the evil guardian, with his smoke covered face, gum lunches, and coupon paychecks. In some ways, this book is more sinister than the previous three, with a guardian whose face is never seen, Klaus being hypnotized, and not seeing Olaf until late in the book.

The Austere Academy sees the introduction of the Quagmire triplets, in whom the Baudelaires finally find some friends. This book also contains my personal favorite insult ever: “cake sniffer.” This book is a bit less tense than the previous books, the Baudelaire’s circumstances don’t seem so dire in this installment with the introduction of friends and the school being boring but not deadly. The ending is also refreshing, with new stakes and the first real cliffhanger.

In the third installment of this chunk, The Ersatz Elevator has more world building, with the “In” crowd, Cafe Salmonella, and other details about the city. This series is really interesting because it doesn’t explicitly say where it takes place or when, and it has many similarities to our world but also vast differences. I love the little details giving us more clues to this world the Baudelaire’s live in. Jerome’s ending is heartbreaking, but not at all surprising in the context of the adults in this series.

I’m excited to see the books becoming more complex and rapidly moving toward plot points I have only vague memories of. I’m looking forward to the next seven, which I’ll be posting later this month or next.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: the first three

I read ASOUE a long time ago. I started when the first three were already out, and read them as they were published. I remember them being dark but a little funny, taking place in an indeterminate place at an indeterminate time. Going back and re-reading them has been a lot of fun so far. They are just as dark and funny as I remember, but as an adult there are a few things that I like even more.

One of my favorite things from this series is the way that Lemony Snicket uses higher-level vocabulary and defines it within the text. It’s a great way for kids to learn vocabulary without being condescended to. I also love all the little literary references, like Mr. Poe’s son Edgar.

In some ways, though, the series is almost devastatingly sad now. The adults who consistently ignore what the Baudelaire children say, how they get shuffled from distant relative to distant relative with little attention to how they are faring, Mr. Poe’s general feeling that they are a nuisance. Children with dead parents who are continually left at the mercy of adults who are supposed to protect them. I didn’t remember the books being quite so dark in that regard, but I may have just not noticed.

Now that I have the first three down, I’m looking forward to heading into the conspiracies and Quagmires that fill the later books in the series.

Highlights from the first three books: Mr. Poe’s tone deaf announcement of “oh hey, you are having fun at the beach but your parents are dead.” Sunny playing with the Incredibly Deadly Viper. Aunt Josphine’s pile of cans to scare burglars.