Customer Reviews

The Complete Wreck (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Books 1-13)

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I'm not going add anything as to the content of this fantastic series of books, as this is already well covered in other reviews. But I wanted to say something about the quality of the offering. Another reviewer claims the quality is "awful", and in particular complains about the cut of the pages. With the greatest respect, my view is pretty much the opposite. I bought the first book in the UK edition, and then ordered the US box set. The US editions found the box set are much much nicer, with cloth bound spines, gorgeous covers, end papers and beautiful thick paper. Yes, the paper is cut irregularly, but that, surely, is the point? It adds to the considerable charm of the books.

Both my daughters, ages 12 and 9 are enjoying these books. My oldest daughter never wants to read anything I suggest, but she loves these books. She had 187 AR points during the last report period thanks in great part to this series. Even my youngest daughter was so enthralled by the books that she is reading them on her own (she usually only wants to read "easy" books). I believe these are the longest books she has read by herself. That's why we love Lemony Snicket!!!

I loved reading this Series. It is amazing how talented Lemony Snicket is to write an amazing series of books. The plots are very mysterious, and puzzling, especially with Count Olaf's urge to steal the Baudelaire fortune. I do not want to give away the rest of the story. I am on the 7th book, The Vile Village, and it is excellent so far. I would consider reading them in order, from Book 1 to 13, because you will understand more and more about Count Olaf and his plans before. I have a friend that reads them out of order, but say it does not matter since each is a different story. I definitely recommend this to any reader who loves puzzling, and suspenseful books, or one who just adores reading a series.

I have read a lot in my ten years of life,but out of all those books,A Series Of Unfortunate Events have been the best. Some of it is funny, some of it is scary, and some of it is a little weird. If you mix that all together, you get 13 wonderful books. I wouldn't reccomend it for kids under 10 though, because like I said it is scary, although it's not always as scary as Lemony Snicket says it is. Some of it is a little violent, actually. Other than that they are great books. Oh, and people have been complaining about how some of the pages are uneven. That is how they are supposed to be! The End still leaves you with some questions, but when you find out the answer to a question your like, "O MY GOSH! VFD!"! And some times Lemony Snicket does something very unexpected, like in the 6th book when Esme Squalor pushes them down the dark elevator shaft, the next 2 pages were nothing but black, which was very scary because then I was reading in the car at night with no light but my book light. There are 2 reasons I am going to stop now. Reason #1: That is pretty much all you need to know, and Reasom #2 My hands ache from typing for 20 minutes strait. BYE BYE AND HAPPY READING!! :)

I realize I'm in the minority here when it comes to these books which have been a smash hit and I'm actually a huge fan of YA lit, love HP, Francesca Lia Block, Madeleine L'Engle, John Bellairs, Beverly Cleary etc.

I'm up to Book 12 of the Snicket books and it's gotten to the point where I'm skipping whole paragraphs just to get through. Not only is the narrative repetitive - e.g. the kids' habits, hashing through the feelings of each of the three children for EVERYTHING (Violet felt blah blah, Klaus felt blah blah, Sunny the youngest Beaudelaire felt blah blah) - but the books repeat themselves as well. A lot. And the initially charming quirkiness and the literary in-jokes that get more sophisticated in the later books aren't enough to save them.

In each book, you're guaranteed to have Snicket open and tell you how woeful the tale is and warn you to turn back (he will do this again several times later in the same story usually near the end). Then he will at some point explain often extraneous facts that have been established in the other books so that the actual new plot of the story seems to get smaller and smaller as the series progresses though the books remain pretty slim. Then Violet will tie up her hair with a ribbon and Snicket will explain many times that this means she's inventing and he will have the other characters comment on that as well (e.g. Klaus said, "Violet, have you thought of something?" or Klaus and Sunny knew that when Violet tied her hair up, she was inventing. or Klaus explained, "When my sister ties her hair up with a ribbon, it means she's inventing." - Snicket is really good at thinking up a million permutations of this and putting half of them in the book).

A critic said once that the books are less about the substance than style so if you can stomach Snicket's melodrama which is funny at times and vexing at others, transparent plots (ok, who didn't know that was Quigley?) and very slow-moving, meandering, repetitive repetitive repetitive narration, good for you. If I had read these at age 12 before expanding my literary repertoire, I might have been ok with all that. It's hard to believe however that even an avid reader like Klaus would tolerate this formulaic drivel.

I do recommend, even though these books champion reading and libraries, the excellent audio books if you are trying to slog through these. Most are read by Tim Curry (a few by Dan Handler) and they feature music by the Gothic Archies, which is excellent of course (Yay Stephin Merritt). Curry brings a nice dramatic flair to the work, though I still found myself fast-forwarding through the rehashed plot points. The main characters are actually starting to grate on me a lot - ok, their lives are harsh so they cry all the time but Snicket hasn't written it in a way where I actually care about them so the constant forced "sitting and crying quietly" is really annoying and gets in the way of plot advancement.

Secretly, I think Snicket gets away with such skinny books because it takes so long to wade through all the heavy-handed writing. You don't soak in fine prose so much as sit in wordy quicksand waiting for him to get to the pointv . I guess that's an appropriately unfortunate, woeful, and lamentable if ironic way of telling these stories.

They're probably good to read as bedtime stories if you really want to freak your kids out. The violent imagery (the Bros. Grimm would be proud) is the maraschino cherry on the pile of whipped fluff. Also, they look good on a shelf.

(Written by a fifth grade student)

The Series of Unfortunate Events books are about three children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, who go on adventures to find their parents and get away from Count Olaf. Count Olaf is the worst guy in history! He tries to take the fortune that the Baudelaires' parents left behind.

I love The Series of Unfortunate Events! It has adventures and mysteries. The Baudelaires go to villages, houses, and a hospital to escape from Count Olaf. Also the Baudelaires ride in Count Olaf's van with his evil henchmen. It also has a little bit of horror in it. For example, Count Olaf dresses up like people until he gets him on his side, then BAM! he kills them. Also this book has different characters that I can relate to. Violet likes to invent stuff and so do I. Klaus likes to read which I kind of like to do, and Sunny likes to bite things, which means I like to bite my brother. OK, now let me tell you who I don't recommend this book to:
Children who like ponies
Children who like pink
Children who like to do colorful things who don't like scary things.

OK, now the people who I do recommend this book to:
Children who like the dark side
Children who like black because the setting is in the early 1900's
Children who think getting in trouble is cool. LOL

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give this book a 1,000,000.

I find it very ironic to call such a piece of work where the author themselves asks you to steer clear of its terribleness a MUST READ. My first impression of this series was a bit of a skeptical one. The covers looked a bit grisly and Klaus was a Harry Potter look-a-like in my eyes. OH how wrong I was! This series is far from grisly...its sweetly dark. Just when you know all hope is bleakest, the children pull through and rely on their collective strength of heart.

Though we constantly are slapped in the face with how unfortunate these children are suppose to be, we see glimpses of how fortunate they really are. Each of them has a talent or ability that ends up protecting their sibling from one disastrous demise after another. I also find it endearing that the youngest child Sunny really becomes her own person and develops a skill other than her most significant one (biting :P). Everything about this series can really appeal to any age, especially that of a growing young person. So if you have a young aspiring reader, this series could truly teach them everything they need to know about the kindness as well as the meaness of strangers and the powerful that lies in hope.

I think the series of unfortunate event is really good because the author tell the story in a fun way, unlike other stories, this book is really exciting. When I finish a chapter, I want to keep reading on because I wanted to know the ending quickly. I really like the character - violet on this story, she is really smart and calm all the times. I think the ending is really cool because it did not exactly tell us what happen, it leave us space for us to think

I got the first book from my teacher as a project and I just had to have the WHOLE collection! So I'm having my mother buy them for me!

I got glued to them in first chapter!! I don't like Count one bit! I saw the movie a little while ago and it's kinda like the book and I asked my mother if it was after a book of some sort and she said yes and she asked my teacher about it if he had a copy of one of them and if I could borrow it if he did and I still love the book!!

"If you do not wish to read a story of tragedy and sadness, this is your very last chance." However, should you wish to read a set in which tragedy after tragedy befalls about main characters, I encourage you to keep reading my review. For it is my sad duty to tell you dire situations will plague the Baudelaire children, starting with the house fire that robs them of their parents, their home, and happy life. Just remember: You have been warned!

When with trembling hands you turn to the first chapter of the first book which is aptly called The Bad Beginning, you will become acquainted with Violet. She is a fourteen-year-old inventor who ties her long hair up in a ribbon to keep it out of her eyes. You will also meet Klaus, a twelve-year-old who wears glasses like some of us but who has, I have to tell you, probably read more books than anyone you know. (If you're like me that equals at least a book a week and more like one per day in my younger years.) The last Baudelaire orphan you will meet is Sunny, an infant who speaks in fragments and who bites. The latter trait is at times surprising useful throughout the series. Then there is Mr. Poe. He is a banker who is kind-hearted, but I am sorry to tell you is also rather dense. (The author never labels him as such, but this is my personal opinion of him. How else can he persist time and time again in disbelieving the orphans when they warn him that a strange new acquaintance is really Count Olaf in disguise?) The final character to make regular appearances throughout every book is aforementioned Count Olaf. He is tall and thin, with unshaven face, shiny eyes, one eyebrow, and the image of a tattoo on his ankle.

Many of you will have figured out by now that I am talking about The Unfortunate Events series by Lemony Snicket (rumored to actually be Daniel Handler, but identified by the non de plume for the rest of this review). One of Snicket's trademarks is to start the first chapter of every book by warning readers that they are holding a book with terrible tales about miserable children. Another trademark of the series is Snicket's habit of defining words or idioms and interjecting author commentary. A trademark is a distinctive sign used by an entity, business organization, or in this case an author to identify his books with his audience and to distinguish his series from others.Just as I sometimes find a friend's quirks fun and other times frustrating, so too I sometimes found Snicket's style friendly and conversational but other times too cutesy, longwinded, or distracting.

Having set as my goal this week to read one Unfortunate Events book every day, I am happy to report that tales of kidnapping, blackmail, and murder make for a light read. It helps that the average length of the books is about two hundred pages, although they get somewhat longer near the end of the series. It also helps that the language is unadorned. Instead of describing the day as chromatic, leaden, or pewter, Snicket described it as gray. Instead of describing the sky as gloomy or overcast, Snicket simply wrote cloudy. Yet before you think that such diction choices imply amateur writing, I will hasten to share the chilling description of the outside of Count Olaf's home: "The bricks were stained with soot and grime.... The front door needed to be repainted, and carved in the middle of it was an image of an eye. The entire building sagged to the side, like a crooked tooth." Would you want to live there? If after my review, you absolutely must read the series, you should avoid reading about the inside of Olaf's home which is too disgusting for me to describe me. The description I quoted earlier ends with a simile. Figurative language is quirky and plentiful throughout the series. Here is one example: "welcome as a swarm of wasps at a bat mitzvah".

There are plenty of other fine features I could recommend about the Unfortunate Events series. At the same time he puts readers on the edge of their seat, he also educates: As noted above, he defines words and explains idioms. He also introduces possible new interests such as the study of handwriting, and also analyzes human behavior such as why people have fears. Another nifty feature is that the numerous relatives the orphans meet are unique. How does Snicket manage to sustain such weirdness?

You must decide if you can endure reading miserable stories. You might pick another series, should you prefer happy tales. Should you wish to inflict yourself with torture, you should run (not walk) to your closest library or store.