The series’s reputation precedes it, and I’m sure the reader likely has some opinion about the property before hearing mine. After all, it’s received a failed movie adaptation (at least one assumes it was a failure intended to be a multi-film franchise) and a presumably successful Netflix TV adaptation (could it have been anything but a success -- Netflix didn’t cancel it!) starring Jim Carrey and Neil Patrick Harris as their respective versions of the main villain who so controls the story’s tone.
So I’m sure I don’t have to mention that the story is about two orphans whose fortune the nefarious Count Olaf is trying to steal. And how they ping-pong between a series of incompetent and sometimes dangerous temporary guardians across the series of books. And how the story’s tone maintains a constant tension between the humorously absurd and the grotesquely dark of both human nature and the world. But then, I suppose I just have!
I found this book to be an enjoyable read. Its characters are likeable and hateable in kind, it respects the intelligence and capabilities of the children (indeed, they are sometimes superhuman), and the strong stylistic writing appears to be the product for a legitimate love for language. The framing of the book, that it is a collection of case notes written by a sort-of-detective investigating the unfortunate events of the children’s lives, is charming and well formulated.
Nevertheless, I feel disinclined to read the rest of the series. I’m sure I would have adored them when I myself was a middle grade reader. As an adult, the writing began to grate on me towards the end and I couldn’t imagine reading another twelve books written in the same voice. While entertaining middle-grade fare, I’ve already seen the Netflix adaptation come to a conclusion. And the show only improved on the material from what I’ve read thus far. Still, it is a skillfully written book and probably good reading for those of the appropriate age.
Content warning: (probably accidental) bigoted language.
Plot: 5
Characters: 7
Themes: 6
Prose: 7
Overall score: sometimes a tally intended to measure the achievements of a team or individual in friendly competition; at other times, the gains from a significantly less friendly criminal act.
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