The Slippery Slope: Book Ten of "A Series of Unfortunate Events"

Literary Quality:
Christian Morality: Excellent
Age Appropriateness: Pre-Teen

Fans (myself included) have eagerly awaited the latest volume of Lemony Snicket's (aka Dan Handler's) "A Series of Unfortuate Events." Nor does The Slippery Slope disappoint.

This time through we are reunited with several characters from previous novels, as well as "a surprising survivor of the fires" - a REALLY surprising survivor! As expected, more clues are also dropped throughout the book, although...ahem...unfortunately these clues tend to be more along the line of tantalizing exposition rather than tantalizing enigmaticisms. Likewise, Snicket seems to be "backpedeling" somewhat in order to make sure that his early books also fit into the mystery. (I've my suspicions that the Baudelaire's story was not as thoroughly plotted out previous to writing as, say J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, but Snicket is doing an admirable job of making that barely evident. Moreover, his books have shown a marvellous consistency and consistency within variation that Rowling has not as completely mastered.) However, this is a small criticism in view of the ever-rising stakes and deepening mystery of the unfortunate Baudelaire orphans.

In The Carniverous Carnival, the formula changed from "Baudelaires are sent to new guardians by Mr. Poe, Baudelaires encounter Count Olaf in disguise, Baudelaires are able to convince the authorities that the detective/auctioneer/secretary is really Count Olaf and escape his clutches...but barely" to the complete reversal. At the end of The Hostile Hospital the Baudelaires were left with no option but to stowaway in Count Olaf's car trunk, which led to the necessity of the Baudelaires, not Count Olaf, disguising themselves in The Carniverous Carnival. While the Baudelaires fretted over whether or not they were becoming villainous themselves by using Count Olaf's disguise tactics, the question was left ambiguous. But in The Slippery Slope Snicket answers that question succinctly: "Don't fight fire with fire." (Readers of the books will no doubt now gasp eagerly and guess at the meaning of VFD!) Snicket even goes one further to make the rating of this book "excellent" - two of Olaf's associates defect (of course plenty more take their place, but...).

When I first began reading these books, I was greatly concerned for the morality presented in the growing series. What was Snicket's premise? Every adult encountered was incompetent or obtuse - yet, the Baudelaire orphans still showed proper courtesy and respect towards adults. Later, as the Baudelaires became more active and less passive, I was concerned that they would start using "Harry Potter/Machiavellian" ethics: "The end justifies the means." However, while their plight was desperate and thus called for desperate measures, the Baudelaires always tried reason and appeal to authorities first, and then agonized when they found themselves forced to use questionable means (the stealing of a set of keys, the fooling of an old man, the use of disguise, etc.) in order to survive. But in The Slippery Slope Snicket stops merely posing questions and begins stating answers. When one character asks another, "What would our parents want us to do?" Another character replies, "Are parents aren't here [anymore]." For a time, then, they begin constructing a villainous trap in order to "fight fire with fire" - but the more they consider what they are about to do, the more they realize that their parents would not be pleased with their villainy - even if it is in the name of goodness. Furthermore, they realize that although their parents have been taken from them by those very villains who have been threatening their own lives, their parents have nonetheless taught them well - in fact, have specifically trained their children - to be able to combat evil. (The spiritual application is overwhelming.) Snicket also has a very apparent love for books. At every opportunity he encourages his readers to seek out the literary greats - something that can only be deemed admirable!

In short, "A Series of Unfortunate Events" is turning out to be a very fortunate series after all!

The Carniverous Carnival: Book Nine of "A Series of Unfortunate Events"

Literary Quality:
Christian Morality: Harmless
Age Appropriateness: Pre-Teen
Website: lemonysnicket.com

Being an Overview of Mr. Snicket,
as well as an exploration
(which here means shoddy and hastily executed review)
of Book the Ninth.
16 November, 2002

A Series of Unfortunate Events is a difficult series to categorize. As an adult, I enjoy and appreciate Mr. Snicket's (a.k.a. Daniel Handy's) social and literary sature - but as an adult responsible for children, I must feel a certain amount of concern.

The Series begins with The Bad Beginning (see below), a book which seems to promise less satire and more Roald Dahl/Tim Burton style literature. However, in the successive books, Mr. Snicket is free to explore the world of satire over a variety of subjects.

The Reptile Room pokes fun at "whodunnits" as well as the blindness of so-called intellectuals to their surroundings.

The Wide Window examines the nature of paranoia, grammar and the validity of business cards.

The Miserable Mill which returns to the darkness of the first book, deals with the futility of unfounded optimism, while poking fun at legalistic books, cigar smoking and the welfare system.

The Austere Academy has the honor of not only being one of the best of the Series thus far, but also provides some relief for our beleagured orphans in the form of the sympathetic Quagmire Triplets. This book satirizes bad violinists, boarding schools, cafeteria laws, office work and the futility of running laps in gym.

The Ersatz Elevator Beyond the fact that Mr. Snicket gets a star just for introducing the word Ersatz into children's literature, this delightful episode furthers the mystery of the Baudelaire fire by leaps and bounds, while also managing to satirize auctions and fashion, and warn against those who do not stand up for others for fear of arguing.

The Vile Village plays upon the idea that "it takes a village ot raise a child" and thoroughly trounces it. However, the book suffers somewhat in its playfulness, and therefore has more of the "feel" of the earlier books in the series. Again, we are exhorted to stand up for what is right, even if we are imprisoned or berated for it - and again, because no adult stood up with the children, a more than unfortunate event happens, which sets the tone for the remainder of the series.

Indeed, with The Vile Village, a change occurs. While the previous books dealt with the frequent absurdities of the adult world, this book moves the Baudelaire orphans from their dependency upon adults who are so consumed by themselves that they prove unsuitable guardians, to the orphans' attempting to make their own way in the world. (The subject of treatment of adults will be pursued further down.)

The Hostile Hospital manages to come nearer the balance of book five and six by introducing the V.F.D. - the Volunteers Fighting Disease, who are like the happy hippies from Hell whose purpose in life is to cheer up and thus cure terminal diseases merely by use of smiley-face balloons. Inept filing systems are satirized, and the deeper and more difficult issue of lying for the purpose of survival is explored well. This book also furthers the Baudelaire mystery - and does one thing more: puts the orphans directly back in the hands of Count Olaf.

Which finally brings us to Book the Ninth.

To be honest, I had been eagerly (a word which here means chomping at the bit and haunting innocent bookstores) awaiting the newest chapter in the Series. Unfortunately, my overeager expectations were not wholly met by The Carniverous Carnival.

Mr. Snicket has promised thirteen books in the series, and the results of such a promise are beginning to show. He has only four more books after The Carniverous Carnival in which to reveal the entirety - presuming he DOES reveal the entirety - of the Baudelaire mystery. Who are the V.F.D.? Who is the survivor of the Baudelaire fire? How are the Quagmires involved? Who is Count Olaf really? And perhaps most interesting: who is Beatrice and what happened to her?

The Carniverous Carnival gives us a few hints which are, unfortunately, revealed in a far more clumsy manner than previously. The satire is thin: fortune-tellers, carnivals and carnival audiences are made fun of, while the deeper issues, which revolve around whether it is right to "fight fire with fire" (that is, continue to lie to evil men for the purpose of survival), and why it is wrong to give everyone what they want (without discernment between what is right and wrong), are only partially dealt with. Undoubtably, this book ends on an even darker note than the others, and younger children who may have enjoyed the adventures thus far may be troubled by the ending of this one.

The issue of adults should also be a concern for parents who are looking for good books. As mentioned before, as an adult I find Mr. Snicket's books not only excellent in their satire, but excellent and necessary as satire - that is, as something which by ridicule hopefully goads on the objects of that ridicule to rectify their behavior. In this case, Mr. Snicket points out by his ridiculing self-absorbed or fearful adults that the very adults who are responsible children may not be acting fully upon their responsibility. Are we, as adults, always "there" for our children? Or do we leave them to raise themselves, or leave them in the care of others, or brush off their observations as "childish"? Do we buy into the modern slogans or become so self-absorbed in our work that we neglect our responsibilities to our children? The morals for an adult audience are excellent. Indeed, the message for adults is necessary.

But are these "children's" books? The answer to that depends on your child. My brothers enjoy them immensely. If I read them as a child, I should probably have been terrified. Younger or more sensitive children may be inclined to take the Series as truth - for although Snicket seems to set his stories in a place that has never been, undoubtedly, it is very like our world, or a pocket of our world. Older or tougher children may enjoy the books - mostly for their storytelling and adventure.

Snicket's modus operandi tends to be to ask questions and leave the answers fairly open. As mentioned before, the most recent books have "forced" the children for the sake of survival to lie and deceive. However, unlike Harry Potter, the Baudelaire children never rejoice in these choices, but hope that they can return to the place of the incident and explain the situation at some future date, or at some point reveal the truth. The difficulty arises in that they have not yet found any responsible adult. Although this seems to be less a philosophical universal condemnation and more a plot device (see also Harry Potter), concerned parents will want to point out that Snicket has promised a series of unfortunate events, and that these stories are fiction. Parents can also point out that we must all therefore become responsible and stand up for each other - on the playground, in class, etc.

At the end of the day, the moral of the Series of Unfortunate Events can be summed up in the one word: responsibility. And that is a valuable lesson any day.

News: (18 May, 2002) Due to several requests (such as the one below), the CGF is reviewing the case of Mr. Snicket and his books - particularly in light of the hysterical, and intriguing The Unauthorized Autobiography of Lemony Snicket. Briefly, however, the series seems to improve as the stories progress - both in its story telling, its humor, its mitigated scariness although unmitigated suspense, and most of all the "story behind the story" of who Mr. Snicket, his dead love Beatrice and the V.F.D. truly are.

Fortunately, too, the books seem to tread on the line of Christian morality - meaning the children remain good, obedient, law-abiding, truthful, etc. - rather than slipping into lying, stealing, etc. with no remorse or twinge of conscience. Overall, these books might appeal initially to boys more than girls, however the mystery that slowly unfolds through the entire series is sure to capture the imagination of the most dyed-in-the-wool mystery enthusiast.

While fans of HP eagerly await any news that the fifth book of the series is coming (current projected release date is Summer 2002, with the working title of "HP & the Order of the Phoenix" - however, with the movie coming out, and minor spin-off books doing well, release date may easily be postponed), the latest craze in children's books are the "Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket.

The Bad Beginning: Book One of "A Series of Unfortunate Events"

Literary Quality:
Christian Morality: Harmless
Age Appropriateness: Children/Pre-Teen
Website: lemonysnicket.com

Advertised alternately as the new R. Dahl, "soft Goth," and a children's reincarnation of Dickens, "A Series of Unfortuante Events" at first glance looks to be an entertaining (albeit, expensive - $10 for a two hour read), and possibly clever series.

The basic story is this: the three incredibly wealthy Baudelaire children are suddenly orphaned when their mansion catches on fire, killing their parents. Part of their parents' will is that a) the children will have no access to their fortune until the eldest, Violet, comes of age and b) the children must live with some blood relative or another until Violet comes of age. In "The Bad Beginning: Book One," the blood relative is the dastardly Count Olaf (a sort of theatrical Uriah Heep) who in every book attempts to steal the fortune and murder the orphans. Fortunately, the orphans are able to extract themselves at the very last moment by means of their resources: Violet's mechanical engineering, Klaus' bookwormish skills, and Sunny, the infant's four sharp teeth. Unfortunately (for Snicket promises none of the thirteen projected books will have a happy ending), once extricated from one awful situtation, their parents' will places them in another, just in time for the next book.

The author, Lemony Snicket, a.k.a. Daniel Handler, prefaces each book with a warning to stay away entirely from the volumes, unless one has a morbid sense of humour. Using the convention others have to great effect, most noticeably William Goldman's creation of S. Morgenstern for The Princess Bride, the narrator (Snicket) addresses the reader directly and frequently - most noticeably in his laments for his lost love Beatrice, as well as his pedantic explanations of what certain polysyllabic words mean. Handler also dabbles in literary punnish allusions, including the Baudelaire children, Mr. Poe, Beatrice (from Dante), Principal Nero, Coach Gengis, Prufrock Prep, etc. etc.

Alas, even for all Handler's sure-fire guaranteed intentions, the books fall flat. Easily read in two hours or less, set in a non-specified time period or place with inaccuracies for either the Victorian or modern settings, pedantic to the point of serious irritation (although the author claims that he is attempting, a la Lewis Carroll, to be mocking the pedantic style of the children books he himself hated - he succeeds in mimicing, but not mocking), full of flat, predictable characters with perhaps strategically chosen three characteristics each, and plots whose holes gape enormously (i.e., in "The Bad Beginning" Count Olaf attempts to marry Violet - don't worry, he's a very distant kinsman - and is foiled because Violet signs her name on the marriage license with her left hand, hence the license is not in her own hand - a potentially clever pun but belaboured, and moot since nothing is legal under duress - Sunny was being held hostage until Violet agreed to the marriage).

Furthermore, on a Christian note, the books tend to quip some good ethics (like not staying up too late), and good morals (the children are law abiding and obedient and courteous), in an attempt to be a sort of morality story out of the Victorian era, however since the children's predeliction to follow the law and obey their elders invariably brings on them greater misfortune and maltreatment, the message is that the law and one's elders cannot be trusted. This latter point is especially brought home when one examines any of the adult figures - specifically, they fall into one of two categories: either out-and-out villains, or nice but completely gullible useless tools of said villains. After a few encounters, one almost longs for a little Harry Potter gumption - at least to move the plot along! Likewise, as one can well imagine, the misfortunes which befall the Baudelaires tend to be truly awful - such as the forced near-marriage, hanging infants out the window in cages, repeated gory death threats and so forth. That, into the mix, is added the "misfortune of doing chores" only worsens the books - for by lumping chores and near evicerations together, children come away with a rather skewed way of looking at life.

All in all, it is probably advisable to stay away from the "Series of Unfortunate Events" books, since, at the end of the day, they contribute very little to the appreciation of either literature or life. Go out and read something really clever, like Alice in Wonderland - you won't regret it!

A Counter View

I visit your site occasionally and I would like to dispute you on the review of "Lemony Snicket" books. You said that combining ideas can confuse a child. "Lemony Snicket" does mix chores with torturous life threats, and he does display the adult population as either ignorant or evil, but you have to keep in mind that the age of children reading these books is 9 and up. 9-year olds know about sarcasm and about satire comedy. They may not be able to put it into words, but they understand that these are rediculous comparisons and that's what makes it funny.

You can't compare this series to Harry Potter books. Harry Potter is loved because of the originality and adventure. A Series of Unfortunate Events is loved because it makes children roar with laughter.

When a child sits with their parents and watches a comedy film, the child and parent find different things in the movie humourous. A parent might find an obscure political remark funny while a child is waiting for someone to slip on a banana peel. But the Lemony Snicket books are bringing a more mature sense of humor to children. Kids are bored with "knock-knock" jokes. I find it amazing that when children laugh while reading Lemony Snicket books, they are laughing to the same jokes in the story that an adult would laugh to.

~ Penny Moraine, (c) April 12, 2002

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