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morningtide

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The Grim Grotto

Lemony Snicket

4.0

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

"Our stepfather probably didn’t tell you what happened to me—he always said there were secrets in this world too terrible for young people to know. What a fool!"

While action/adventure in this entry to the series was technically exciting and very tense, I didn't care for it so much - I think at this point I am just wanting maybe a few answers before we get a dozen more questions.

As with the previous books, I did especially love the moral discussions. The Hook-Handed Man/Fernald became more than just a henchman and I enjoyed his observation that people are like chef salads ("good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.") Saying that this puts everyone in the series on equal footing is a bit drastic, but it does make me feel sympathy for Fiona. We know she's making the "wrong" choice, but at the same time I get it, and not everyone makes the right choice every time.

We don't always have all the information, and we don't always know who we can trust. I especially liked the detail that Violet is judging Fernand from the information she found in the newspaper clipping and we still get the conflict - it is written by Jacques Snicket (a reliable? noble? person) but it was published in The Daily Punctilio, an extremely unreliable source.

My favorite parts were the bits of learning about Volunteer Factual Dispatch and Verse Fluctuation Declaration, especially learning slowly of the different skills taught to VFD that people in the Baudelaires life have been using through the whole series (e.g. Aunt Josephine's letter in The Wide Window)

Seeing the children take a more active role in their well being rather than passively accepting what the adults around them choose is pretty satisfying. I did a little mental fist-bump when they got in the taxi instead of following orders.

Additional notes re: audiobook format - Tim Curry's enactments of Captain Widdershins' bits gave me the giggles almost every time, when I think they would have annoyed me to actually read through. I think in general, his delivery makes the repetition in the books more enjoyable, and I do usually have fun with the repetition, so it's like double fun for me.

The Slippery Slope

Lemony Snicket

4.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

I keep feeling the urge to pick "hopeful" as a mood for some of the books in this series, but that's really completely wrong. Things are always so unfortunate for the Baudelaires that when they get to actually learn some information or have a calm moment, I'm like, "Ah!!! Things will be okay then, maybe!" Whoops.

There is something I adored specifically about this book and the leadup to the moment ... the KNIFE. Violet carries this butter knife in her pocket since they leave the caravan from the carnival, and there are multiple moments when she puts her hand in her pocket, touches it, wonders if now is the time to try and use her weapon. In previous books the Baudelaires have been thinking or discussing different choices they've made, and their actions compared to Count Olaf's and his accomplice. When they are between a rock and a hard place they are trying to determine what makes them any different if they are making such similar choices. Do their motives really a difference? And the last time Violet considers the knife in her pocket she realizes - the knife is not just a weapon. The knife is a tool!! And how you use that tool determines what kind of person you are much more than whether you used it or not. This moment was just so satisfying. Thank u.

There is also the more dramatic moment of the kids setting up a trap to catch Esme and use her as a hostage, then realizing it was taking things too far, which makes it clear they know who they are and that they want to be good. Another big thing the kids have been questioning is if they really knew their parents - and how could they hide something as big as the VFD from them? Were they good or bad? But when they come together and discuss the good luck (ha! good luck!) of their combined skills being so helpful to their dilemma and they realize - their parents may not have told them everything, but they were beginning to include them in their world by nurturing the skills in their children that would help them in the future, which means they saw them as capable of knowing the whole thing someday. Yeah!!!!!!! What an awesome moment for kids to see as they grow!!

I said it in my review of the first book and I'll say it again now - while reading these books as an adult feels quite a bit more wretched with a fuller understanding of the world - seeing the way topics are discussed and that you can't shy away from every slightly scary thing in the world to try and protect kids, it's confirming to me these are actually great books for the target audience. The world is gonna be out there whether we prepare kids or not, and there is no way on knowing when the rug will be pulled out, so I think it's probably a good idea to introduce slowly than try to hide from the darkness completely.

ALSO, this passage broke my heart a little:

“Hello?” Violet called, looking around her at the rubble. “Hello?” She found that her eyes were filling with tears, as she called out for the people she knew in her heart were nowhere nearby. The eldest Baudelaire felt as if she had been calling for these people since that terrible day on the beach, and that if she called them enough they might appear before her. She thought of all the times she had called them, back when she lived with her siblings in the Baudelaire mansion. Sometimes she called them when she wanted them to see something she had invented. Sometimes she called them when she wanted them to know she had arrived home. And sometimes she called them just because she wanted to know where they were. Sometimes Violet just wanted to see them, and feel that she was safe as long as they were around. “Mother!” Violet Baudelaire called. “Father!”

There was no answer.

The Carnivorous Carnival

Lemony Snicket

4.25

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

I think I have to admit I may be enjoying these later books in the series more as an adult than I could have as a kid. Maybe it's also that I never made it this far in the series before "growing out of it" and the past few books have been where the deeper plotlines start to pull together, but I truly am enjoying the themes in the story.

The Baudelaires are in the belly of the beast (that one counts) after they have to choose to hitch a ride with their literal worst enemy against his knowledge rather than perish in the fire at Heimlich Hospital. They know they can just run - but have the wits to realize Olaf will only just keep chasing them, and it while it is a more dangerous choice, sticking around to gain more knowledge may have them get ahead of their enemies rather than be chased by them. To do so, the children have to take a leaf out of Olaf's book and disguise themselves, not only to hide from Olaf himself, but because of the false accusations from the Daily Punctilio stating they are murderers.

I love the ongoing discussion of the guilt the children feel when they have to make choices that remind them too much of the villains - are they just as bad, when they are doing the same things for a different reason? Is it still bad if they are just trying to level the playing field when the world is wrongly against them?

Even after being disappointed by so many guardians and being betrayed by adults they thought they could trust, I loved that we are reminded the Baudelaires are still, deep down, hopeful about other people and want to have faith in them. They see Olivia/Madame LuLu as someone not too far gone to the wrong side of VFD, and they want to save her and give her a chance. And while it's made clear in the last moments of the book that she did give their identities away to Count Olaf - I like to think she still could have found the courage to do the right thing in the end, had she not been eaten by lions, of course. And the children continue to show their goodness by feeling sad and remorseful about her death despite the fact that she let them down. She seems like one of the adults that had the potential to be a better person if she had made better choices, ranking her somewhere closer to Aunt Josephine rather than Jerome Squalor on the scale for 'Adults in the Baudelaires lives who may not be actively trying to hurt them but sure haven't actively tried to help.'

The Hostile Hospital

Lemony Snicket

3.75

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

The Baudelaires are officially fending for themselves. As they are making more active choices for their own well-being, they are forced to come to terms with the reasoning behind those choices. Can good people do bad things and still be good people? Even if those things will save them from the bad decisions of the adults around them? Can they handle the guilt of their choices? I do love a moral dilemma.

The stakes definitely feel as if they just keep getting higher, and the kids quick thinking is still saving them, but it feels like they only just keep squeezing by. Isn't is suspicious how much arson seems to happen, too? Hmmmm.

(My favorite humorous bit in this one was the silly filing system. Paperwork is the most important thing, but also, no one ever read it again please, so you might as well file it under the fifth word in the last sentence.)

The Vile Village

Lemony Snicket

3.75

adventurous dark funny mysterious slow-paced

In The Vile Village, the Baudelaires are now being cared for by an entire village... but not really. They get to do all the chores of the entire village, while living with the village handyman, Hector. We can almost get our hopes up about Hector - he's a secret rebel against the ridiculous rules of the Village of Fowl Devotees - unfortunately he's also another adult in the Baudelaire's lives with not much of a backbone. We know better by now anyway - even though Hector finds a way to escape the vile village, and even save a couple deserving souls along with him, it's just not meant to be for the Baudelaires.

As we're halfway through the series, the children have learned enough from the miserable world they're trapped in that they can only count on themselves, and choose to stick together even if it's on their own. Between the mystery of VFD, the precarious well-being of the Baudelaires and the Quagmires, and knowing Count Olaf isn't the only person out there with the Eye tattoo, I think I'm fully invested in the storyline. If I read this far the first time I was reading the series as a kid, this must have been the last book I did read, and I'm very excited to pick up the clues and details in the remainder of the series.

Miss Percy's Pocket Guide (to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons)

Quenby Olson

4.0

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This story was cute and definitely in the lighthearted area. I don't know if I would have picked it to read on my own, but it was mentioned a few times and then set up as a big buddy read, so I felt more inclined to check it out.

I loved that the main character was middle aged rather than a 20-something, which you don't often get to see in these period style novels. Mildred obviously had her flaws, but I didn't find them frustrating. She was aware of her flaws as well, but when push finally came to shove, she stood up for herself. The romance was cute and just enough of the story without taking over.

I was in a bit of an overall reading slump when I started this, so I read it in very small bits and pieces - which made it feel like it took quite a bit of time to pick up. I think if I had had more motivation to read this in longer sittings I would have enjoyed it much more.

The Ersatz Elevator

Lemony Snicket

4.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

The Baudelaires are passed back to actual relations for guardians again - with the excuse that Esmé and Jerome Squalor couldn't take in orphans until it was on trend. Our archetypes for the adults in this book are The Influencer and The Pushover - Esmé actually seemed more ridiculous to me when I was younger, but that was pre-social media. Now, the concept of adopting orphans because it's trendy doesn't feel quite so absurd (unfortunately.) Jerome might actually care about the kids and wants to get them gifts relevant to their interests, and it almost seems like they will have an okay home - sadly Jerome has no backbone and "doesn't want to argue," which will always leave him falling in line with the other adults over any of the children. Still wouldn't be too bad if Esmé was just a vapid trend follower, but that isn't all there is to her. Even in their more pleasant times with the Squalors, the kids still realize their grief will be there whether they tell themselves they should feel lucky or happy or anything but what they actually inevitably feel.

This entry in the series definitely feels the most adventurous so far - the Baudelaires aren't just hiding from Olaf anymore, they're trying to fight back for the sake of their friends. The elevator climb was thrilling while being quite a bit over the top, but if you haven't suspended your disbelief enough by now you may have to give up.

It was frustrating to have the Baudelaires so close to helping the Quagmires, or at least learning more about VFD, only to be thwarted by their own limitations and putting their trust in the wrong adult. The adults being a letdown is not new, but as the orphans begin to put more and more weight on their own shoulders their failures become more heartbreaking - and their lesson is quickly learned on having "hope." Jerome exits as a passive villain - not much better than the active villains simply by doing nothing.

I know the repetition is annoying to a lot of older readers, and I get that in the formula of the books, but I do love the repetition of language and phrasing in this series. With the book titles beginning to use more expanded vocabulary, I loved seeing "ersatz" applied throughout the story.

The Austere Academy

Lemony Snicket

4.0

funny sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

I'm glad I pulled through on The Miserable Mill despite being tempted to call it quits on A Series of Unfortunate Events due to how ....miserable I found it. Things definitely picked back up for me in The Austere Academy. The audiobooks also have Tim Curry back as the narrator for this one, and he is a delight.

Olaf's approach is a little more underhanded in this one, along with adding the world's rudest principal into the mix of villains. Things are getting continuously unfortunate for the Baudelaires, but we get breaks from it when they make friends with the two Quagmire triplets and their suspiciously similar backstory, and some humor imbued by Sunny's secretarial career and the toe-pinching crabs in the orphan shack.

We're beginning to pick up hints of something beyond the Baudelaires latest terrible guardian (once again, while hyperbolic - I've definitely had one or two 'educators' who could align a bit too much to Principal Nero) and that Lemony Snicket is seeming to have more of a role in the story outside of just narrating it. The mystery is definitely becoming genuinely intriguing to me.

The Miserable Mill

Lemony Snicket

3.0

dark funny mysterious slow-paced

I did not care for this one at all, and it almost caused me to end my Series of Unfortunate Events spree, but I did stick it out. Their guardian is a seemingly random person - I don't think it's explained why they qualify in the first place? If they're not a distant distant relative, at this point the Baudelaires could have gone to Justice Strauss or something - so I'll tell myself Sir was a distant distant relative. There wasn't much happening here to distract from the basic formula applied throughout the series. I can't blame a middle grade series for having so much repetition as that's basically a staple for the age group and I am not the intended audience, but it feels easier to look past in the other books where more interesting things are happening.

The Wide Window

Lemony Snicket

4.0

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

With each book in this series, I'm appreciating more and more that at the heart of it, we are learning along with the Baudelaires to just... cope. In The Wide Window, the theme is definitely coping - Aunt Josephine as their new guardian, who as one of the more well-meaning ones has still not learned to deal with her own grief and loss of her husband, causing her to let the children and herself fall into the clutches of Count Olaf. I found the mystery in this one to be quite a bit of fun - and to have the children solve it only to have Aunt Josephine continue to be ridiculous. But despite her weakness of falling too far into her grief and fear, the children still love her and do not seem to blame her too much for her struggles, as silly as they can seem.

Violet opened the peeling white door, and there stood Mr. Poe in the gloomy light of dawn. "Mr. Poe," Violet said. She intended to tell him immediately of their forgery theory, but as soon as she saw him, standing in the doorway with a white handkerchief in one hand and a black briefcase in the other, her words stuck in her throat. Tears are curious things, for like earthquakes or puppet shows they can occur at any time, without any warning and without any good reason. "Mr. Poe," Violet said again, and without any warning she and her siblings burst into tears. Violet cried, her shoulders shaking with sobs, and Klaus cried, the tears making his glasses slip down his nose, and Sunny cried, her open mouth revealing her four teeth. Mr. Poe put down his briefcase and put away his handkerchief. He was not very good at comforting people, but he put his arms around the children the best he could, and murmured "There, there," which is a phrase some people murmur to comfort other people despite the fact that it doesn't really mean anything.

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