| The Bad Beginning | |
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Rating: Author: Lemony Snicket Published: Series: A Series of Unfortunate Events Review by: CL6 MissMaul Order from amazon.com |
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Review:
It all starts when the three Baudelaire children (Violet, Klaus and Sunny) are on Briny Beach. Violet is the oldest and wants to be an inventor when she is older. Klaus is a bookworm and has read more than most people read in their entire life. Sunny is only a baby and bites everything she comes across.
Mr. Poe is coming towards them and brings them the new that will totally change their lives in a bad way. Their house has been burned down completely and their parents have died in the flames. Their parents were very rich, and Violet, being the oldest, has inherited the money. But she can't have it until she is of age. So they are to live with Count Olaf, a distant relative. Being a Count and all, the Baudelaire children figured he is rich. But he actually is an actor who lives in the dirtiest house ever. He's not a nice person either. There are eyes drawn all over the house and maybe he is able to watch them through those eyes. And his house also has a tower in which the children are not allowed. The children soon find Count Olaf is a horrible man. He makes them clean the house and do the cooking. He doesn't have any books for them to read and when he invites all his fellow actors he makes them cook a meal for all of them, but doesn't leave them instructions for what to cook nor any money. And he is also planning an evil scheme. The Bad Beginning is an amusing book. It has quite a fast pace and there are plenty of things going on to keep you reading. The book is funny and written as if it has really happened. Also nice is that you learn a lot of new words because the writer occasionally explains the meaning of difficult words. It is also nice that the writer appears to be actually telling you the story personally. The characters aren't worked out very well, neither are they very realistic. But this is not a realistic book so that didn't really bother me. The fact that the characters aren't really characters did. Maybe this is because it's only the first book in the series, but no one has a background and all the characters are cliches. The children are smart, Count Olaf is evil and the rest of the characters are rather gullible. I've read a couple of times that these books are a bit like Harry Potter, enjoyed by both children and parents. I don't think this is correct, The Bad Beginning is a real children's book. They will probably enjoy it, even though horrible things happen. But it's a bit too simple for older readers. I enjoyed it, but always was aware that it was a children's book. So it's very good for what it is, but do not expect to be entertained as much as children of the age of 12 will be.
Title: The Bad Beginning |
2/6/05
