The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events No.3) [Paperback]

Lemony Snicket (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2001

Third book in the 'Series of Unfortunate Events' series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 214 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publlishers, Inc.; 1ST edition (2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 043928516X
• ISBN-13: 978-0439285162
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (235 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,060,557 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lemony Snicket claims he was nowhere near the scene of the crime. He is the author of several other unpleasant stories, including those in the bestselling A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Lump of Coal.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For fans of Gorey (who need to fill the Harry Potter wait), February 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events #3) (Hardcover)

If you enjoy the dark humor of Edward Gorey, this series will probably enchant. The characters are intelligent and sympathetic. However, while the books may be a tad bit dark for some younger readers, portions of this series are too simplistic for more mature readers. Snickett often writes in definitions for "big" words used. When the definitions stay in context, they're amusing and maintain the atmosphere. When the definitions are more dictionary like, they distract. The Series of Unfortunate Events, nonetheless, is a great series that children of all ages can enjoy. If anything, kids will sympathize with the Baudelaires frustration with the adults around them. For a turn on the lighter side - I recommend Gail Levine's "Princess Tales" series.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Snicket's best, so far, March 30, 2000

By 

John Cassels - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events #3) (Hardcover)

As far as "darkness" or "inappropriateness" for youngsters goes, I tried reading *The Bad Beginning* to my 7-year-old a while ago and he begged off after one chapter, saying that it made him feel too sad; but the other day he took it off the shelf and -- on his own -- is now half-way through "Book the Second" of this series, *The Reptile Room.* I'm happy to report that he has a real treat in store when he turns to this volume of the Baudelaire orphan's adventures, for it is easily the best of the lot. Longer than either of its predecessors, it is also more relaxed and assured -- not that the pace is slack (far from it), it's simply that Snicket is more at home with his bag of tricks and is beginning to manipulate his deliberately limited, muted palette with a master's verve. Fearful, grammar-haunted Aunt Josephine is a wonderful, painfully funny addition to the improbable constellation of distant "family" through which it is the Baudelaire's sad fate to pass, and her second most notable quirk bears an interesting relationship to Snicket's own frequent definitions of "big words." This last feature seems to bother a lot of people, but I think these folks are trying to bully something which is primarily an *aesthetic* device of great flexibility into an overly-rigid pedagogical frame. These books aren't nasty things which are -- like certain exilirs --nevertheless good for you, they're wonderfully entertaining works of verbal art, and if one had to troll their depths for messages, one would find, cumulatively, that these have more to do with self-reliance and competence than with any of the hideous treatment the Baudelaire's endure or the corpses that are left in their wake.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tragedy follows..., November 25, 2001

By 

hiphopgirl_1000 - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events #3) (Hardcover)

"The Wide Window" is in my view the most sad and tragic of all the books in Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" centered on the life of the orphans Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. In book the third the Baudelairs are taken by their lawyer Mr.Poe to live with Aunt Josephine at her house on the top of the mountain at Lake Lachrymose, home of the venomous Lachrymose Leeches. Aunt Josephine is scared of everything and expects diaster to always be around the corner. She thinks she will get burned by using the stove so the Baudelairs have to settle with the most awful cold cucumber soup they have ever tasted. Plus Aunt Josephine loves nothing more than grammar and constantly corrects the orphans mistakes. However Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are thankful that Count Olaf hasn't appeared in the quiet Lake Lachrymose yet. Their luck doesn't last long. It seems this time Count Olaf disguises himself as Captain Sham a sea captain!!! He totally fools Aunt Josephine but not the Baudelairs! Mysteriously Aunt Josephine seems to have commited suicide after a phone call to Captain Sham and has left the children under his care! Can the Baudelair orphans foil his evil plans once again?

I found this book to be very sad even though it was still hilirous. Lemony Snicket truly works his magic in these books. I can't wait to read his autobiography!