Bound To Stay Bound

Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/1999 These Aikenish takeoffs on unfortunate orphan novels promise a fast and funny series, and they very nearly deliver. In The Bad Beginning, the three Baudelaire children, Violet (age fourteen), Klaus (age twelve), and Sunny (a baby), are orphaned when the family manse burns down. They are given over to the care of Count Olaf, their wicked cousin. The count is a no-account villain, who proceeds to make their life a misery, conspiring to marry Violet in order to gain control of the family fortune. Violet foils the plot, the evil Olaf escapes, and the three children are taken in by the somewhat dense Mr. Poe, executor of their parents’ estate. The Reptile Room continues the saga of the siblings, opening with their being transported to the home of yet another distant cousin, herpetologist Dr. Montgomery, aka Uncle Monty. Uncle Monty is a jolly fellow, but unfortunately not for long—the evil Count Olaf shows up and makes short work of the orphans’ guardian. Olaf plans to kidnap them (and gain control of their fortune), and he nearly succeeds but is foiled (and escapes) once again. Snicket has a way of speaking directly to the reader (“I wish I could tell you that the Baudelaires’ first impressions of Count Olaf and his house were incorrect, as first impressions so often are. But these impressions—that Count Olaf was a horrible person and his house a depressing pigsty—were absolutely correct”) and of defining words in the context of dialogue that is, taken in large doses, irritatingly precious. The author does have the traditions of the genre down, however, and the lively misfortunes of the Baudelaires have a careening momentum that is well-served by the humorous if occasionally self-conscious text. The Baudelaire children have personality and tenacity, and their devotion to one another will hold readers when the mannered text does not. - Copyright 1999 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Booklist - 12/01/1999 Alas, the poor Beaudelaire children! Violet, Klaus, and baby sister Sunny suffer all sorts of misfortunes, beginning when their parents die in a fire and they become wards of a distant cousin, evil Count Olaf. Author Lemony Snicket (a pseudonym, perhaps?) points out in an opening note, It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of thing, and then proceeds to recount the story with relish aplenty. The droll humor, reminiscent of Edwin Gorey's, will be lost on some children; others may not enjoy the old-fashioned storytelling style that frequently addresses the reader directly and includes many definitions of terms. But plenty of children will laugh at the over-the-top satire; hiss at the creepy, nefarious villains; and root for the intelligent, courageous, unfortunate Beaudelaire orphans. - Copyright 1999 Booklist.