The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (REVIEW)
HRCYED Prompt: 24 hour readathon/adaptations (no, not the movie, have a little more faith in me)
This series is a reread for me but I haven’t read them since middle school.
I LOVE THIS SERIES! I forgot how much I loved it since it’s been so long. The humor is on point. I love how sarcastic and dark it is, despite the situation being terrible. I think I appreciate it more as an adult since I can understand the adult jokes put into it.
I wasn’t even mad at the vocabulary words being defined because I loved how he wrote them. My favorite was “faked—a word which here means ‘phony’”. That one made me laugh really hard.
I will say, regarding the actual content of the story, it’s dreadful and horrible obviously. But it’s written in such a way that it’s very entertaining to read. Somehow, Snicket made it so you’re giggling but also feeling bad for these kids. I don’t know how he did it but he did.
The audiobook was also incredible! They’re narrated by Tim Curry and he does great voices for Olaf and the theater troupe and lots of coughing for Mr. Poe. I believe he won an award for his narration and it’s so well deserved, he’s an actual treasure.
One bad thing is, I didn’t realize how badly Mr. Poe handled things until I read them as an adult. This man is the real villain in my opinion. He shipped them off to a “relative” that they’ve never met who is obviously suspicious, didn’t listen to them when they voiced their concerns about his abuse, and even the way he told them about their parents was devoid of emotion and empathy. My guy should not be left in charge of children, he obviously doesn’t care.
Overall this is a 5 star start to what I assume will be a 5 star series. Since I’m reading them all in a row (as many as I can in 24 hours), be prepared for lots of posts.
Off to watch the Netflix show now!