Book Review: The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1)

The Bad Beginning (#1)
by  Lemony Snicket
Date Read: 6/13/14
Rating: ★ ★ ★

I came in to this with very different expectations.  I was expecting a funny, light hearted book in which children had unfortunate events happen to them (like getting splashed with water from a car, losing a pet, etc).  I was not prepared for how depressing this book actually was.

I was hoping that this would be a series that I could read to our little girl when she got older...but now I'm second guessing it.  She might need to be a lot older than I had planned before reading this to her.  These children (age 14, 12, and 1), have experienced something that no child should ever have to experience. Then they are thrown in to more horrible situations.  I did not laugh once at the book.

Actually, that's not true. I laughed once when the writer was talking about the child needing to reread the same sentence again, and then that sentence was repeated 3 times in a row.  I thought it was unique.  That is about the only thing I can really give this book.  The writing and voice was fun.  It is written more towards children, especially with all the definitions, but the events that happen in the book are much more adult.  Although, I did find myself wondering why he explained some words, but then I saw the word "nefarious", and that was not defined. I'm not entirely sure how the author decided which words to define and which ones not to.  This would be a great book for older kids to read to start building their vocabulary...but I definitely do not recommend it for younger children.

This book was very short at only 162 pages, and it's a small book with larger writing. I was able to read the book in one day.  I plan to read the first 3 and then watch the movie and see how I feel.

This book has a semi happy ending.  While the children do not end up in a happy forever home, at least they are able to see a light at the end of the tunnel.  I was happy there were at least some people in the book who WERE nice to them...it's just a shame they couldn't live with them.  This series is 13 books long, and I'm not entirely sure there will ever be a happy ending for these children...which depresses me.