Customer Reviews

The Carnivorous Carnival (Series of Unfortunate Events #9)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Baudelaire orphans left "The Hostile Hospital" in the trunk of Count Olaf's car; clearly a potentially very dangerous situation for Violet, Klaus and baby Sunny. However, once again the children use their wits to figure out how to escape their predicament.

The children find themselves in a rundown carnival with another bizarre cast of characters, including several supposed "freaks." However, the freaks are not really all that freakish, one being a contortionist and one being ambidextrous. The children disguise themselves as freaks and manage to fool Count Olaf and his gang for most of the book. However, as we all know, eventually Count Olaf finds the children and another harrowing ending ensues.

Over the last two or three books we've been given tidbits about bigger mysteries surrounding the children and their parents. In this book the tidbits become much more substantial and give us a clue as to the direction the series might take. While it may seem that my description is a bit vague, that is because I do not wish to give away any of the surprises in this book, and there is at least one very big surprise for the children and the reader, as well as a number of smaller surprises.

Because of the twists and turns, I am unable to provide the description I normally do for books in this series. As I noted earlier, there are a lot of surprises. Those surprises make for one of the most intriguing books in this series. I am anxiously anticipating the next volume, and even more, the end of the series, when I am hoping that Lemony Snicket will reveal all the mysteries.

This particular entry in the series does involve death, again, and in your imagination the death is likely somewhat gruesome. Fortunately the amount of description given to the death is minimal and is left mostly to the reader's imagination. Because of several intense moments, and the death, I would recommend this book for children 9 and older, though as always you should know the ability of your child to handle books similar to this one. This book does have its educational moments, though somewhat muted in comparison to some of the other entries in this series. Overall, the continued challenge to the paradigm that children's books for the stated age range should be relatively tame along with the creativity of this particular book requires a rating of 5 stars. This book is yet another solid entry in this series, which just seems to get better and better.

In the begining of this book, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are in Count Olaf's car's trunk. Luckily, they escape. Then, they use the costumes to discuise themselves as freaks, to get into the evil Madame Lulu's carnival, were Olaf and his troupe are staying. Chabo the wolf baby (Sunny)and Beverly and Eliot, the 2 headed guys,(Violet & Klaus) are what Klaus, Sunny and Violet become. At the end, Colette the contortionist, Kevin the ambidexterous guy, and a hunchback guy whose name I forgot, are tricked into being Olaf's helpers. Even farther into the end, something truly sad happens, and I am so glad this is a series, and is not just the very sad end. I highly recommend this book, but I've read other books in the series that are better, so I gave this 4 stars.

Dear Reader, The word "carnivorous," which appears in the title of this book, means "meat-eating," and once you have read such a bloodthirsty word, there is no read any further. This carnivorous volume contains such a distressing story that consuming any of it's contents would be far more stomach-turning than even the most imbalanced meal. To avoid causing discomfort, it would be best if I didn't mention any of the unnerving ingredients of this story, particularly a confusing map, an ambidexterous person, an unruly crowd, a wooden plank, and Chabo the Wolf Baby. Sadly for me, my time is filled with researching and recording the displeasing and disenchanting lives of the Baudelaire orphans. But your time might be better filled with something more palatable, such as eating your vegetables, or feeding them to something else. With all due respect, Lemony Snicket - from book's back cover