The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #1)

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The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1)

by Lemony Snicket, Brett Helquist (Illustrator)

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 · rating details · 145,639 ratings · 5,346 reviews

Dear Reader,

I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe. From the very first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing...more

Paperback, 176 pages

Published September 30th 1999 by Scholastic (first published September 1st 1999)

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Feb 25, 2009 Chris rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I am not a violent man. In my lifetime, I have never been in a fight. I've never seriously threatened anyone with violence, never made anyone feel afraid by my physical presence, never even really seriously considered doing violence to another person.

Having said that, the feelings this book evoked in me were... violent.

Not because Lemony Snicket has written a book where terribly unfortunate things happen to small children - I have no problems with that and in fact encourage it; it builds charact...more

148 likes · like · see review

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Hannah Potter I agree with you, though it's somewhat painful to do so. Reading this book as a kid, I thought it was absolutely amazing. Upon a more recent rereading...more
Apr 18, 2013 09:15am

Amber If you look in the context of things, often times he is trying to either 1) educate young readers on something they really might not know (ie culinary...more
Apr 18, 2013 07:46pm

Nov 22, 2011 Monk rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those Who Missed The Potter Bus

I never really did get into Harry Potter. I imagine that this is viewed as a crime by most everyone on this service. For some it is heresy. But, I refuse to stand shamefaced - Hogwarts just didn't do it for me.

I didn't think this would either.

However, I was more than pleasantly surprised. I am of a somewhat morbid streak, and the Series of Unfortunate Events books, I must say, tickles that grotesque bone in a way most pleasing.

The story of the Baudelaire Children is one filled with tragedy and d...more

27 likes · like · see review

Feb 25, 2008 Lizziegolightly rated it 5 of 5 stars

When I was a child, I learned a thing or two from reading the works of Roald Dahl. The most important of these lessons is that adults are, more often than not, either evil or oblivious and, to co-opt Lemony Snicket's writing style, by oblivious I mean "lacking conscious awareness; unmindful."

As an adult, I have only received mountains of proof substantiating the notion that adults are either evil or oblivious. All you need to do is watch the news or enter the workforce and you too will realize t...more When I was a child, I learned a thing or two from reading the works of Roald Dahl. The most important of these lessons is that adults are, more often than not, either evil or oblivious and, to co-opt Lemony Snicket's writing style, by oblivious I mean "lacking conscious awareness; unmindful."

As an adult, I have only received mountains of proof substantiating the notion that adults are either evil or oblivious. All you need to do is watch the news or enter the workforce and you too will realize the same. So it is through this lens of animosity towards grown ups (hey, just become I am one doesn't mean I have to think like one) that I read the first installment of Lemony Snicket's 13-part serial A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Snicket, or his alter ego, seems mighty influenced by Dahl and Edward Gorey. Like the former, most of the adults in the book are worthless. Those who aren't are either dead or somehow taken away from the Baudelaire children. Like the later, bad things keep on happening to our protagonists.

The three Baudelaire children-- Violet, Klaus and Sunny-- live a rather charmed life with parents who love and respect them. Upon an unsupervised excursion to the beach, a fire consumes the Baudelaire home and kills the parents. The three children are taken into the temporary care of Mr. Poe (who has a son named Edgar, by the way) until a relative can be located. After some time, the children are pawned off on Count Olaf, a horrid actor with a title and no money. From the beginning, it is obvious that he has only taken in the children because of the vast fortune they are set to acquire. When he learns that the inheritance will be withheld until Violet is of age, he punishes the children repeatedly. We will stop there, lest I give away the end of this first book.

Aside from a page-turner plot, what works in the book's favor is the language. Snicket uses large grown-up words with the context of child-sized sentences. He defines the words without being condescending and goes on to explain many of the legal concepts that are used throughout the story. The characters are also intriguing. The adults in the story often appear as grotesque figures that make just enough sense to keep the storyline plausible. And, in the grand tradition of children's literature, the Baudelaire orphans are quick-witted and strong-willed.

I found this book as part of a three series boxed set at a thrift store by my house. Each book is small and hard covered, designed to look like a Victorian tome and filled with beautiful illustrations. Now, I can't wait to get started on volume two.(less)

34 likes · like · see review

Jul 28, 2011 Keely rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: american, novel, humor, reviewed

So the premise of this book (as the narrator keeps helpfully reminding us) is that this group of three children will continue to have difficult problems to overcome, and every time they succeed in dealing with one problem, another will crop up. In the writing business, this is what's known as 'a plot'.

But then he takes it one step further: in addition to all the difficulties along the way, he assures us that the characters will never break this pattern, and there will be no 'happy ending'. I thi...more So the premise of this book (as the narrator keeps helpfully reminding us) is that this group of three children will continue to have difficult problems to overcome, and every time they succeed in dealing with one problem, another will crop up. In the writing business, this is what's known as 'a plot'.

But then he takes it one step further: in addition to all the difficulties along the way, he assures us that the characters will never break this pattern, and there will be no 'happy ending'. I think this is a good idea, especially in a children's book, because we, as a culture, don't have enough role models for failure.

We have lots of role models for how to behave when we win, but this isn't really very useful--it's not when we win that we most need guidance and aid. We need more examples of how to maintain, how to persevere, in the face of failure.

At this point, our only role models for what to do when we fail are villains, who tend to get angry, yell, whine, take it out on subordinates, and then develop vengeful plans to make everyone feel as bad as they do. The unfortunate result is that people often begin to act like villains when things don't go well, an effect which can be observed most easily by holding a job where you have a boss.

So I'm all for 'no easy wrap ups' at the end of the story, but unfortunately, Snicket is unable to develop a conclusion without this easy route. It takes a very skilled writer to eschew convention and still write something interesting, and his reasons for avoiding standard practices should not be merely to differentiate himself, but to achieve some alternative goal for his story.

There are authors who have achieved this, even in children's fiction--Lewis Carroll and Roald Dahl being the preeminent examples. When Snicket laid out the premise of his books, I began to look for something along the lines of those two authors, who, despite creating stories of children suffering constantly and unfairly, managed to write entertaining, enjoyable stories.

But then those stories were wild and vivid, even when they were dark. Dahl's ability to create grotesque, powerful characters made for dynamic, engrossing stories, while Carroll's quick, fertile mind kept us always guessing, and often laughing, despite Alice's constant frustrations.

Though Snicket is trying for a witty style, he rarely gets there. After the second chapter, all his jokes have already been established, the rest are only minor variations on the same themes. There are no surprising insights to back up his humor, nothing unexpected, just a continuance of the same tone: dry, but not acerbic.

The characters, likewise, show little variance. The vocabulary and speech patterns are all very similar, whether adults, children, villains, or heroes. We are often told of differences in character by the narrator, but these never actually make it into the characters' mouths.

Since the characters are fairly cliche and undifferentiated, Snicket cannot hang the plot on them, like Dahl would. They cannot provide the vibrant impetus for the plot, so Snicket's plot instead becomes a series of convenient (or conveniently inconvenient) events.

The writing itself is not bad, it's mostly just a case of Snicket not being clever or dark enough to buoy his premise. In the end, not much stands out, not the characters, nor the humor.

I applaud his attempt to address difficult and painful issues in his books, and without resorting to basic melodrama, but tragedy is measured by the subject's capacity for pain, so characters must be vivid and deep in order for events to feel truly unfortunate; otherwise, it just becomes the same array of problems common to every plot.(less)

20 likes · like · see review

Mar 29, 2009 Natalia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, 2009, library

I remember being a kid, and feeling powerless in an adult world. where adults acted in ways that seemed inexplicable and capricious to me at the time. I enjoyed this book as a caricature of that feeling, exaggerated to an entertaining degree.

I think the fact that I listened to the audiobook read by Tim Curry increased my enjoyment of the book. I got the impression it was really intended to be enjoyed out loud, and they couldn't have picked a better narrator. (Though I did find myself waiting for...more

10 likes · like · see review

Aug 13, 2007 fleegan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Okay, I know this is a popular series and all, but frankly, I just don't see the charm. I do like that there's lots of vocabulary lessons in the book, but I don't like that the book is basically about child abuse. No, really. You want to write a kid's book? Fine. You want to write a kid's book about child abuse? Fine. Great even. But for the love, abuse is a serious thing, m'kay? And? AND? THE PART WHERE THE EVIL, GREEDY UNCLE TRIES TO MARRY THE 14 YEAR OLD ORPHAN GIRL?! EW! HELLO?! MR. SNICKET,...more

11 likes · like · see review

Apr 18, 2012 Jason Koivu rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jason by: The Magnetic Fields

Shelves: fiction

Made for kids, but adults like it too! The Bad Beginning is one of those kids' books that doesn't try to "talk down" to their level. Yes, it breaks the 4th wall and assists the reader with more advanced words, often for comedic purposes, but it never feels like the drudgery of a school lesson. This first book in the series concisely sets up the sympathetic main characters and their dilemna, pits them against their colorful arch enemy and sweeps you up in the saga straight away. A most excellent...more

15 likes · like · see review

Aug 10, 2011 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is such an interesting children's book. It is very dark and not what you'd expect from a book for children.

I love my copy of the book with this cover & in hardback. The character's are three children who seem wise beyond their years.

In a way, this reminded me of the movie "Matilda"(I haven't read the book). Matilda is about a girl who gets treated badly by her family but is incredibly smart and resilient.

This book is about three children whose parents tragically die and they are sent t...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 21, 2007 Millie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: transcendently-fabulous

I love the entire Lemony Snicket Series of Unfortunate Events. This book came out at the most opportune time to offer an alternative to the saccharine niceness of the abysmally ubiquitous Harry Potter, and thank goodness for that (I'm sure the monolithic HP franchise inspired, at least in part, the conception of Lemony Snicket, Count Olaf and the Baudelaires). The writing style encourages readers to question language and the function language plays in our lives while describing the ill-fated liv...more

10 likes · like · see review

Mar 23, 2009 Morgan rated it 1 of 5 stars

Unlikeable, flat, contrived, and joyless. This is for fans of snuff flicks and Dickens. I blame Godard.

I also should add that I think this book enforces a poor lesson for abused kids. I understand the desire for gruesomeness in children's fantasy, but this touches on real world concepts of abusive homes and teaches that seeking help from neighbors, teachers, and librarians will not help you. I'd preferred that the neighbor was killed wanting to help, than the way this book was set up.

8 likes · like · see review

Apr 05, 2010 Chandra rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kids-young-adult, 2010_reads, chapters-with-or-for-izzy

I enjoyed this introduction to the plight of the Baudelaire orphans. There were parts I really loved - mainly the beginning and the end, and there were parts I thought were just okay - most of the stuff in the middle. It just got a little draggy and formulaic feeling for a bit so that I wasn't really clamoring to finish it. I'm all for black humor and satire, and so sometimes I wish Snicket would have made more of a firm commitment in that direction. All that said, however, I would still like to...more

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Jul 16, 2008 Suzanne rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: eye-gougers

Ugh. Rarely have I read a book so artificial, trite and purposefully unpleasant. I do like Edward Gorey, so I thought that the allusive title would be more in the spirit of the weird and delightfully obscure. However, I found this book to be calculated and unoriginal, with nothing of whimsy or genuine strangeness. In addition, it was clumsily written in a deliberately stilted style none the more charming for being intentional. I don't entirely understand the popularity of this series, but suspec...more

8 likes · like · see review

Dec 06, 2008 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2003, lemony-snicket, ya, adventure

I am not sure why I picked this up - Maybe I was hoping to capture some of the Harry Potter goodness in a different series? Not sure. But I did read this and I found it both irritating and compelling.

The themes were pretty darn adult in this book (series), but the writing was aimed at 7 year olds. The children are told their parents are dead on the first page of the book and that they are to stay with their Uncle Olaf - Who is a bad bad man. The children are pretty much abused by the adults in...more

6 likes · like · see review

Dec 16, 2011 Elliot rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens-literature

I've always linked Daniel Handler and J.D. Salinger in my mind. Allusion can always fraudulently masquerade as reincarnation, but the connection between the two goes beyond Esme Squalor and her husband Jerome and the explicit references to Nine Stories in The Unauthorized Autobiography. (After all, despite his love of the Gothic, I don't envision Handler as Edgar Allen Poe simply because of the Baudelaires' executor.)

Snicket, Handler's creation, is the Seymour Glass who Seymour Glass never lived...more I've always linked Daniel Handler and J.D. Salinger in my mind. Allusion can always fraudulently masquerade as reincarnation, but the connection between the two goes beyond Esme Squalor and her husband Jerome and the explicit references to Nine Stories in The Unauthorized Autobiography. (After all, despite his love of the Gothic, I don't envision Handler as Edgar Allen Poe simply because of the Baudelaires' executor.)

Snicket, Handler's creation, is the Seymour Glass who Seymour Glass never lived to become. As these short novels progress, one discovers just how vested Snicket is in the protection of the Baudelaires, and in all children. "The world is quiet here," he tell us, a phrase painfully untrue in the dark cities where the Baudelaire siblings find themselves again and again. The world was once quiet, and Snicket has been tragically attempting to rescue children from the painful world of adulthood, of apathy, a world where no one reads and no one believes in children. These novels all concern, with greater and greater maturity, the corruption of innocence and the power of reading, at once dreadfully pessimistic about and subtly proud of humanity.

These books do not end well. There are no happy endings, only brief reprises from suffering and hardship. The Bad Beginning features arson, murder, allusions to pedophilia, cruelty to children, drunkeness -- things which children's literature lacks for a reason. However, I will make sure to have my children read these someday, perhaps when they are 10 or 12. If they are anything like me, they will return to the series again and again, noticing more references, better appreciating the black humor, and realizing how unprepared they were to read these in the first place. In a sense it is like The Catcher in the Rye -- a book whose humor grows as we grow older and understand exactly why Holden Caulfield felt like such a brother to us.

Handler, of course, isn't as masterful of a stylist as Salinger, whose ear for everyday language is almost unparalleled in American literature. Handler substitutes wit and allusion and repetition for innovation -- but, just as with Salinger, I find him irresistible and somehow just beyond critical reproach.

Violet's escape in this novel is tacky, and The Bad Beginning lacks the complexities of plot and theme apparent in Handler's later works. (The style of the eyes in Count Olaf's house, also, prove that Handler had not fully realized VFD at this point.) I don't care. This series was crucial to my childhood, and to my realization (perhaps too early) that many of life's cruelties have no explanation. I'm excited to reread the whole series and its accompanying books this winter, and I look forward to The Reptile Room next!(less)

5 likes · like · see review

Jun 24, 2012 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, childrens, favorites, own-book, re-read, hardback, bought-new, signed, 2012

What I learned from this book? Oh, only the most important of all life lessons. Home-made grappling hooks rarely succeed, forced marriages can be averted with a simple sleight of hand, and being tragically orphaned is an acceptable excuse for acting ungratefully towards ugly clothing. Ta da. -2/8/2009

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Sep 30, 2011 Kim rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens, humour, male-author, 1990s

A thankfully short book I really don't get what everyone sees in it. I know it's written for children but that constant addition of definitions was annoying. The whole thing just felt a little off. I don't think I'll be reading the rest of the series.

5 likes · like · see review

Jan 07, 2009 Lori rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Young readers

Even though this is a book for younger readers, I enjoyed the story telling. I also enjoyed how the author would explain words or phrases which will help advance the vocabulary of young readers. It's a quick read about 3 children who are inventive in finding ways to improve their situation and get out of danger. Even though it is the series of unfortunate events, it was fun to see how Violet, Klaus and Sunny end up fixing the problems they encounter. While it isn't my favorite series, I am excit...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Stephen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2012

If you're interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. Can't say that the author didn't warn me!

I'm not sure why this schadenfreude for the pre-clearasil set has become so popular but then I never understood the overwhelming popularity of the Harry Potter books. (I was whelmed but not overly so)

This book has it's moments but is dark without the underlying sense that "all will come right in the end" that one gets from other children's books of this...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 01, 2012 Penny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: teens,youth-longing adults

Recommended to Penny by: me

Shelves: audiobooks, children-s

Actually, 2.5 stars

I liked it! I don't know how it would have been if I had actually read it, but I realy enjoyed the audio-book. The style in which it was written made the book very interesting hearing it and the english accent of the narrator put the final touch.

Now, one thing you should know about me (to understand that 2.5 stars aren't that bad for this book) is that when I see a movie -of which I haven't read the book- and I really like it, it is literaly impossible for me to read the actu...more

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Dec 10, 2010 LauraT rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mi piace molto l'ironia che smaschera le ipocrisie degli adulti: meglio il conte Olaf - almeno sappiamo esattamente cosa aspetarci da lui - che il mitico avvocato o la giudice imbelle (o imbecille?)
Delizioso il modo di scrivere di Snicket: è semplice, scorrevole, ma non usa volontariamente solo un vocabolario trito: aggiunge termini un pò più "alti" e li spiega pure: noi siamo tutti adulti, ma se il libro, come è espressamente indirizzato, è nelle mani di un bambino diciamo di scuola primaria c...more

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Dec 28, 2008 J rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

I read this in a night while visiting my folks. They went to bed and my mom has all the Snicket books so I thought I'd read one. I'd seen the movie and thought it was great and I've heard nothing but excellent things about this series. I sat down by the wood stove, started reading and, forty five minutes later, I was done.

It was a great forty five minutes! The writing style is so funny and quirky and engaging. The story is superbly paced and the characters are a lot of fun. Whoever this Lemony S...more

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Dec 05, 2008 Adriana rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Bad Beginning, the first book out of thirteen in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events tells a fictional story about the start of all the tragedies in the lives of the three Baudelaire children.
The Baudelaire’s misfortunes come into play when they receive the awful news from Mr. Poe, a Banker in charge of their enormous fortune that their house has burned down and their parents had died in the incident. Requested in their parents will that their guardian must be a relative, they...more The Bad Beginning, the first book out of thirteen in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events tells a fictional story about the start of all the tragedies in the lives of the three Baudelaire children.
The Baudelaire’s misfortunes come into play when they receive the awful news from Mr. Poe, a Banker in charge of their enormous fortune that their house has burned down and their parents had died in the incident. Requested in their parents will that their guardian must be a relative, they are sent off to live with Count Olaf who they actually have never heard of or seen. When they begin living with Olaf they realize what a terrible person he is and the plans he has up his sleeve to steal the Baudelaire fortune left by their parents. The main characters are 14 year old Violet, the eldest of the three and is most known for tying her hair up when her brain is at work thinking of things to invent, a hobby she is fond of. Next is Klaus, her 12 year old brother who’s more of a scholar and has a passion for reading. Last but not least is Sunny the baby who enjoys biting things and speaks gibberish in thrilled out bursts. Other characters that you will encounter in this woeful tale are Count Olaf’s theater troupe, a group of weird looking beings of all shapes and sizes who are just as sinister as Count Olaf himself.
The Bad Beginning is quite the interesting tale because everything about the book is just captivating! My favorite characters were the two women who wore bright powder all over their faces because they remind me of the actors in Panic! at the disco’s music video for their song, “I write sins not tragedies”, which happens to be one of my favorite songs. One of the best things about this novel is how descriptive it is because of the style it’s written in but most of all because of the beautifully detailed images provided by Brett Helquist. I was able to visualize all characters and the situations they were put into. The book was confusing at times because some of the vocabulary words used, luckily at times Lemony Snicket took the time to define them for you, how nice is that? A question that I have that wasn’t answered was how did the Baudelaire home get burned down in the first place? Was it an accident or was it an act of Count Olaf’s behalf? An issue that this book relates to is how envious people can get over someone’s valuables and will do anything to get them.
I would definitely recommend The Bad Beginning for kids just as well as teenagers because even though it might be child like at times it’s also mature and sophisticated enough for older readers. This novel is twisted and misleading which makes it so thrilling, I would consider it for readers who like these types of stories.
(less)

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Nov 20, 2008 Jacquelyn Higgins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Audio review:
Genre: Fiction Reading level: Age 9+
Can a book be both humor and horror? From the author’s fictitious name to his odd style and use of vocabulary, this series breaks the mold of the traditional juvenile story. The Baudelaire orphans are not a cheerful bunch. The reader is warned, in no uncertain terms, to read something else should they desire a happy book. Each of the three children relies on their own special talent to rescue the siblings from one scrape after another. Violet is q...more

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Oct 06, 2008 Kevin cnca rated it 3 of 5 stars

The book of a series of unfortunate events is a really good book. If you like a book that has characters that are smart in any situation then you would finish the whole series. The main characters are sunny the infant of the house, Klaus the book worm of the house and then we have violet the gadget lady. They get all of their smartness from both parents.
The plot of my book is for count Olaf, the "uncle" they never met, he is trying to steal their fortune. He tries to do many schemes to get the...more

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Jul 04, 2009 Nic rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Nic by: Alyssa

I had heard of these books, of course; I saw the movie, and a friend recommended the series to me, so I thought I'd try them. I felt a little silly going around with something so clearly written for younger readers, but a good story is a good story.

The author definitely has something here. In a way, it's the ultimate "orphan story," because bad things just keep happening to the, well, orphans. They're likeable characters, and the consistent unhappy endings to the books give the impression that y...more

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Aug 21, 2007 Punk rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

YA, Miserable Orphan Fiction. Everyone knows about the Baudelaire children and how their parents died in a fire, leaving them Dismal Orphans. I find the word "orphan" funny, so I got giggles out of how Count Olaf is constantly addressing the children as such (eg. "Good morning, orphans."), and I liked the narrator's self insertions, his snide little vocabulary lessons and colorful language, but the story itself wasn't anything special. Part of that is because I saw the movie before I read the bo...more

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Apr 04, 2010 stormhawk rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

I don't know the last time I encountered a book, much less a series of books, that is as horribly delightful as A Series of Unfortunate Events!

I read a few of these courtesy of a drop of on my apt's mailroom table, and had been waiting for an opportunity to scarf up the rest. Amazon's Kindle has made that easier than ever.

The adventures of the Bauldelaire Orphans gets off to a smoldering start as they encounter Evil Count Olaf and the somewhat clueless Mr. Poe for the first time.

It's rare to fi...more

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Feb 19, 2013 Dan Tews rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read the first book in the series of Unfortunate Events. It was called the "Bad Beginning." I recommend this book to anyone because it is an easy and fast read for how big the book is. This book is great for people to read in spare time or for a class project. This book isn't a tough read, but is very easy because there are no big words that you can't understand and the book explains itself as you read. It makes you want to read the rest of the series because the book ends suddenly and goes ba...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Marcos F added it

The Bad Beginning really is a bad beginning. I don't mean it's boring or written badly. I like the way the author describes the main characters, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, but I feel depressed after only one chapter. I hope things get better for the Baudelaire kids, but I don't think they will. I also like how the author says how you should read something else if you want a happy ending. I can only imagine what they must be feeling.

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Oct 01, 2011 Amy Barrett rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A series of unfortunate events, The bad beginning by Lemony Snicket
The bad beginning is the story about Baudelaire siblings (Violet, Klaus and Sunny) who are suddenly orphaned, by a fire at their house. They are sent to live with Count Olaf who is there closet living relative who is a foul and evil man who is only after the Baudelaire fortune.
I loved the way this book was written, Snicket uses developing langue in places and to take the reader with him explains the meaning of the word and phras...more

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About Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler. Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events (his best-known work) and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, the name Lemony Snicket may refer to both a fictional character and a real person. This article deals primarily with the character.

As a...more Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler. Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events (his best-known work) and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, the name Lemony Snicket may refer to both a fictional character and a real person. This article deals primarily with the character.

As a character, Snicket is a harried, troubled writer and researcher falsely accused of felonies and continuously hunted by the police and his enemies, the fire-starting side of the secret organization Volunteer Fire Department (V.F.D.). As a child he was kidnapped and inducted as a "neophyte" into V.F.D., where he was trained in rhetoric and sent on seemingly pointless missions while all connections to his former life, apart from his siblings Jacques and Kit (who were also kidnapped and inducted), were severed. In the organization he met and fell in love with a peer named Beatrice, to whom he eventually became engaged. After a series of unfortunate events (after which the real-world series is in some ways named), he became falsely accused of murder and arson. Eventually the fallacies grew so much that The Daily Punctilio reported his death. Beatrice eventually moved on and married Bertrand Baudelaire, becoming the mother of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, the protagonists of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Fourteen years thereafter Beatrice and Bertrand were murdered in a house fire, leaving the Baudelaires orphans. Feeling indebted to his former fiancée, Snicket embarks on a quest to chronicle the lives of the Baudelaire children until they become old enough to face the troubles of the world on their own.

Snicket is the subject of a fictional autobiography, Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography (which contains an introduction from a fictionalized version of Daniel Handler). A pamphlet, 13 Shocking Secrets You'll Wish You Never Knew About Lemony Snicket, was released in promotion of The End. Other works by Snicket include The Baby in the Manger, The Composer Is Dead, Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid, The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming, The Lump of Coal, and "13 Words". Snicket is currently writing a new children's series that is due out sometime in 2012.(less)

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Books by Lemony Snicket

The Reptile Room (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #2)

The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #3)

The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #5)

The Miserable Mill (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #4)

The Ersatz Elevator (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #6)

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“...you know that a good, long session of weeping can often make you feel better, even if your circumstances have not changed one bit.” — 1,635 people liked it

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The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1)

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