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35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Back in the Belly of the Beast, November 3, 2002
This review is from: The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events # 9) (Hardcover)
When we last left the Baudelaire orphans at the cliff-hanging ending of the 8th book in the Series of Unfortunate Events series, The Hostile Hospital, Sunny, Klaus and Violet were hiding in bullet hole-ridden trunk of Count Olaf's car on their way to parts unknown. As it so happens, the orphans are out of the frying pan into the fire in this new book, a phrase that herein means, "have gone from one bad situation where Violet was barely saved from certain unnecessary surgery, into a possible worse one by hiding in the trunk of the Count's car." The count, as it turns out, is barreling off with his troope of odd characters to the tent of Madame Lulu the fortune teller, who lives far out in the Hinterlands. Like other books in this Unfortunate Series, the orphans continue to be in mortal peril (a phrase that herein means "dreadful danger") as they avoid the clutches of Count Olaf. Managing to disguise themselves as carnival freaks, they take up residence in Madame Lulu's freak show aside a humpback, a contortionist and a very glum ambidexterous fellow who can use either hands equally well. Madame Lulu, who may not be all that she appears to be, has mysteriously always provided the Count with information about the Baudelaire trio, which finally explains how exactly he always knows where they are and how to find them. She drops hints that one of the orphan's parents may have survived the fire that apparently killed them back in book #1 (The Bad Beginning), and she gets oh-so-close to explaining the true meaning of VFD, and readers of the series and of Mr. Snicket's unauthorized biography are lead tantalizingly close to the answers for which they've sought about VFD and why Count Olaf, Jaques Snicket and Madame Lulu have tattoos or insignia of an eye on or about them. Pieces of the puzzle are just beginning to fit together, but not...quite... This is, of course, the ninth book in the series, and Mr. Snicket gives us some hints, as he always does, at the end of the story to the next book in the series, which I assume will be called "The Slippery Slope." Readers who have read up to this point will be delighted and enthralled by the mysteries that peek out here and there throughout the book, like prarie dogs peeking out of their burrows before quickly disappearing again. If you have not yet read books 1-8 in the series, it is recommended that you do so before attacking "Carnivorous Carnival", as much of what happens in this story won't make sense if you've not been following the sad lives of the Baudelaire orphans since the beginning. From this quiet part of the world ;) this reviewer and constant reader of the Series highly recommends this and other books in the series.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
sometimes the carnival is no fun at all.........., December 4, 2002
A Kid's Review
This review is from: The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events # 9) (Hardcover)
Justin Pergolini Room 22 I am a fifth grade student at Waldron Mercy Academy(JP).The book I am reviewing is THE CARNIVOUROUS CARNIVAL by LEMONY SNICKET.PLEASE RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.THIS REVIEW IS DANGOURUS AND MUST BE ERASED. You could not possibly want to hear the horrible events in this book...that is what Lemony Snicket whould say if he was typing this. Unlike Lemony Snicket this book is one of the best books I've ever read. Trouble has struck again for the Bualdeluares. Our story begins with the Bauldeluares in the trunk of Count Olafs long black car. The Bauldelaures are three orphans named Violet,Klaus,and Sunny whose parents died in a horrible fire. Count Olaf is a greedy man who has followed the Bauldelaures everywhere they go trying to steal the orphan's fortune and has faked his own death and blamed the poor Bauldelueres for the murder. The Bualdelueres have left their recent ''home'' at Hemlich Hospital, which I am sorry to say is no more, and found a small glimmer of light in its library of records............. The Bualdelaures arrive at Calarigi Carnival (which I am sorry to say is no more either) where they hear of a fortuneteller who is telling Olaf where the orphans are all the time. The Bauldelaures disguise themselves as freaks to get a job at the carnivals house of freaks. It's horrible there as the Bualdelares are treated harshly on stage. They are in even more danger when Count Olaf announces the next big attraction at the carnival:feeding some lions one freak a day that is randomly selected from a hat. But that night the Bualdelares find out a little secret about the fortuneteller... But I am afraid that tragedy strikes again for the Bauldelares and this dark road is very long indeed...........
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Only four more to go, and the stakes keep getting higher!, November 11, 2002
This review is from: The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events # 9) (Hardcover)
Second only to the Harry Potter books, "A Series of Unfortunate Events" is the best children's/adult series I have read in some time. To say these books are only for kids is the same as saying Bugs Bunny cartoons are only for kids - BULL! "The Carnivorous Carnival" is Book the Ninth in the proposed 13-book series - in this one, we re-join Violet, Klaus, and baby Sunny Beaudelaire in the trunk of Count Olaf's long, sinister black getaway car; the orphans hid there at the end of "The Hostile Hospital" as their only means of escape, since everyone is looking for them after the local paper, "The Daily Punctilio," branded them murderers of Count Omar - who, in reality, is Count Olaf, and he is very much alive. Count Olaf drives his troupe of theater performers/criminals way out to the hinterlands, to the Caligari Carnival. There they greet Madame Lulu, the owner of the carnival and a personal friend of Count Olaf. At their first opportunity, the children escape the trunk of the car - but where to go, now that they are stuck way out in the hinterlands, with everyone thinking they are murderers? Easy - they adapt Count Olaf's methods of trickery and disguise. In each previous book, Count Olaf has found the orphans in their newest home and, in disguise, plots to get his hands on them and their fortune. Now it's the Beaudelaire siblings' turn - using stuff found in the count's own disguise kit, the children dress themselves up as freaks and actually join the carnival with Violet and Klaus as the two-headed freak Beverly/Elliot, and Sunny donning an old beard Olaf wore from a previous book and becoming Chabo the Wolf Baby. When they join the contortionist, hunchback, and ambidextrous man in the freak show at Madame Lulu's House of Freaks, right under Count Olaf's nose, the orphans think they will finally be able to learn the secrets of V.F.D. and whether one of their parents really may have survived the fire that had made them orphans in the first place. But everything is not what it seems at Caligari Carnival, and soon the Beaudelaire's are in more trouble than ever before. After eight books of Olaf in disguise trying to steal the Beaudelaire children (and their fortune), it was a great twist to find the children in diguise trying to thwart Olaf's latest scheme! Really, these books are THE BOMB, funny and exciting and real page-turners for anyone of any age. With each book we feel we are closer to finding out all the secrets hinted at, but then something happens to tease our curiosity even more, making us wait breathlessly for the next installment. I thought "The Hostile Hospital" ended on a cliffhanger, that was NOTHING compared to "The Carnivorous Carnival," and with 4 more books to go (there will be 13 total, as there are 13 chapters in each book chronicling the sad, unlucky lives of these unfortunate orphans), Lemony Snicket will surely drive us readers crazy by the end with our unanswered questions about V.F.D., Beatrice, the possible survival of one of the Beaudelaire parents, what the eye tattoos mean, and if Count Olaf will ever get his just desserts. Heartily recommended but you have to start with Book One and read them in order, or they won't make sense. An incredible series for ALL ages, and I eagerly await "The Slippery Slope"!!
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