Lemony Snicket

Hey everyone,

I was was just wondering if anyone else has read the Series of Unfortunate Events, if so, what'd you think of them?

I read all 13 of them.
They were quite good actually, but after a while the storyline was a bit repetitive - basically the same thing happened in about the first 8 books.
My favourite one was the last one- The End. It was a bit different, and had a really good plot. I thought the ending was really good, and it tied of the series nicely. It was quite sad actually...:sad:

Yeah I have also read them all, I really enjoyed them. I agree that the first few were quite repetitive and the same things kept happening over and over. And we still never got to the bottom of all the mysteries regarding VFD and the triplets.
Theres a new Snicket book coming out soon called Horseradish: Bitter Truths You can't avoid. Not sure if its to do with the Baudelaires or just random stuff like in his biography book.

Cool, though it wouldnt surprise me if its a book all about horseradish given Handler's method of throwing you curve balls

I used to love them, although not as much as HP. I liked how he had a unusual style of writing, and I though that was kind of cool. I read all of them, and the two appendices also.

Oh I love the series. I've read all 13 of them and loving everyone of them :)

I read them all, they were v good. The End really didn't explain anything about anything, though. I was waiting for all the loose ends to be tied. The Beatrice Letters was interesting, I understood more after I read it.

What's everyones favourite? I'm quite partial to the Austere Academy

I loved The End. The way that it tied everything together was so nice.

But I didn't like what VFD really stood for. I was waiting for something really cool, but what it actually was... It just wasn't spectacular.

Nah VFD kind of blew.

Can't get enough of Count Olaf's anagrams

I've read and loved all the books, because they're all hilarious and witty and have a great plot line, but the last book was my favorite. I LOVED all the parts where Olaf was pretending to be pregnant.:D

The Lemony Snicket books are good, I haven't read all of them though. I've only read the first five, I just haven't gotten around to finishing them. They're pretty good. :tu:

I love Lemony Snicket too but the last two books were my least favorite.

Yes I have read all 13 books; they were good very different style of telling a story that I’ve never seen. There are a few things that getting annoying like repeating things over and over, long lists.

i read all of them, too. i loved them! i love the writing style, it's so unique and funny. my favourite character is sunny, she's just adorable :) but i also found the books a little repetitive, especially if you read them all through in a short time. i think if you read another book between reading two asoue books, then it might not be so repetitive.

I love this series. I've skipped around the series when I read them but I plan on reading them all.

I finished reading them the other day, I'm reading the unauthorized autobiography now, it's really interesting!

Well I did love them, until "The End". Oh my gosh it was HORRIBLE! We never found out what happened to everyone (the quagmires, the crew of the sub ect.) we never found out what was in the darn sugar bowl, we never found out if one of the parents survived and I could go on and on but you get it.... we didn't find out anything! It sucked. It was almost as if the author just gave up and decided that he didn't know how the story was supposed to end. I was so mad. (grrr..... I'm still mad!) I spent so much time reading all 13 books. double grrr.....

LOVED the books,and I'm pretty old!I couldn't say which was my favorite though because I loved them all.Granted,I DO love HP more.What about the Grimm Sisters,anyone read those?They were great too!

I really liked the first of the series, but I was severely disappointed with the last few books. They didn't resolve anything whatsoever. The author just kept leading us up to nothing. He is a really good and funny writer though, i just wish his story actually made sense. Hopefully Harry Potter will do a much better job of answering all our questions.

You guys are depressing me, I don't think I want to finish the series now. It is pretty annoying how he repeats everything, but they're awesome! My sister likes them too. She didn't finish the series either because I haven't bought the books! :p

Can someone tell me how the series ends? I've read about half of the books, but I don't really like the series that much. I just want to know because they mentioned it on an old PotterCast.

For the endings check wikipedia.org
The final book had the worst ending ever. NO questions were answered, new ones were brought up.

I was reading them and just waiting for something to really HAPPEN. Nope. Very lame ending. It was still fun, though, and I enjoyed the movie.

I loved all of the books until the last one :( So unsatisfying :sigh:

i have read all of them. i agree with everyone else, the end was kind of disappointing

I like the books, interesting plot idea Handler had. I do have to say though, the last book really wasn't good to me. :( I expected more from it, and we are all left clueless.

I absolutely love the Unfortunate Events Series. I love how they evolve so much from a simple goodies and baddies story to one with many twists-VFD, Kit Snicket and the island- and the three Baudelaires evolve with them. My favourite book is the Austere Academy because that's when the Quagmires and VFD are introduced and also i think Carmiletta Spatz is evil but fantastic creation.

Has anyone else read The Beatrice Letters-they're set ten years after the end and Beatrice is trying to find the Baudelaires and Lemony Snicket. I really enjoyed reading it and if you like a series of unfortunate events, it's worth a shot.

Yeah The Beatrice Letters was good. I liked pushing the letters out to make words.

Did any of you read Horseradish and other bitter truths you can't avoid? Are there any clues in it about the series? I flicked through it in the shop but didn't buy it as it just looked like a series of random quotes...

i think the series is good-though its not as good as HP-but its still a useful alternative since it has a different writing style (which,in my opinion, is its BIGGEST selling point) and an unusual plot.:tu:

the movie was excellent-I LOVED IT-thought they were going to make a mess of the it my bundling together the first few books into a single movie-but it turned out brilliant. jim carrey-outstanding as always+some pretty good acting from the kids as well(which was surprising,since i was kinda expecting a wooden performance from them)

I know a lot of people like these books, but I honestly don't get it. I don't like the books. I read the first two and they just seemed like they were about nothing. Or maybe because I just like happy endings.

They are enjoyable but repetitive. Like many series the ending was a bit of a mess.

I was reading these a few years ago. I think I got up to about number nine when I got a bit bored of them. They are alright books but I kind of got bored of the storyline. It felt like it was dragging out a bit and he just kept writing these books for the sole purpose of reaching book 13 (as opposed to writing to develop a story). Just my opinion. But they are alright. :tu: I might have to get back into them sometime so I can see how the Baudelaire kids ended up.

Yeah I did read the Beatrice letters they were nice to read. The ending was bizarre but when I look back at it its nice that it didn’t have a typical cliché happy ever after ending like most books do. I think Mr. Snicket was trying to emphasize that one doesn’t always get the answers to their problems or when /if they do there are more questions, things don’t always work out the way we want them too.

theyre pretty good, but he emphasizes the dreariness too much, and it gets boring after a while

I really liked them at first (I started reading them when I was like 9 or 10), but lost interest after The Grim Grotto. Last holidays I was thinking of reading Penultimate Peril and The End, but my friends who had read it told me not to waste my time and I trust them. I asked what happened and they said nothing was really resolved, so I didn't bother with it...

yeah, it goes off with a cliff hanger, and that REALLY bothers me. I didn't care if it ended with a happy ending or not, i just didnt want no satisfying ending.

This is a spoiler of how the book ends, so don't read this if you dont want it spoiled. but its really stupid anyways, so i may as well just save you the misery.
They get stranded on an island, where its kind of like a dictatorship and all the people listen to this guy who wants everyone to be the same and not modern. and they eat the same stuff every day, wear the same stuff, etc. I don't remember what happened to Count Olaf, but i think he ruled the inhabitants in the end. and in the end, they take off on the boat with the baby of Kit Snicket. it was sooooooo horribly done. i can't believe i read all 13 books for this. if it was like a trilogy or something, i wouldn't be as mad, but i read 13 books about this!!!! i didn't really enjoy all of them either, so....

Count Olaf died. Ishmael killed him with the harpoon gun. You weren't completely off, though, he tried to take over the island (and name it Olaf-land :lol:), but he didn't succeed

I think that the open ending was a good ending for the series, but I would have preferred it to be less open. If everything in the entire series were to be explained, it would take a lot more than 13 books.

It did get repetitive toward the end, but I really like the way they're written.

They were great when I was 10ish. But then I got bored of reading the same thing over and over although I did finish the series.
I think its because the books came out too slowly and I grew up so wasn't very interesting after! (not that i'm very mature for my age hehe)
If anyone gets what i'm trying to say.

I did love the books...then the movie and book 13 ruined everything! :(

THE QUAGMIRES NEVER CAME BACK!!!! WHAT-THE-HECK???? NOTHING WAS EXPLAINED! It was like...a bad joke...

Count Olaf died. Ishmael killed him with the harpoon gun. You weren't completely off, though, he tried to take over the island (and name it Olaf-land :lol:), but he didn't succeed

I think that the open ending was a good ending for the series, but I would have preferred it to be less open. If everything in the entire series were to be explained, it would take a lot more than 13 books.

It did get repetitive toward the end, but I really like the way they're written.

oh yeah, so i guess it was kind of a happy ending, kinda. i really hate how the books are about the same, but i did read 13 books in the same series, so i guess they werent that bad. that reminds me, 13 books i can use on reading projects! :D. its not that i hate reading, but its easier to use books you've already read when you dont have time. ok, getting back on topic, i dont like open ends. i would've settled for an epilogue with them either dying or happy. personally, if i had wrote the books, i would've made one of them turn to the "dark side" for one or two books and get back together again. the plot was actually really good, and half the reason why i read it, but it never ends! we never get a good ending or a full explanation and that really really bothered me.

I love A Series of Unfortunate Events!! :D I started reading them a few years ago :) I wasn't upset with the ending at all. The main story was that of The Baudelaires and I was glad to know that they had finally reached a conclusion, and that it might not have been the happiest ending, but at least they all had each other. As for the series as a whole, it's fantastic and wonderfully written. I've definitely learnt a lot of new vocabulary because of Lemony Snicket :D

As for the very ending:

I cried so much when Kit died! :upset: And even when Olaf died...even though he was such an evil man. :( And I was shocked and delighted when we finally found out who Beatrice was! :D

I love A Series of Unfortunate Events!! :D I started reading them a few years ago :) I wasn't upset with the ending at all. The main story was that of The Baudelaires and I was glad to know that they had finally reached a conclusion, and that it might not have been the happiest ending, but at least they all had each other. As for the series as a whole, it's fantastic and wonderfully written. I've definitely learnt a lot of new vocabulary because of Lemony Snicket :D

As for the very ending:

I cried so much when Kit died! :upset: And even when Olaf died...even though he was such an evil man. :( And I was shocked and delighted when we finally found out who Beatrice was! :D

i havent read the series in forever, who was beatrice again?

i havent read the series in forever, who was beatrice again?

I'll put it in a spoiler thing, in case anyone doesn't want to know :)

Well at the very end, after Kit had died they named her baby after their mother. Their mother was named Beatrice. So this links up the fact that Lemony Snicket used to love a woman named Beatrice :(

oh, gotcha

Is the series really fantasy? I always thought of it as more of a mystery story... That said, I've only read the first six books. My brother did read them all, and he loved them. I'm just currently working my way through Son of a Witch :D

I've read all of the books, though, it was hard to get through the first seven; they all seemed the same! It was like reading the same book over again, only with different name's for some people. Once the tenth book came out, I started to get a bit more interested in the series, the books were actually starting to get better. Anyway, by the 13th book, it was OK. Though, I didn't really like the ending... A bit srange if you ask me...

I think many of us were expecting, or at least hoping for, more from the 13th book. I kept waiting for it to go somewhere, even though the author himself told us it wouldn't.

I read all 13 books just so that I could get to the happy ending after so many unhappy endings. And then . . . there wasn't one. Well, I guess the ending wasn't unhappy, but it wasn't happy either. Well, Snicket DID warn me! But . . . The Baudelaires deserve a happy ending!

I have seen the movie, and I've read up to book 5. I think the books are pretty good.

I can see how people found the ending annoying and unsatisfactory. I kind of did. I see why Snicket did it, though. This is the story of the Baudelaires, not about any of the other characters. He wanted to end it about the Baudelaires and just them. It mainly annoyed me because the whole series seemed to be leading up to something and I was really disappointed with what we were given.

I've been reading this series since I was 9 or 10 and finally finished it about a year ago at 16. I loved it immensely. I love the way Snicket wrote and explained all the vocabulary he used. It was really helpful when I was younger, and even at times when I was older. I also lived his titles :). That said, I hated the last 2 or 3 books, but especially the ending. I really expected something more to come out of it, even though Snicket said it wouldnt. I was still heavily disappointed.

It mainly annoyed me because the whole series seemed to be leading up to something and I was really disappointed with what we were given.
Yes, that's how I felt as well. You read the whole series to find out what? The ending wasn't exactly happy IMO, but not sad either. :shrug: It's hard to explain. And it didn't tell you much about what happened afterwards. I hate books that leave you hanging. :grumble:

Yes, that's how I felt as well. You read the whole series to find out what? The ending wasn't exactly happy IMO, but not sad either. :shrug: It's hard to explain. And it didn't tell you much about what happened afterwards. I hate books that leave you hanging. :grumble:

Me neither :grumble:. I would have liked it to have lead to something. We only really found out one answer and that was to who Beatrice was. Thirteen books just for that was a disappointment.

Me neither :grumble:. I would have liked it to have lead to something. We only really found out one answer and that was to who Beatrice was. Thirteen books just for that was a disappointment.
Yes, I was earnestly hoping for a happy ending! I thought that since the Baudilaires had all that bad luck, they would get some good luck in the end and they'd settle down and be happy at last. But, of course, that's not exactly what happened. :no: You just have to wonder what happened next. So I am just going to pretend that their happy ending came true. :D

Yes, I was earnestly hoping for a happy ending! I thought that since the Baudilaires had all that bad luck, they would get some good luck in the end and they'd settle down and be happy at last. But, of course, that's not exactly what happened. :no: You just have to wonder what happened next. So I am just going to pretend that their happy ending came true. :D

Well, I was expecting the series to keep with the trend and end with something really unhappy. It kind of was unhappy, because of one of the deaths. However, it didn't wrap anything up. I wanted to know about the Quagmires and VFD, and it was really disapointing. I kind of have made up what happened next, but it's not as good as what the book would have told me. :(

The Lemony Snicket series is one of my favorite books. I've read his auto biography, the Letters, and the whole Series. He's one of my favorite authors. I just wonder what he looks like and what his real name is.

i must read the 13th book! i've read all the others and the story has got quite exciting!

Well, I was expecting the series to keep with the trend and end with something really unhappy. It kind of was unhappy, because of one of the deaths. However, it didn't wrap anything up. I wanted to know about the Quagmires and VFD, and it was really disapointing. I kind of have made up what happened next, but it's not as good as what the book would have told me. :(

I just wanted to wrap everyrhting up, no matter if the outcome turned out happy or sad, I wanted answers. :lol: I was very disappointed in the 13th book, because it was so ambiguous and didnt really provide a closure to the series, it just kind of abruptly ended it.

Well, I have to say that I absolutely adore A Series of Unfortunate Events. I started reading them in sixth grade with my class and I read the first four. Then I tried to find the fifth one, but it wasn't available at my library so I gave up. And I'm honestly happy that I did. I just finished the series a few weeks ago (I borrowed 5-10 from my thirteen-year-old cousin and bought the rest on amazon.com). And I think that although they are primarily children's book, I've enjoyed them so much more as a freshman in college than I ever would have if I had been reading them when I was younger. What I mean is, I love the way that Lemony Snicket references all of these other works of literature. For example, it made me smile when I read about a hunchback named Hugo in the ninth book (The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, anyone?). And he does that throughout the series, like Mr. Poe's sons, Edgar and Allen. Those little literary references are the sort of things that I love reading (and they always make me feel so smart too). And Lemony's style is just so different and unique and unbelievably funny that I just find the books extremely appealing.

Also, I've seen some people complaining in this thread about the last couple of books, but I have to say that they were some of my favorites. I love that when the series starts out, it's very black and white. People are good or they are bad, and there's not gray areas. But I really love it when the Baudelaires start struggling with that. You start seeing that the villains aren't really as bad as they seem.

I think it's obvious (and maybe you all disagree) that we are led to believe that Count Olaf is the one who started the Baudelaire fire, but the thirteenth book strongly implies that it was not him. "Is that what you think?... You don't know anything."

And also, you discover that the good people aren't really as good as they seem. I mean, the "good" side of VFD is the same side that created the Medusoid Mycelium, the same fungus that nearly killed Sunny. I really love this moral ambiguity that appears in the last few books. Honestly, one of the things that really upset me in the last HP book. All of the Slytherins were evil (none of them were in the Room of Requirement at the end) and everyone else was good. So, I really loved the way Lemony Snicket made a point of saying that people aren't good or bad. And I really loved the way he said it: "People aren't either wicked or noble," the hook-handed man said. "They're like chef salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict." - The Grim Grotto

And I have to partially agree with everyone about the end. I was extremely upset when I finished it. It left so many questions unanswered and it brought up all of these new ones. So, that really did upset me at first. Then after I thought about it, I decided that the ambiguous ending was kind of nice. Yes, I wish that I had learned more about...
the relationship between Kit and Olaf, whether the Baudelaire parents were still alive, what exactly happened to the Quagmires, what was in the sugar bowl, etc.
But it is kind of nice in the sense that I can decide for myself what happened since it is so ambiguous. I can imagine that...
Violet married Duncan or maybe she married Quigley and maybe Klaus married Fiona or Isadora or maybe none of the Quagmires survived or maybe the Baudelaire parents are alive and they were reunited with their children or something else to that effect.
So, I like the way the reader is, more or less, encouraged to use their imagination and decide what happens next.

One last thing though, honestly, I can't believe people are complaining about the ending being unhappy. I mean I understand why they are complaining. But at one point while I was reading the last book, I turned to my roommate and I said, "I don't want to finish this. There's no way there's going to be a happy ending. They're all going to die or something. It's not called A Series of Unfortunate Events for no reason." But I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with the way things ended.
The Baudelaires didn't die and they don't have to worry about Count Olaf chasing them everywhere anymore.
So, no, the ending wasn't exactly "happy." But it was far happier than I had ever expected it to be.

I really liked the series overall, however I did not like The End at all. Nothing was explained and it felt rushed and made little sense. Sorry fans of The End, I just really didn't care for it.

I really liked Lemony Snickets dark humour and writing. If it weren't for that, I probably wouldn't have bothered past the first book. I was very disappointed with the last few books, because I was expecting it to be wrapped up. Hardly anything was and it ended up being really unsatisfying.

I read these books a couple or more years ago, and I really just couldn't get into them. I thought that they were all going to be the same until the very end by reading the first six books, which were pretty much the same thing repeated only with different name for places and people. But then here recently I've taken the time to read them all again. And they're some of the best books that I've had the chance to read. In the end, it was really interesting how you learn that

The Baudelaire parents were the people that orphaned Count Olaf, with a box of poison darts.

And that, everyone is an orphan. :D

All in all, it's a pretty good series :tu:, when you're younger you might not have as much patience, and might not pay close attention to the plot.

Has anyone read or glanced at the paper backs? It says they include new comics, stories and advice from Lemony

Has anyone read his autobiography? It's really interesting. The Letters is really good as well.

I liked A Series of Unfortunate Events, but I didn't like the ending. There was so much mystery and emphasis on V.F.D. and everything surrounding it, but the last book was a letdown. After I finished The End, I was confused about what the point of it was. It was more of a filler than a book that concluded the series. It could have been better. :shrug:

Has anyone read his autobiography?

Wish I had, but things like that are difficult to find in librarys here in Norway, and I don't have money to buy it... Is it worth buying? If I get some money (probably not until my next birthday - it is almost a year before it comes - if I don't find myself a job...) I might buy it, but if it's not worth the money, then I could have used them on something else, like another book... :p

I wonder why I bothered reading the entire series now. Well, they weren't awful, but it just got annoying when it talked about how miserable they were every few sentences. The End was just awful...but the rest of the series overall wasn't bad

I read these books last year or the year before that and I am really forgetting everything. I do remember that it was a very good book. But I was young and foolish then (I know what your saying that was only 1 or 2 years ago), but back then I thought Disney Channel movies were the greatest kind of movies ever. Weird...they're poorly acted. Anyways, Morning Star, it is very interesting and anyone who wants to know a bit more about Lemony Snicket should read them, but it really isn't worth spending $10 or $15 on it. I'm not sure at all on what the prices are in Norway. If you really want it though Amazon has great prices on books.

I read these books last year or the year before that and I am really forgetting everything. I do remember that it was a very good book. But I was young and foolish then (I know what your saying that was only 1 or 2 years ago), but back then I thought Disney Channel movies were the greatest kind of movies ever. Weird...they're poorly acted. Anyways, Morning Star, it is very interesting and anyone who wants to know a bit more about Lemony Snicket should read them, but it really isn't worth spending $10 or $15 on it. I'm not sure at all on what the prices are in Norway. If you really want it though Amazon has great prices on books.

I've only bought a few of them, for cheap prices at my school's book fairs. Most of them I read at the bookstore or at the library. I understand what you mean about the 1 or 2 years thing, a lot can change in that time :p

The moral ambiguity in this series is what intrigues me. I also wonder what the Great Unknown was.

I loved A Series of Unfortunate Events when I was younger. I've read every book at least once, and some more than once. I think I've read the Ersatz Elevator the most, as it was in my classroom library for grade 6, 7, 8 and I would read it when I was bored.

I thought the series was great up until the final book. I extremely disliked the ending as the author didn't explain anything that happens to the main characters. Since reading the final novel I have yet to read a Lemony Snicket book again.

I'd settle for a poorly written ending opposed to his ending....

You know, I've never finished this seris, :hmm: I'm not exactly sure why. I only read up to book six and then stopped. That was way back when the first movie was released. I haven't really had the urge to finish the books, however I would rather like to know how it ended.

I loved the Series of Unfortunate Events. They're quite unlike any other series I've read, which makes a good read for me. I read book one when I was a kid (the only series I read without watching the film first. Yeah, maybe Twilight was another series which I've read before the film, but then, I have seen the Twilight trailers way before I read the series. It's an annoying habbit.)

Anyway, as Animagi Girl says, the ambiguity, and the grey areas make ASUE a good read.

I didn't even know they had a movie :lol:. I'm not too sure how much i would like it though....

I didn't even know they had a movie :lol:. I'm not too sure how much i would like it though....
If you like movies that stick to the books, then you'll like the movie adaption of Lemony Snicket. It's based on the first three books and is really well done. Jim Carey plays Count Olaf.

If you like movies that stick to the books, then you'll like the movie adaption of Lemony Snicket. It's based on the first three books and is really well done. Jim Carey plays Count Olaf.

I actually wasn't impressed by the film. I didn't think that it stuck to the books much, it rather rushed the first three books. I also think that Snicket's style and darker humor was difficult to get across through the film (And i think these were some of the more appealing elements of the series.)

that's the reason why i think it wouldn't do good as a movie. Lemony Snicket really talks as a narrator and he has many comments outside of simply describing things, and unless the movie has overvoice, it would be very hard to convey. either way, i'm not sure i would like that too much either.

that's the reason why i think it wouldn't do good as a movie. Lemony Snicket really talks as a narrator and he has many comments outside of simply describing things, and unless the movie has overvoice, it would be very hard to convey. either way, i'm not sure i would like that too much either.

The movie doe have some narration and such, but I wouldn't really recommend it. It is most definitely not a must-see.

I liked the books. Though sometimes I got kinda angry because nothing really good ever happened to the kids.
But the series was good, very funny, and different from the other books I have read.

I used to be a huge Lemony Snicket fan back about three years ago! It was watching the movie that got me into them, which I think was very well done. I still think that they are cute books and I still like the style they are written in, but I notice how repetitive they are a lot more now. I don't know how they could have done a sequel to the movie and not made it seem exactly like the first. Most of the books have the same basic plot.

My only real problem was the ending and the repetitiveness. Normally, I wouldn't like completely happy endings, but come on, those kids deserve something :p

My only real problem was the ending and the repetitiveness. Normally, I wouldn't like completely happy endings, but come on, those kids deserve something :p

I haven't got to the end but I've heard about it. :lol: Your right they all ways have deserved something. :p

I absolutely loved the books when I was younger!

(And sometimes I still make references to them, even thought nobody else gets them :blush:)

I started the books and stopped them for some reason... maybe it was too sad and horrifying to me!!!!

I have all thirteen, but the last time I read them was...wow, it's got to be about four years ago. I absolutely loved them.

I bet that now I could catch the links and tie together the plot a bit easier now.

I love them! Especially The Penultimate Peril, it's hilarious. I love how characters you haven't seen for a few books (Sir, Vice-Principal Nero, Hal, etc.) come back for the meeting on Thursday.