The Carnivorous Carnival

Snicket engages in some serious moral wrangling in this volume, and forces the reader to do the same. At a crucial moment, the Baudelaire orphans meet a woman who wants to be a good, strong person -- but because her motto is "give people what they want," she can always be manipulated by villains, and always tells herself that she must be a good person, because isn't giving people what they want a good thing to do? The simple answer, "Not if they want bad things!" never seems to occur to her.

It occurs to the Baudelaires, of course. Partly because they're nobler than she is. Partly because they desperately need her help. In the course of trying to persuade her to give them what they need, they're forced to admit that in spite of their show more best intentions, they seem to be sliding down a slippery moral slope:

"Haven't you ever found yourself doing something you never thought you'd do?"

"I guess so," Klaus said, and turned to his sisters. "Remember when we stole those keys from Hal, at the Library of Records? I never thought I'd be a thief."

"Flynn," Sunny said, which meant something like, "And I never thought I would become a violent person, but I engaged in a sword fight with Dr. Orwell."

"We've all done things we never thought we'd do," Violet said, "but we always had a good reason."

"Everybody thinks they have a good reason," Olivia said.

Ouch.

This is the first book in the Series of Unfortunate Events to end on a really suspenseful cliffhanger. I'm glad I wasn't an early adopter with these books. I would have hated to have to wait a whole year to see what happened next. show less

I mugged an old lady to get enough money to buy this.

Carnivals, unlike hospitals, are such jolly, happy places, filled with light and wonder and laughter. I've honestly no idea why the Baudelaires would end up in such a place or what they'd end up doing with themselves. Nonetheless, here they are, disguised as freaks, being cruelly mocked and taunted and humiliated by the crowds, and getting very worried about those lions Count Olaf brought and put in a pit and promised to publicly feed a freak to, while a picture of humanity emerges so grim and cruel and bestial that it would not be out of place in the pages of The Day Of The Locust or The Lottery. So the book really does manage to overcome the obstacle of being set in such a happy show more place! Phew! show less

“And sometimes we discuss frightening and troublesome animals that might be nearby, and this topic always leads to much disagreement over which part of a frightening and troublesome beast is the most frightening and troublesome. Some say the teeth of the beast, because teeth are used for eating children, and often their parents, and gnawing on their bones. Some say the claws of the beast, because claws are used for ripping things to shreds. And some say the hair of the beast, because hair can make allergic people sneeze. But I always insist that the most frightening part of any beast is its belly, for the simple reason that if you are seeing the belly of the beast it means you have already seen the teeth of the beast and the claws of show more the of the beast and even the hair of the beast, and now you are trapped and there is probably no hope for you.”

Having hidden themselves in the trunk of Count Olaf's car to escape from a burning hospital at the end of the last book, the Baudelaires do indeed find themselves in the belly of the beast. That car has taken them to a circus carnival in the middle of nowhere (the aptly-named Hinterlands), where their best choice is to disguise themselves as "freaks" -- Violet & Klaus as a single person with two heads and Sunny as a half-wolf baby.

“The story of the Baudelaires takes place in a very real world, where some people are laughed at just because they have something wrong with them, and where children can find themselves all alone in the world, struggling to understand the mystery that surrounds them.”

They find a few more clues to the mystery of VFD and the possibility of a surviving parent, but must also make some difficult decisions.

I love that this book introduces young readers to William Shakespeare and the types of plays he wrote, even outlining the plot of King Lear.

“Tragedies are stories that usually begin fairly happily and then steadily go downhill, until all of the characters are dead, wounded, or otherwise inconvenienced.”

Yup, that pretty much sums it up.

“But the sad truth is that the truth is sad, and that what you want does not matter. A series of unfortunate events can happen to anyone, no matter what they want.” show less

It was when I was trapped behind the waterfall, and my opponent approached me, bearing a foil, that I, having nothing but a tattered umbrella with which to defend myself, thought it best to distract him until my helicopter arrived.

"Have you heard of the Caligari Carnival?" I asked. He had not, or he was as fabulous a liar as he was a swordsman and interior decorator. There was a reason my parents had given me the middle name Scheherazade, and it wasn't because I was married to Shahryar (we were just friends).

"It was a carnival in the hinterlands. A group of orphans who had otherwise lived a miserable life found themselves there. They had nowhere to go, for it was in the middle of the hinterlands, and their vile opponent Count Olaf was show more close enough to capture them once more. They asked themselves a serious question: 'What would Olaf do?' Their answer: disguises.

"They disguised themselves as carnival freaks, Violet and Klaus, the oldest and middle orphan, respectively, posed as a two-headed individual, while Sunny, their baby sister, wore a beard and disguised herself as a wolf child. Thus, they were able to seek employment from Madame Lulu, and worked along other suck 'freaks' as Hugo the Hunchback, Colette the Contortionist, and the Ambidextrous freak Kevin.

"Madame Lulu, who was more than she initially appeared to be, had a penchant for giving the people what they want. The people want to gawk at freaks: give them freaks. The people want to see lions eat said freaks: give them lions. The people want to know more information about the Snicket file: tell them that one of the Baudelaire parents (the parents of our orphans) is still alive and well, hiding out in the mountains. Lulu would give the people what they wanted, even if it wasn't honest, or helpful to everybody involved."

He then asked whether he would like this book. I told him that he probably would, as he has a fascination with learning of others' miserable lives. It somehow makes him feel better. He asked if his mother would like it, or his adolescent daughter. I said "yes," knowing them both to have the same fascination as he.

By that time, my helicopter had arrived. The umbrella did help defend me a bit, but I find I'll have to get a new umbrella before too long. As I clung to the rails of the helicopter, drifting away from my adversary, I couldn't help but wonder if I had it lucky compared to those poor orphans. show less

1

Another fun installment in the dreadful lives of the Baudelaire orphans. This one's better than the previous two, but still not up to form when compared to the first six (I laughed out loud a few times, but not as often). One large mystery is answered, but most of the others remain mysterious, without even any additional clues. Some fun new characters are added, but barely a mention is made of the Quagmire triplets. One of the more interesting aspects of the story is that the Baudelaires are forced to re-evaluate their opinion of themselves as pure "good guys" - their hands are forced by circumstances beyond their control, but the consequenses of their actions become greater than ever. Finally, this is the first book in the series so show more far to truly end with a cliff-hanger. show less

[3.5] much like the last book in this series (meaning the hostile hospital), the idea that perhaps no one is 100% good, or 100% evil, is continued to be explored, which i think is a really interesting concept for a children's series, but lemony snicket / daniel handler does it in such a clever way!! i remember reading the pages on deja vu as a child and even managing to recognise the GENIUS behind the writing then. i think from this book onwards the character development from the baudelaires really starts to be apparent to the reader, and it feels like you're growing up with them, despite the series still sticking to it's gothic, dark vibes the whole time.