I’m not sure what to say about this book – it is kind of odd and quirky, although I expected this from the man who writes children’s books under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket. However, I found the Snicket books quirky in a darkly humorous but understandable way. In this case, a lot of the book had me scratching my head, furrowing my brow, and say “huh?” The book is a collection of short (sometimes very short) stories supposedly about love (some I would argue are more about friendship or other topics than romantic love). The stories themselves are mostly oddly humorous, with the occasional pathos thrown in for good measure. What had me confused was trying to figure out how, if at all, the stories were all connected. You see, Handler would often repeat names for characters over and over again, and it was hard to tell when this was the same Andrea, for instance, as a previous story or a brand new one. If it appeared to be the same character, it was hard to tell where this story fit in relation time-wise to the other story about the seemingly same character. “Truly,” in my opinion, belonged as either the first or last story of the bunch, instead of just thrown in the middle, as this story seemed to give the most explanation for what the book was trying to do. Overall, I enjoyed the quirky humor, but I would have preferred if there was one coherent story or a bunch of completely unconnected stories rather than the bizarre, possibly related string of stories presented. ( )

A book that rather reminds me of Julian Barnes' "A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters", Adverbs is generally very skilfully written and offers some great insights about love. At times the links seem a little forced and a little obvious. ( )

I HATED THIS BOOK. HATED. I was hoping that I'd like it - Daniel Handler is also known as Lemony Snicket, and it seemed promising. Turns out is has no plot, the vignettes barely tie together, and NOTHING HAPPENS. I didn't care about any of the characters, the reader is given no reason to invest in them emotionally, and he's got this weird thing about magpies. The prose was pseudo-intellectual: at times it read like free-form poetry and I found myself wondering if it was just beyond my comprehension, but then I remembered that I'm really smart and I read A LOT and realized it's not me, it's that the book is badly written. It SUCKS. Reading this book was like a hate fuck. God DAMN I hated it, but I was going to finish it if it killed me. I'm done, and now I'm burning it. Stupid fucking book. ( )

I just read in someone else's review of this that Daniel Handler hangs out in the McSweeney's secret lair and cavorts with Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie) and Colin Meloy (of Death Cab for Pirates).

That sounds about right.

This book is not dissolute and confusing because it serves its theme. It is dissolute and confusing because Mr. Handler was too busy sorting through his filing cabinet of one-liners and prefab situational jokes to surround them with anything resembling a novel

If he ever decides to put the work in, he'll probably write a good novel. ( )

prefer Snicket ( )

Love love love love love love love love. Let no one say it has no place in a modern story. This "novel" is a collection of related stories in which characters appear and reappear at different times in their lives; post-apocalyptic fables like those I lived through in college. Think Kris Kristofferson songs if Kris went to Santa Cruz for college in the mid-nineties. -Steve

Adverbs was written by Daniel Handler, better known by his pen name, Lemony Snicket, of A Series of Unfortunate Events. His style is quite different in his works as Handler than as Snicket, which was very stylized to begin with. To appreciate the book, you have to be willing to accept that there are a lot of characters and you will get the names confused. You can go back and try to figure out who's who (I made a chart) but that isn't necessary.

I found this book to be surprisingly moving and honest, at least when it comes to the way love can feel. There is a lot of dark humor and some suspension of reality is involved: a ten year old boy and the Snow Queen fall in love over frozen calimari, and San Francisco, as it turns out, was actually built on top of a volcano. Fans of Lemony Snicket will dig this.

It seems that many of the other reviewers disliked the short story style, and the lack of connection. However, if you don't sweat the details and simply enjoy the ride, this is a great book. ( )

http://rivkat.livejournal.com/164808.... ( )

I enjoyed "Adverbs" very much, but feel it might have worked better as a collection of short stories. The chapters and charaters are loosely connected at best, and their connections don't give way to any particular meaning. The prose is lovely, which Handler himself seems to realize as he tends to get showy with his pretty language and grand statements about love. Could be a tad confusing for some, but I found this to be an overall enjoyable and stimulating read. ( )

A "friend" recommended this book. I am still attempting to plow through it. .. Like his Lemony Snicket alias better. ( )

This book lost me at first, and then gathered up steam in the middle, then tapered off a little at the end. It's really interlocking stories - except that the characters are sometimes the same and sometimes not. Their history is sometimes the same and sometimes not. But it came full circle, in a way, at the end and wrapped up much more neatly than I expected.

Each chapter is named for an adverb, which features obliquely in the story. The conceit is rather annoying. Many are fantastical, like the mock noir of the Snow Queen in a diner. Others are realistic, like the high school boy pining for his fellow movie theater usher. All meditate, a bit preachily, about the nature of love. ( )

Episodic at best, this really reads like a series of in jokes. I felt that it suffered from characters and plot lines that may or may not have been continuous throughout the book. Still, it was amusing in some spots, but overall, I was kind of confused. ( )

From the looks of it, I think I am the only one who didn't fully enjoy this one. Then again, I've never read any Lemony Snickett, and this one was received as an ARC and I was "forced to read it." :)
Passed along through BookCrossing ( )

Daniel Handler rocks. I am stalking him across the globe. I had a chance to see him in Wales for the Guardian’s Hay on Wye literary festival both as Lemony Snicket (or more accurately in place of Lemony Snicket) and as Daniel Handler. I also saw him in Seattle for a Mcsweeney’s fundraiser where he had Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service fame) Sarah Vowell (“Assassination Vacation”) and Colin Meloy (the Decemberists) act out a play about his life. He was fantastic on each occasion. He is one of a new breed along with fellow Mcsweeney’s friends Dave Eggers, Michael Chabon, and Jonathan Safran Foer, to name a few, who can write serious literate novels, that are also fresh, funny, witty, and playful.
I haven’t yet read Handler’s earlier two ‘adult novels’ (that makes them sound like porn, but it is really just an annoying tag given to novels written by people who also write kid’s books), but Adverbs is an excellent novel. The prose is playful and fun, there is a lot of wordplay and humour, and colourful phrasing, but there is also a lot of heart. The characters are deftly portrayed and are brought fully to life. The book is a set of short stories each titled with an adverb and are about love in some form. The characters all move in and out of each other’s stories as they criss-cross the US and fall in and out of love. Though not all of the characters who have the same name are the same person. It would take a careful and exacting read to truly sort out who is who and who knows who and who loves or loved who. But each of the stories are well written and engaging. The characters are lively and fun, and also depressing or creepy, and often sad (how could you write a book about love without sadness?). But they are always real, and always compelling. There are a lot of pop culture in jokes strewn through the pages, and the book manages to be funny and serious at the same time. No mean feat these days. This is a great collection of stories that also reads as (and is indeed titled as) a novel. This is a rich, warm, funny, and all round excellent book. My stalking will continue. In fact I will see him again this week (finally in my home town) appearing in place of Lemony Snicket. No doubt he will not disappoint. ( )

I picked this one up for two simple reasons: (1) I loved the writing in the Lemony Snicket books and I always thought this guy would write good adult fiction, and (2) the cover was drawn by Daniel Clowes. Also, if I were honest with myself, I'd admit that the quote from Dave Eggers on the back had something to do with it, too, and I'd start to realize that I admire that guy a little too much.

But I digress...

The premise grabbed me, as advertised on the inside jacket. This is a collection of stories, all defined by the adverbial chapter heading, all about love, in one form or another: hetero, homo, platonic, unrequited, dying, dead, demented, or simply ignorant. (These are all adjectives, by the way, mine, not adverbs, not the chapter headings.) They are all told extremely well. The voice that Handler uses throughout is whimsical yet poignant. His unseen narrator is an intelligent guy with a sense of humor and a flair for irony. He can be funny one minute and heart wrenching the next, and he uses his humor to effectively avoid the sand trap of sentimentalism you can usually find in love stories such as these.

That his setting is the west coast, mostly San Francisco, where terrorists are about to strike (or recently have struck), and Seattle, where either a volcano has or is about to erupt, is both incidental and atmospheric, lending some intrigue to these stories that lies just outside your peripheral vision. Also, he overlaps characters, or at least character names. This leads to interesting questions. Is Allison from the first story the same Allison in the last? What about Joe? I'm pretty sure Gladys is always the Ice Queen, and Mike always seems to be Mike. This unconventional use of characters and names is jarring at first, but it forces you to focus on each story individually instead of trying too hard to find a link between them, even when numerous and obvious links exist.

So how does it fare using my typical criteria? As individual short stories, each one is rich in its own detail though not exactly original or inspired. Still I'll give him high marks for the collection on the whole. And I've already talked about the voice: excellent. And the writing, let me say, is surprisingly good. Why surprisingly? I guess I just wasn't expecting it, perhaps not from a guy who's primarily famous for children's books, but didn't I notice a spark of something brilliant there, too?

Let me make no bones about it: this may not be a book for everyone. The stories may be a little slim and, perhaps, littered with cliches, but the writing more than compensates. For some reason, this book inspires me to write again; I don't know if it's the wit or the wisdom inherent in these stories, it doesn't matter, because any time that happens, I'm a happy man.

Invisible Lizard's Unusual Oranges ( )

From http://museink.blogspot.com
Adverbs
By Daniel Handler
Hardcover $29.95 (CDN)

Adverbs is Daniel Handler’s third book for adults. Under his better-known pen name, Lemony Snicket, he fooled me into thinking he was an English author. Adverbs changes that presumption. Handler’s style reminds one of Dave Eggers; its quirky and slightly off-putting. He forces you to pay attention to the moment, to understand the characters as they exist in each short story. Meanwhile, your brain recognizes them from a previous scenario. Engaging and neat for fans of words and structure.

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/4... ( )