Book: A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

Date Read: December 12, 2019 to February 5, 2020

Rating: 4 (of 5) stars

The Slippery Slope

While not the first time the orphans are separated from one another, this is the first time our story begins that way. At the end of The Carnivorous Carnival, Olaf sent Violet and Klaus tumbling down a mountain inside the freak caravan, while he made off with Sunny. Violet and Klaus are forced to use their skills to save themselves, and then begin to track down their sister. While the two meet up with an unexpected accomplice and make progress toward solving the mystery of V.F.D., Sunny is left to her own wits in dealing with the group of villains. This is our first real opportunity to see some real development in Sunny’s character, as up until this point she has been very much treated as a baby. However, she is starting to talk more in actual words, and is smart enough to take advantage of the fact that the villains do not realize she is starting to grow up. The older Baudelaires visit the line between nobility and villainy again, when they develop a plan to kidnap Esme Squalor in order to trade her back for Sunny, but find they feel guilty about considering the plan and cannot follow through. Although I would not quite call their results a “win,” the children are able to be reunited and headed off on their next adventure, away from Olaf.

I feel like the main focus of this book was on piecing together more of the puzzle to V.F.D. While there are some important events here, it is much lighter in plot than some of the previous books, with more focus on gathering information. We get a bit more on the Quagmires—discovering that Quigley, the remaining triplet, survived the fire and has been on a quest to find his siblings. He seems to have been a step behind the Baudelaires in their travels, and they are able to combine their knowledge to make some more sense of the schism and how it relates to Count Olaf’s schemes. We also get to meet two new villains, who are apparently so awful that even Count Olaf fears them and will not say their names: the man with a beard but no hair, and the woman with hair but no beard. There is also the reintroduction of a character that I, personally, could have done without any more of: Carmelita Spats. She presents as her spoiled and rotten self, of course endearing herself to Esme and Count Olaf.

The Grim Grotto

Although I suppose it could be argued that this entire series is fairly dark, it takes an even darker turn in The Grim Grotto. The whole of the book seems to hold a bit more air of danger. While the orphans have certainly been threatened before, everything here seems more precarious, as they join the crew of the submarine Queequeg. The submarine is run by Captain Widdershins, along with his step-daughter Fiona, who becomes a suggested love interest for Klaus. In a search for the mysterious sugar bowl, they search a remote underwater grotto where they suspect the currents lead and encounter the Medusoid Mycelium, a deadly mushroom that nearly overtakes Sunny.

There is also much more exploration here on the dark nature of life, and the confusion they have struggling with in the battle of good versus evil. For the first time since their parents’ deaths, Baudelaires are forced to call upon some not-s0-pleasant memories, remembering that although they loved their parents dearly, nobody is completely good all of the time. They are faced with this again after returning to the submarine to find Captain Widdershins has disappeared and encountering Count Olaf—where they discover that Fiona’s long lost brother has been a part of the Count Olaf’s troupe. Although the Baudelaires try to convince her to stay with them, Fiona’s loyalty lies with her family; which means joining with Count Olaf and her brother to search for her missing stepfather.

In this book is also the Baudelaire’s first encounter with The Great Unknown—a literal unknown entity that appears as a question mark like shape on the submarine’s radar. They first see it on the radar when attempting to hide from Count Olaf, realizing that he flees the area when it seems to begin following him. The orphans have a brush encounter near the end of the book, and it is mentioned again in the remaining books in the series.

The Penultimate Peril

The penultimate book in the series finds the Baudelaires taking a more active role in the action of V.F.D. While there are still many mysteries surrounding the organization, they consider themselves volunteers fighting on the side of nobility. They meet up with Kit Snicket, who does fill in some of the missing information for them before leaving them with a mission: to disguise themselves as concierges in order to spy on the guests at the Hotel Denouement. The hotel is the “last safe place” where there is to be a gathering of V.F.D. in a few days—assuming that the orphans can verify that the hotel still remains a safe location. This book includes the return of many from throughout the series, who all come as guests to the hotel. Some of these appear to have been invited by V.F.D., and others seem to be there at the invitation of Esme Squalor.

While most of the book feels like the orphans are making some progress toward a happy ending, overall this is more of a continued blurring of the lines between good and evil. We reenter the realm of ambiguity and uncertainty in actions, as the children perform their duties as concierges to assist both guests and the managers—identical twin brothers, one a volunteer and the other a villain. In order to maintain their cover, the children feel like they must follow the orders given to them, although they are unsure if these are in service of V.F.D. or to assist the villains. Like many of the other books, we end with a fire: this one larger than any previously, and with unknown consequences as the children try to warn others as they make their escape.

The End

The End finds the Baudelaire orphans in a much different place than usual. After escaping from the Hotel Denouement on a boat with Count Olaf, they are caught in a storm and become stranded on an island surrounded by a large coastal shelf. The water is normally too shallow around the island for boats to sail, and it is only possible to leave the island once every year. The island is inhabited by many people who also became stranded there, many with names related to famous castaways. It is mentioned several times, that this is the place where everything ends up eventually. The island has some strange customs and routines, all of which are presented as being quite lax, but are held to extremely strictly. The leader of the island, Ishmel, prefaces all directives with the words “I won’t force you,” and the islanders comply. Although there is an undercurrent of rebellion, most are generally complacent. They have arrived in a place where they can no longer be troubled by the outside world.

The islanders find Count Olaf disagreeable, and so do not invite him to join their village. The Baudelaires are skeptical of the islanders’ way of life, suspecting that there is more going on than meets the eye. After another islander suggests that they explore another area of the island, the orphans discover that Ishmel has been keeping many secrets from the other islanders; he is living a life of luxury hoarding many items they have collected all to himself. They also make the surprising discovery that they are not the first Baudelaires to visit the island: their parents were the previous island leaders, having lived there for several years before the children were born. The find a large hand written book of records that tells the story of the island and the lives of those who have spent time there: A Series of Unfortunate Events.

When another storm brings an injured Kit Snicket to the shores of the island, the orphans attempt to help her and Count Olaf attempts to disguise himself as her to gain favor with the islanders. For the first time, his disguise does not work, and the islanders put him into a large cage on the coastal shelf. As the coastal shelf begins to flood, the orphans release Olaf from his cage, as they do not want to be the ones who leave him there to drown. This sets off a short series of events where Olaf threatens the island with the Medusoid Mycelium, leading the islanders to abandon their village with Olaf, Kit, and the Baudelaires left behind. The Baudelaires are able to find a way to dilute the poison, but Kit is unable due to her pregnancy. Kit gives birth to her daughter, dying shortly after. Olaf also succumbs to the deadly mushroom’s poison. This leaves the Baudelaires to live as their parents once had on the island: a simple life away from the dangers of the world. They spend time perusing their parents’ logs in the record book, and creating logs of their own. Eventually, they begin to wonder about what has happened to the world outside their small island, and so prepare to leave as the waters on the coastal shelf rise.

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Overall, I enjoyed the series quite a bit. Each book added new layers to the story, with the characters and plots becoming increasing complex and intricate throughout. There was great humor mixed in along the way, with narrative asides and cultural references. The double story with the narrator sharing some of his own history and involvement in events that lead to the story was interesting.

I have to say though, that I was not completely satisfied with the ending. At the same time, I cannot say that I am completely dissatisfied either. The conclusion, or perhaps lack of conclusion, is very fitting and appropriate for the series as a whole. There is much discussion through the final book about the beginning and end of stories, and the suggestion that there is no true beginning or end to anything in life. I suppose this is left to the reader to interpret. Despite this being a fitting end to the story as told here, I felt that there were too many mysteries left unsolved. Many characters were left to face the Great Unknown, and the fate of many characters is left unstated after the fire in the twelfth book. Most of the mysteries surrounding V.F.D remain a mystery, and we never really find out why the narrator, Lemony Snicket, is so committed to telling this story. I feel like the same type of ending could have been achieved with just a bit more closure for the readers—after dedicating the time to read 13 books in the series, I feel like we are owed just a little more.