Big Books of Spring

Benjamin Foss’s Reviews > The Wide Window > Status Update

Benjamin Foss
Benjamin Foss is 90% done
I ran out of my monthly Spotify audiobook hours!! Going to have to put a pause on these.

Had some thoughts I was planning on sharing at the end of this one and I don’t want to lose them. The world of the Baudelaire orphans is filled with good-hearted but incompetent adults. They find themselves frustrated when they are patronized and nobody takes them seriously. Just had a talk and it was said to me that no…
— Mar 17, 2026 07:12PM
The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #3)

flag

Post a comment »
Comments Showing 1-1 of 1 (1 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Benjamin (new) - added it
Mar 17, 2026 07:13PM

Benjamin Foss …matter how small kid’s problems seem to adults, adults should take their concerns seriously and avoid being patronizing. Through high school my biggest pet peeve was feeling patronized, and it always came from my elders. We should learn from this series that a lot of hurt can be avoided if we take a serious interest in the things that children bring to us.

I also want to appreciate how capable children are portrayed in this series, and how they subvert expectations. Perhaps these expectations have been culturally subverted now, but I imagine the subversion wasn’t so prevalent when these were published. Violet is active in mechanics, Klaus is an avid reader, and Sunny enjoys biting hard objects. Consistently the world around them tries to force them into a mold but they achieve the most when they stick to their strengths.


PS Why is there a character limit on status updates?


back to top

All of Benjamin’s status updates
Everyone’s updates from this book