Rating: 
Summary: It grows on you...
Review: After reading the first couple chapters of this book, I started getting the feeling that the book really was completely bleak and depressing with no happiness whatsoever. Life just kept getting worse and worse for the three Baudelaire siblings. Bad enough their house burned down, killing their parents. Then they have to endure itchy clothing, cold oatmeal, and an evil greedy villian after their money. I started to think that perhaps I should heed Lemony Snicket's warnings, and put down the book in favor of something light and happy. However, the closer I got to the end, the more the story grew on me. Even though horrible things happen to the Baudelaires, there are some bright spots. I found myself anxious to read more, just to see if maybe they triumph over their misfortune. It's not entirely fun, but it's fascinating. And I think it has a great underlying message about the strength of family. Well, that's not entirely true since the evil Count Olaf was part of their family. But the siblings rely on each other and love each other very much, and that made me feel all warm and fuzzy.
Rating: 
Summary: Spellbinding, terrific, wonderful, etc.
Review: After reading tremendous reviews of "A Series of Unfortunate Events", I purchased them from Amazon.com. Was I impressed? You bet! From the beginning chapters, when the parents of 14-year-old Violet, 12-year-old Klaus, and the newborn Sunny were killed in a monstrous fire, I was enthralled. The orphans were taken to live with the horrendous Count Olaf, who hit them, made them work, and tried to steal their fortune. Among the aspects that amused me was one of Sunny saying a nonsense word which the author described as meaning something relevant, such as "Gack" meaning "Look at that mysterious figure emerging from the fog." Some parts truly are sad, and some are morbidly funny. Unlike some of the reviewers on this website, I have an imagination and I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its sequels. I am eagerly anticipating the release of #5: The Austere Academy. Read these books and I guarantee that, if you have any sort of imagination, you'll love them!
Rating:
Summary: Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning
Review: Title: The Bad Beginning
By: Lemony Snicket
Reviewed by: B. Arihara
Period: P.1 The Baudelaire children Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are all wondering the beach when they receive terrible news that their parents have died in a fire which began in their house. Mr. Poe, the person to give them the news took care of the children until they were taken to their new father, Count Olaf. Count Olaf is a horrible evil man who is just interested in trying to get the Baudelaire fortune. He thinks of a scheme to receive the money, which can only be used by Violet when she is old enough to inherit it. Klaus eventually figures out Count Olaf's plan and tries to stop him, but instead gets them into more trouble. Olaf is going to have a play where he is the groom and Violet is the Bride. Justice Strauss, a neighbor who happens to be a judge, is the one who performed the wedding ceremony. Once they both say their "I do's" and sign a piece of paper in front of a real judge, they will be officially married, which everyone thinks is just part of the play. Once they are married, Count Olaf will be able to take the Baudelaire money and dispose of the children. Unfortunately, everything has gone as planned and Violet and Count Olaf officially married as Olaf had thought. When Violet signed the piece of paper, she signed it with her left hand when she was right-handed, which means the document is invalid and they are not married. Justice Struaff arrested Count Olaf along with his assistants, and the Baudelaire children were taken away after saying their good-byes and thank-you's. One of the reasons why I liked this book was because the author explained, as he went along, the difficult words to understand. He saved some time for me by telling me what the words mean, so i don't have to take time and look them up in the dictionary. "The word nuptial means relating to marriage" is an example of his unique type of writing and so is "The word standoffish here means reluctant to associate with others." Also i like how Sunny always says those baby words like "yeeka" or "odo yow." I disliked this book because there was constantly bad things happening again and again. One after another terrible things happened to the Baudelaire children. They always got into trouble and when they thought of a plan, it was always ruined by Count Olaf or his assistants. Sometimes too many unpleasant happenings make a book not very enjoyable to read. There should be a little more happiness throughout the book.
My favorite part of the book is in the very beginning when Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are walking along the beach shore. The way the author described it made me remember all the fun times I had at the beach. I remember running in the shallow water looking for sea-shells and playing in the water trying to catch small fish with my hands or a net. The beach is probably my favorite place to go in the world. Whenever i think of the beach i think of happiness, joy, fun, and good times.
Rating:
Summary: Not you Winnie-the-Pooh!
Review: Quoting from the opening of Chapter 7: "There are many, many types of books in the world, which makes good sense, because there are many, many types of people, and everybody wants to read something different. For instance, people who hate stories in which terrible things happen to small children should put this book down immediately." And they certainly do. The Baudelaire children -- fourteen-year-old Violet, twelve-year-old Klaus, and their infant sister, Sunny -- are off at the beach one day when Mr. Poe the banker comes to tell them that their loving parents have perished tragically in a fire and that their mansion has been utterly destroyed. They will have to go and live with Count Olaf, their (geographically) nearest relative, until Violet is old enough to inherit. He's a horrid, dirty, smelly, scheming, dangerous man, and an actor to boot. Their life there is terrible, even with the kind Justice Strauss and her lovely library next door. And then Count Olaf begins making plans to get his hands on their fortune. The author (whose real name is Daniel Handler) is obviously perverse and possibly deranged, and I love his work; it's hard to tell, sometimes, whether he's really writing for kids or for weird adults. This is the first of a projected thirteen volumes, and all of them are going on my Edward Gorey shelf.
Rating: 
Summary: Book itself a 'bad beginning'
Review: The Baudelaire children's (Violet, Klaus, and Sunny) lives take a horrible turn when they receive the news that their parents have just died in a house fire. Sent to live with a distant relative, Count Olaf, they find themselves horribly mistreated. Their new guardian cares only for their fortune, and treats them like servants- little food, chores every day, uncomfortable beds, rocks to play with, and no companions. And when Sunny is locked at the top of a tower and Count Olaf makes a plan to marry Violet, they know they have to do something to free themselves from him. I absolutely hated this book. From the beginning, the author goes on and on about how this book is depressing and you shouldn't read it, (the book would be about ten pages shorter without him saying that all the time) which really gets annoying, and every other page he defines words for you, like you're too ignorant to figure them out for yourself. Mr. Poe, the man in charge of finding them a home, is so gullible it's absolutely inhuman, and the characters are very shallow. They have their materialistic strengths and weaknesses (Violet's good at inventing things, Klaus at thinking about things, Sunny biting things) but nothing under the surface that makes them special.
Rating: 
Summary: I didn't find it all that funny, but I could relate
Review: The first installment in A Series of Unfortunate Events books truly is a series of unfortunate events. I had received this book as a gift from my then-girlfriend for Valentine's Day. I never did touch it up until now, shortly after we had a sad, but manageanble break up. I found the events of the Baudelaire siblings very similar to the issue of abuse, albeit in a strained form of subtle humor. The story begins on a dreary day, which is usually how tales of such sorts begin. Mr. Poe, the executor at the bank of the Baudelaire estate, approaches the three Baudelaire children, Klaus, Violet, and Sunny and tells them their parents die. He puts them in the charge of Count Olaf, a menacing distant relative who is an actor in a theater troupe. Olaf is cruel to the orphans, making them do extraneous chores, gives them only one bed, rocks to play with, and a curtain. He adds further to the paranoia by decorating his abode with carved eyes all over the place, reminding the children he is always watching them. He plans to do all he can to weasel their estate and use it for his own purposes. Olaf is an interesting character who I have seen in many forms. Although the children try to outsmart him, he always finds a way to gain the upperhand, using violence if he has to. I've run into this type in my life... they are controlling, very controlling. They generally use fear and abuse to get what they want, and when that doesn't work, they usually work with kindness and trickery. Olaf's plan to win the Baudelaire estate (to reveal what it is would ruin the book) is such an example. He goes through cycles of abuse and kindness. When abuse doesn't work, he tries kindness. When kindness doesn't work, he goes back to abuse. I've ran into his type and that's the type I would like to slap. I am surprised at the resources of the Baudelaire twins and how they deal with Count Olaf, Violet in particular. She is always studying her surroundings and reading up on things to get our of the situations she does. In a lot of ways, she is like me. When I was depressed, I would always read up on things to try to get out of it. This book is one such example. It gave me ideas of how to deal with depression. Although I didn't find this book that funny, I did find in it a simple tale of three children who are trying to overcome their evil guardian. I give it three stars because of the lack of enjoyment of the humor, but would give it more if it were more developed. It is a good story about how three youths deal with the issue of abuse.
Rating:
Summary: Not a Bad Beginning at All
Review: The Baudelaire siblings are enjoying a day at the beach when Mr. Poe comes walking through the fog to find them. He has very bad news. Their house has burned to the ground and their parents are dead. To honor their father's wishes, they are sent to live with Count Olaf across town. He treats them like slaves. But that's just the beginning. He also wants to take over their trust fund, and will stop at nothing to do so. I really didn't know what to think about this series. But some friends highly recommended it to me, so I decided to give it a try. And I'm glad I did. This book is rather dark for a kid's book, with lots of sarcasm and dark humor, as well as some tragic events. It does require a certainly level of maturity to be appreciated by kids or adults. I was really taken with the kids, however. Violet and Klaus pull together and don't let anything stop them from trying to make the most of a bad situation. I wish more people, including me, were like that. And Sunny constantly made me smile with her sudden outbursts. The set up of the plot was fairly obvious to me, but I didn't see the ending coming before it happened. My only real complaint was the narrator's habit of interrupting a story to define a word that had just been used. It got annoying seeing this on every few pages. Take the warning on the back seriously. These are dark books. But they are certainly enjoyable as well.
Rating:
Summary: "Baudelaire Family's Cursed"
Review: In the story Violet(the oldest), Klaus(middle child), and Sunny(the infant) are the Baudelaire children who lived a happy life but one day while the children were at the beach playing their house burned down with everything in it and their parents were in the house too when it burned down.
They moved in with a distant relative that they didn't know whose name is Count Olaf. He tries to pull stunts on the children and almost gets away with them which at the end of the story he gets cought when he does something. But Violet and Klaus figure it out and his plan and they ruined it.
I believe the children were too smart for Olaf and in which they always got out of doing things because they always found reasons or just didn't really care what he said. I would recommend this book to people who like to read series and enjoy reading things that have a ending that you want to read more.
Rating:
Summary: "Baudelaire Family's Cursed"
Review: In the story Violet(the olderest), Klaus(middle child), and Sunny(the infant) are the Baudelaire children. Who lived a happy life but one day while the children were at the beach playing their house burned down with everything in it and their parents were in the house too when it burned down.
They moved in with a distance realtive that they didn't know which his name is Count Olaf. He tries to pull stunts on the children and almost gets away with them. Which at the end of the story he gets cought when he does something. But Violet and Klaus figure it out and his plan is ruined.
I believe the children were to smart for Olaf and in which they always got out of doing things because they always found reasons or just didn't really care waht he said. I would recomend this book to people who like to read series and enjoy reading things that have a ending that you want to read more.
Rating:
Summary: This is no fairy tale, but it is great anyway
Review: Even though this is a book targeted to kids by its publisher, I think that the author wrote it considering a much broader audience. I would say that as Rowling did with "Harry Potter", Snicket will captivate people of all ages. A word of warning though, the author clearly states that this is an unhappy story and that if you do not like this you should not try to read it. He is not joking! The story is sad and every time there is a glimpse of hope, it is quickly quenched. The three Baudelaire siblings are the main characters in this unhappy story. Violet is a fourteen-year-old who loves to think constantly about possible inventions. Klaus is twelve, intelligent and enjoys reading all kinds of books. Sunny is the little infant that is going through a biting stage and will go at anything with her four teeth. Everything starts out wrong right from the beginning, when the Baudelaire siblings, now orphans, find out that their parents died in a fire. They have a huge fortune, but they will not have access to it until Violet reaches adulthood. In the meantime, Mr. Poe, the executioner of the estate will manage the funds and take care of finding a place for the orphans to live in. Violet, Klaus and Sunny end up living with Count Olaf, in a house that is a disaster and has a weird feeling about it. Also, they quickly realize that the Count's only interest is in the money they have and in nothing else. The kids are forced to take care of the house chores and only find solace in their friendly neighbor, Justice Strauss. But any glimpse at happiness is quickly extinguished by new terrible events. We even get a second warning by the author halfway through the book: "...people who hate stories in which terrible things happen to small children should put this book down immediately". However, my recommendation is: keep reading, you will not be disappointed. The start of the series left me hooked and I will read the following books in the near future. I like the story, even with its sad tone, and enjoy the author's style. He has a humorous way of writing, defining obvious words and explaining some things that do not need explanations, even for kids. I think this is his way of satirizing some children's book that treat kids as if they were unable to comprehend simple matters. Moreover, there is a point in which he will start defining words using other words he defined before. I am extremely satisfied with the experience of trying out this new author and would highly recommend it to people of all ages.
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