Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - The Bad Beginning

Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

71 reviews

smacey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

4.75/5.00

I originally read the SoUE books as a kid growing up, back when I fit the population that this series was meant for. I loved them. I am re-reading them now as a 27-year-old, and upon finishing book #1, I am sensing why I may have always liked them so much: these books are essentially the juvenile version of trauma porn (in a good way, to those who also believe that is a thing). I thought that my enjoyment of dark, twisted, trauma-filled stories started in adulthood, but I now think that maybe I've just always been this way. Regardless of the self-reflection this book has brought about for me, this was definitely a different reading experience as an adult vs. child.

I have critiques of this book for sure, but when I take a step back and examine those critiques from the perspective of what audience this book is intended for, they mostly don't hold. My main example is how Justice Strauss and Mr. Poe are insanely inept, to the point of being entirely frustrating and seemingly unrealistic as their obvious incompetence and consistent dismissal of the three main characters goes against the expected character of a high court judge and experienced banker. However, when you view it through the lens of a young person, their inability to listen to the Baudelaire children and the way in which they miss the obvious signs of abuse, neglect, and general cruelty of Count Olaf despite allegedly being intelligent, well-meaning adults can be, and likely is often, extremely relatable as a kid around the age of Klaus or Violet.

Essentially, this book is entirely well-written in the utterly unique Lemony Snicket style which I don't believe could ever be replicated, and although the pace is quicker than I'd like and the plot isn't as complicated as I'd prefer, once again, as a piece of children's fiction, it does exactly what it was meant to - create a relatable but simultaneously far-reaching (but still believable) fictional story focused on characters the same age as its intended audience and told in both a captivating and educational manner. My only standing critique is I would have loved more detail/a slightly longer story (but I also know that happens with each expansion of the series, which I look forward to re-delving into). Despite the maturity I now have a decade since my first read, the story still holds.

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inkysplodge's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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buzzinfly's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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sierra5304's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I love the narration and illustrations. The protagonists are nice.

Count Olaf is a great antagonist/terrible human. The tragedy in children’s fiction makes this series stand out. The subject matter of adults failing children is very real (but not very present in children’s fiction) handled well in an age-appropriate way.

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mrs_faith_owens's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Unobjectively, I hate this book. I’m just not a fan of books that are this kind of dark, even though I enjoy books about murder. But objectively, I have to say this book is really well written. While it is super dark, it isn’t too graphic for most elementary age readers, and this book does a fantastic job of introducing new and very large words to the reader in a way that fits the tone of the book.

Overall, this book — and series — is impressively written with an oddly deep lore for a children’s book. Be warned… if you read this book and continue on with the series, you will be left with more questions that answers… and the answers may not match any questions you ever thought of.

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