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A Series of Unfortunate Events #1: The Bad Beginning
By Lemony Snicket and Brett Helquist
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Start ReadingEditor's Note
Sensationally spellbinding...
Begin at the beginning of this wonderfully weird, impressively imaginative, sprawling series by master wordsmith Snicket, whose spellbinding prose captivates readers of all ages.
Description
NOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES
In the tradition of great storytellers, from Dickens to Dahl, comes an exquisitely dark comedy that is both literary and irreverent, hilarious and deftly crafted. Never before has a tale of three likeable and unfortunate children been quite so enchanting, or quite so uproariously unhappy.
Are you made fainthearted by death? Does fire unnerve you? Is a villain something that might crop up in future nightmares of yours? Are you thrilled by nefarious plots? Is cold porridge upsetting to you? Vicious threats? Hooks? Uncomfortable clothing?
It is likely that your answers will reveal A Series of Unfortunate Events to be ill-suited for your personal use. A librarian, bookseller, or acquaintance should be able to suggest books more appropriate for your fragile temperament. But to the rarest of readers we say, "Proceed, but cautiously."
Book Actions
Start ReadingBook Information
A Series of Unfortunate Events #1: The Bad Beginning
By Lemony Snicket and Brett Helquist
Editor's Note
Sensationally spellbinding...
Begin at the beginning of this wonderfully weird, impressively imaginative, sprawling series by master wordsmith Snicket, whose spellbinding prose captivates readers of all ages.
Description
NOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES
In the tradition of great storytellers, from Dickens to Dahl, comes an exquisitely dark comedy that is both literary and irreverent, hilarious and deftly crafted. Never before has a tale of three likeable and unfortunate children been quite so enchanting, or quite so uproariously unhappy.
Are you made fainthearted by death? Does fire unnerve you? Is a villain something that might crop up in future nightmares of yours? Are you thrilled by nefarious plots? Is cold porridge upsetting to you? Vicious threats? Hooks? Uncomfortable clothing?
It is likely that your answers will reveal A Series of Unfortunate Events to be ill-suited for your personal use. A librarian, bookseller, or acquaintance should be able to suggest books more appropriate for your fragile temperament. But to the rarest of readers we say, "Proceed, but cautiously."
About the author
Reviews
Quick, cute read. I had seen a few episodes of the show and was interested to read the books. I believe I will continue with the series.
Rating: 4It's cute, but kind of condescending. I don't know what I would have thought when I was in the target age group, but the constant word definitions got old pretty fast. I'll probably still read the rest of the series.
Rating: 2A very quick read and entertaining.
Rating: 4There are three Baudelaire kids. The oldest Baudelaire child is Violet. She loves to constantly think of new possible inventions that she could make. The second oldes Baudelaire child is Klause. Klause loves to read, read, and read. He knows basically every word in the dictionary. The youngest Baudelaire is Sunny. Sunny loves, and loves to bite things. She has very sharp teeth and does not know how to speak very clearly but the Baudelaire children always know what Sunny is saying. The Baudelaire children were on a beach one day and suddenly saw a friend of the family's, Mr. Poe. He had dreadful news that he had told the the Baudelaire children . Mr. Poe told them that their parents had died recently in a terrible fire. This just gets worse as their life goes on. Mr. Poe sends them to a relative or more like a third cousin. These children end up with a dreadful horrible relative name Count Olaf. Count Olaf treats them terrible and is very bad to the Baudelaire children, he is trying to steal the fortune of the Baudelaire children, that their parents had, once they died. It all comes out that Count Olaf has a terrible plan. He wants to perform a play and marry Violet. He just says it is a play, but really he wants it to be real. He wants it to be real so he can get a hold of the Baudelaire children's money.My opinion about this book is AWESOME! This book is very fascinating and depressing at the same time. But the author gives out a really good point. There are these three children who's parents had just died in a dreadful fire and they get stuck with a terrible relative that tries to steal their money. This shows how hard these children work for just happiness and what they used to have, and love. This all comes about in The Bad Beginning.
Rating: 4i liked this book a little because at some points i got really interested in the book.I got really interesyed near the end.this book is an A.R book.I think this book is at my reading i am going to read m,ore books at this reading leavel.
Rating: 4A not-so-bad beginning, after all. The first installment in this long series clearly and efficiently sets the stage for its successors, with a unique, captivating style at that. I could go into the whole summary-thing, but any ten year old could tell you better than I, and the book will only take you about a day to finish, so I suggest just reading the whole thing in the bookstore and don't spill any coffee on it -- these books are expensive!
Rating: 4After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune. Repetitive
Rating: 3For some reason I never got the chance to read the A Series of Unfortunate Events collection as a kid, but I recently bought the entire series. Better late than never. Just from reading the first book I feel like I would’ve LOVED this series as a kid. Even as an adult I enjoyed the quick read and look forward to reading the rest of the books. I did find it slightly annoying how the author would deviate from the story to stop and explain words, but I get how that’d be helpful for younger readers so I tried not to let it bother me too much
Rating: 4Very fun. Listened to this during my morning cleaning duties at work. Read by Tim Curry. <3
Rating: 3A very slow, boring start to an otherwise good series.
Rating: 3Audio version is positively brilliant. Tim Curry is the narrator and there is a full voice cast and it brings the wickedly dark and funny tale to life. The story itself is marvelous as it never talks down to children or hides some of he darker aspects of life. Great characters, wicked dialogue and fast moving storyline will delight the 9+ set (or us 44 yr old moms)
Rating: 5Summary: The first of many unfortunate events, the Baudelaire's are off to a truly bad start as their mansiokn burns down along with their parents. They are forced to move away from home. Review: One thumb up.
Rating: 3Hilarious book about the miserable life of three orphans.
Rating: 4Tim Curry is exquisitely creepy as the narrator of this tale, but the book itself is... odd. I don't need everything to be sunshine and roses, but for some reason I found this disturbing. A legal guardian scheming to marry his 14-year-old "daughter" in order to get her fortune? Dangling the infant sister off a 3-story tower as collateral? Ew. I'm curious - how many children in the target age range like these books? Or is it their ironic parents that are the real fans...
Rating: 2This is the first book in the Series of Unfortunate Events. We meet the Baudelaire children at the same time they find out they have become orphans. The children are sent to live with a 'cousin' Count Olaf who is a mean old man and wants the children for only one reason. The whole thing culminates in the Play that isn't a play "The Marvelous Marriage".This was a fun little book and is a fast read. Count Olaf is truly despicable, the Baudelaire children are very heroic and Mr. Poe is truly clueless. Great books for Middle school age and fun for others. An interesting introduction to show how life isn't always as fair as we'd like.
Rating: 4The Baudeliare siblings are suddenty made orphans after the death of their parents; they are sent to live with their distant relative, the horrible, Count Olaf. Count Olaf is determined to acquire the children's fortune and has planned unspeakable acts in order to get the money.This is a rather haunting story with a number of essential vocabulary lessons thrown in for good measure. Definitely one of a kind.
Rating: 4Basically, this book is about how kids are hella smart, and adults just don't give them enough cred. The Baudelaire children have just become the Baudelaire orphans, and everything bad that could ever befall them happen in this series. Each child has a skill: Violet is a brilliant inventor, Klaus is a bookwork with an incredible memory, and Sunny has razor-sharp teeth. Together, they are the ultimate machine.There is mystery, multiple attempts at murder, serious pun-action, and a gothic overshadow that makes the time-setting uncertain. Ultimately, this series is about three siblings who seriously care and look out for one another. They know their strength lies in being together.What I found amazing about this series is how everything seems to be in black and white at the beginning: you know who the good and bad guys are. But as the series progresses, the water muddies, and there is a lot more ambiguity. As the Baudelaire's (and our) knowledge grows, we are faced with difficult situations and thus cannot view the world in such extremes. Just like in life, there is no black and white. We can only do what we must in order to survive, and sometimes our actions and feelings are complicated.SOUE are children's books, but contain adult humor and themes. Originally, I thought that they were children's books written for adults. But I guess that's the point. We don't give kids enough credit.
Rating: 3This a book that begins a series of a very good story that i loved to read when i was a child. I recommend these book to children who are imaginative, and like adventures.
Rating: 4In this, the first installment of “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” the reader is warned right from the beginning that if a happy ending is what they want, they’d better look elsewhere. But I still think most readers with a developed sense of humor will be charmed by this parody of Victorian-style children’s novels, in which children are routinely orphaned and placed at the mercy of scheming relatives, cold porridge and itchy clothes.One of my favorite devices was the author’s habit of defining any difficult word he happened to use in the course of telling the story, such as “fitfully” and “mystical”, as well as elaborating on such abstract concepts as the difference between literally and figuratively doing something. Intelligent children who aren’t bothered by stories in which horrible things happen to other intelligent children (who yet always seem to persevere through the strength of their own character and wits) will not only get a funny, fast-paced, engaging story but might also learn a thing or two along the way.
Rating: 3I read this book because my then nine year old son, stricken, asked me to read the book so that I might see the horrors (the murder, scheming!) he'd just witnessed. So I told him I would.Time passed, I forgot, he recovered, slowly, eventually, probably. But as I was fishing in a pile of books to read, searching for my next one, he tapped me on the arm and reminded me, still with that haunted look, that I hadn't read "The Bad Beginning."So I read it. It was cute. The language and sly nods from the narrator, hinting at some horror coming up are what set my kid on edge, are surely what sent my child off the deep end, but they were not much more grisly than a Roald Dahl story. The literary tics were part of the charm of the book and while I don't know that I'll be reading any more in the series, I think both my kids, the one who was permanently scarred and the other one, yet to be scarred, will enjoy more in the series. So I'll now have to report to my son that maybe it wasn't so bad, it was all in good, gruesome fun, and that I'll do so as soon as I let him out of the cage we have him suspended in from our thirty foot tower.
Rating: 4I don't understand why this series is so popular. It's child abuse written in a tongue-in-cheek style that is mildly entertaining when the vocabulary pedagogy isn't hitting the reader over the head.
Rating: 2A good book that kept most children interested. Younger children 5/6years old did not enjoy it as much as older children. Some children were shocked by mild violence and what they considered unjust treatment.
Rating: 4Not my cup of hemlock.
Rating: 3I received a set of Lemony Snicket books this past Christmas (2006), much to my delight.This is not the typical children's fiction book that resolves in a happy ending.The book lives up to its claim of a series of unfortunate events.At first, I was a bit taken aback by the amount of gloom and doom in this book.But, after some thought, I realized that this book is quite relevant and of possible therapeutic value for children who must survive the constant upheavals of living in the foster care system. The protagonists show their heroism by recognizing when they are in trouble by using their intelligence and devotion to each other in order to escape their unbearable circumstances.This is not a book for every child, but certainly a book of great potential in the hands of a child living through difficult circumstances.
Rating: 4I read this while giving a final exam to my intermediate French students, and spent the hour it took to get through it stifling giggles (it's not nice to read something funny while your students are struggling with the subjunctive). Wonderful.
Rating: 4Strange and cool.
Rating: 4I'm i the only person who read this as an adult?i'm glad i finally read it though , and i'm sure i wouldn't have been able to appreciate it well enough as a child.It's a very well written story , i feel like i might be the only person who loved Lemony Snicket's style . i loved the explanations he gave and the meaning for some words , i understand why some might find it a bit patronizing but i enjoyed it .It made me feel as if i was sitting in a chair next to my grandpa who is in this case Lemony , while he read the book to me.[image][image]And it was very easy to get visual images of the scenes as the story went on , big point for that![image]The story is very fun and the characters are interesting enough , The Baudelaire children are my favorites , they are brave , and smart .Count Olaf made this much more interesting even though he is evil and tends to be very disgusting One thing i hated is the way the communication between the children and the adults happens , it was very annoying and too much like a cartoon , but i guess it is necessary to serve the purpose of the story.
Rating: 4So dark. I can totally see the appeal for children, but I had such a hard time with this short little read. Picturing these events happening to any children without adults stepping in was horrifying to me. But I guess for kids to read about other kids getting the best of this evil grown up might be entertaining.
Rating: 2Once upon a time, Violet (14), Klaus (12) and Sunny (2-3?) Baudelaire lived with their mother and father in an enormous mansion with an enormous library. However, this being a bad beginning, there follows a series of unfortunate events that changes their happy lives for the worse. The bad things start when the Baudelaire siblings learn that their mother and father have perished in a fire that also burnt their enormous mansion down to the ground. Things get even worse when the executor of their parents estate finds a distant relative - Count Olaf - to take care of them until Violet is old enough to inherit the family fortune. The Baudelaire orphans are soon very unlucky indeed. I enjoyed reading this a lot. The author has a wicked way with words that is both suitable for younger readers and amusing for we older readers. He also taps into the fear of young children that something might happen to their parents, whom they depend on for everything at that age. This aspect reminded me of the Grimm fairy tales that I used to find upsetting rather than entertaining as a child, and Snicket has some great pantomime baddies. The Baudelaire children are strong and resourceful though, and they understand that reading will give them knowledge (yay!), and that not all adults necessarily know more than them, which is a scary thing to realise when you're wee.The worst thing about this book was that it was over far too quickly and I haven't yet bought any of the others. It was gone in one sitting, which is good of course, but also bad. I want to know who Beatrice is, and I want to know what happens next. More!
Rating: 4I didn't really like this book the first time I read it. I picked up the audiobook, however, because Tim Curry narrated it. That did help my enjoyment a little. I tend to like anything that Tim Curry stars in so this was a given. He captured the characters and brought out the sarcasm in a way that my brain did not catch the first time I read it myself.
Rating: 3