The Bad Beginning

O que logo me impressionou quando comecei a ler os livros de Lemony Snicket (pseudônimo de Daniel Handler) foi como eles conseguem entreter pessoas de idades e formações diferentes. As pessoas sempre dizem isso de livros infantis que têm histórias realmente boas e não são clichês, mas é mais do que isso. Snicket subverte de forma muito interessante as expectativas do leitor (principalmente no último livro da série), ele é irônico e mesmo lúgubre (como nas dedicatórias para a amada morta). O artifício de nomear os personagens com nomes de escritores famosos (órfãos Baudelaire, senhor Poe, Dra. Orwell) não é vazio, mas pretende que seus leitores fiquem curiosos a respeito dessas pessoas. Os personagens também são show more muito cativantes.
Algumas piadas podem divertir os pais que lêem para os filhos, professores que lêem para os alunos, pessoas relendo ou gente que lê tudo que cai nas mãos, como eu. Algumas dessas piadas são as falas de Sunny, que apenas articula palavras que seus irmãos entendem como frases completas. Só que as palavras tem um significado. Alguns exemplos:
Orlando - para quando Sunny se refere a uma pessoa que eles não sabem se é homem ou mulher.
Busheney - quando Sunny quer dizer a um homem que ele é cruel e não se preocupa com outras pessoas.
Dreyfus - quando é acusada de um crime.
Rosebud - pra dizer que eles devem usar um trenó para escapar. show less

I first read this book 4 years ago when I was searching for a series for my 7 year old. At that time I didn't like the book. It seemed too dark for my precocious reader who loved Harry Potter. It is the almost never-ending tale of the woes of the orphaned Baudelaire children, the eldest, Violet, being 14 years old. The evil Count Olaf, determined to get his hands on the Baudelaire fortune (which will become theirs when Violet reaches the appropriate age) plots to marry Violet through trickery and threats and almost succeeds. There is implied and threatened violence, scary situations (baby Sunny is tied up, put in a bird cage and hung out the window of a tower) and even a hint of pedophilia in Count Olaf's plans. All in all, not show more appropriate for the 7-10 year old set, but then the narrator intrudes quite often to explain words that would not tax a tweener's understanding, but would be necessary for the average 7-10 year old. Who, then, is this book written for?
Well, now my 7 year old is almost 12. I asked her whether she wanted to read the series now, but after looking through a few of the books, she was not very interested. I decided to reread the first book before donating the set to the local library book store, and I was quite entertained. Reading it for myself, I found the narrator quite intriguing and sly. The little hints about the narrator found in the dedication and little snippets of his biography throughout the series reminds the reader that this is all fiction and a game and once you are in on the game, the fun begins. The situations are, of course, ludicrous, mostly because all the helpful adults are such dolts. But then, as we deal with everyday crises and keeping some semblance of order to our lives, don't we often make assumptions about what our kids understand? We often soft-pedal the harsh truths that children understand better than we give them credit for and ignore their real concerns as if they weren't important, or as important, as our concerns. So, yes. We do act like dolts sometimes (maybe more than sometimes) and don't listen to what is really going on. The children are ingenious at finding logical ways out of the predicaments they are put in, not through supernatural or chance means, but by reading and reasoning. So, who is this series written for? It's for children of all ages (adults too) who are into the 'game' of reading. If your child is sensitive to anxiety provoking situations, then this is not the book for them, but it could be a fun series for the right child. show less

It's my birthday, and if I want to lie around reading books all day, then that's my business. Still, I didn't expect to rip through a whole volume in one afternoon, but here we are. The terrible adventures of the Baudelaire children begins. Badly. The awful fire, the even awfuller Count Olaf and his terrible plot to steal their fortune. Well meaning adults who don't take the clever and perceptive children seriously. Bad luck and trouble following them everywhere they go. Wow, that was fast and funny and highly readable. The kids are great, the villain is monstrous and the rest of the cast are generally hapless or horrible, while the story moves with mordant wit and the grace of impending catastrophe.

Dear Reader, I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe. From the very first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing on through the entire story, disaster lurks at their heels. One might say they are magnets for misfortune. In this short book alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast. It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing show more stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of thing. With all due respect, Lemony Snicket show less

This book is nothing but fun. So if you’re sick of syrupy-sweet stuff with happily-ever-after endings, this book is for you. Happiness and good times are not had by the Baudelaire kids. Tragedy abounds for these charming, clever, wealthy kids. All of the things that the “perfect” kids in the world never have happen to them seem to keep happening to these kids. Violet’s cleverness, Klaus’s well-read mind, and even Sunny’s biting, can’t seem to shake the darkness lurking in their lives, no matter how well they behave. The fortunate days are indeed over for these three.
The whole first page, as a matter of fact, is the author’s warning about how horrific theses lovely children’s lives become. There is, of course, a show more sentence or two of happiness for the three of them before they lose their parents, their mansion of a home, and possibly each other.
It is a rather pitiful story and one can’t help but feel sorry for these kids. After all, how would you like to be forced into moving into a creepy, nasty, dirty house with evil eyeballs painted and carved all over the place (even tattooed on your new guardian’s leg)? How about sleeping in the same lumpy bed with your brothers and sisters after living in the lap of luxury? Not to mention that Count Olaf, the kids’ new caretaker, is ruthless and steals any hope they have of ever being happy again. If they want to keep their fortune, they must endure living with him and try to figure out how to overcome immense evil.
So, if you’d enjoy reading about some rich, smart, happy kids being knocked down a peg or two, try Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the First: The Bad Beginning. If you enjoy the misery of the first book you can torture yourself with the other books too. The suffering never ends! show less

I've been reading this series as bedtime stories with Milly, although I did have to go back and read a few myself that she had raced through, unable to wait for me to read them to her at the pace of one chapter a night. In fact this one I just went back and re-read for fun. They are genuinely brilliant books, funny and dark, mysterious and absurd. There are many allusions to literature for the reader paying attention to names. The author himself is a shadowy strange character, occasionally writing tantalising glimpses of his own story into the text.

Anyway this is the first one, it starts with the classic kids book gambit of immediately killing off the parents and really it all goes downhill for the Baudelaires from there. Count Olaf is show more an excellent villain, and the orphans are also thwarted by ineffectual adults. show less

Basically, this book is about how kids are hella smart, and adults just don't give them enough cred. The Baudelaire children have just become the Baudelaire orphans, and everything bad that could ever befall them happen in this series. Each child has a skill: Violet is a brilliant inventor, Klaus is a bookwork with an incredible memory, and Sunny has razor-sharp teeth. Together, they are the ultimate machine.

There is mystery, multiple attempts at murder, serious pun-action, and a gothic overshadow that makes the time-setting uncertain. Ultimately, this series is about three siblings who seriously care and look out for one another. They know their strength lies in being together.

What I found amazing about this series is how everything show more seems to be in black and white at the beginning: you know who the good and bad guys are. But as the series progresses, the water muddies, and there is a lot more ambiguity. As the Baudelaire's (and our) knowledge grows, we are faced with difficult situations and thus cannot view the world in such extremes. Just like in life, there is no black and white. We can only do what we must in order to survive, and sometimes our actions and feelings are complicated.

SOUE are children's books, but contain adult humor and themes. Originally, I thought that they were children's books written for adults. But I guess that's the point. We don't give kids enough credit. show less