Customer Reviews

The Bad Beginning: A Multi-Voice Recording (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 1)

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I downloaded this book from Audible. My sons and I listened to it in the car and finished the whole thing in one day. When we went on errands, they even asked if they could stay in the car and listen while I did what I had to do.

We loved it!! It was silly, educational, and entertaining all at once, with suspense thrown in. The boys' favorite character is Sunny, while I rather like Violet.

Especially engaging was the multicast recording. We have since missed this in the subsequent Lemony Snicket audiobooks.

I want to warn those who have seen the SOUE film: Expect something different in the books. The film combined three books, and not very well. The books have much more substance.

My students and I read this as a "just for fun" class novel. WE ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! The multiple voices really made the story come alive. It felt like we were actually in a theatre. I have this entire series on audio; this one is tremendously superior. While all have voice performers, the others are merely "read" in comparison; this one is "acted." We read along with a lot of audio books in my classroom; it is very effective for accommodating multiple learning styles. I received the greatest student response and more positive feedback regarding this audio book than any other (and we have read some phenomenal books). The only problem I had was that it was SO FUNNY that I had to repeatedly remind my students that we had to "laugh respectfully" so we did not disturb our neighboring classroom; that's actually a compliment to the awesomeness to this recording. I utterly captivated a classroom of co-ed fifth graders. I wish the other book in this series were equally as superbly, fantabulously terrific.

This recording is so fun! It has sound effects and different voices for each character. It makes it seem like you are watching a movie in your mind. I think kids would really enjoy this version, I sure did!

Still one of the darkest and best books of the series, this multivoice/sound effect recording was definitely the way to go for entertainment value! Too bad none of the other 12 audio-books in the series offered this option. I stuck it out to the end for all the audio books and mostly enjoyed them. I would've liked my Lemony Snickets a little meaner and darker but brooding adults probably weren't the target audience LOL! The best part of all the audio books is that each has it's own music track performed by The Gothic Archies, I purchased the additional Series of Unfortunate Events audio CD and can't rave enough about it!

This is a review mainly of the unabridged recording of "The Bad Beginning" read by Tim Curry, with an interview of Lemony Snicket by Leonard C. Marcus. And the song "Scream and Run Away preformed by the Gothic Archies. This is also a review of the hardback book .

Initial listening of this book brought horror and disgust (which in this case means repugnance.) Determined to finish the story despite the author's constant warnings, I must say that I became enamored of his style.

There are several pluses to listening to the recording. The pace of the recording helps keep you going when you would have set the book aside. The absence of the books illustrations by Bret Helquist allowed you to imagine a more sinister Count Olaf and a cuter, yet with a tad of tomboy, Violet. Now the significant plus is the unmistakable voice of Tim Curry of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Oscar" (1991 as Dr. Poole) fame. His interpretation of the voices gave just as much panache to the characters as Lemony's writing.

Not in the book, but as additions to the recording are two significant items that help with the understanding of the story, where it came from and where it is going. First is an interview with the author. It covers many of the standard questions asked in an interview; the answers and the communication style is some what unique and a little over the top. Also there is a recording of a song that Mr. Snicket says is played by the Baudelaire memorial orchestra; I have since found that it was realy preformed by the Gothic Archies, written by Gay and Loud.

I do not want to give away the plot however I can tell you that at one point they are forced to eat "boiled chicken, boiled, potatoes and `blanched'- here means `boiled'- string beans"