Rating:  Summary: It does nothing for me Review: Someone recommended me to read this series of book while I am waiting for the next Harry Potter book. All I can say is it is not for me and I am glad I borrowed it first from the library before plunking down money to buy it from the bookstore.
Rating:  Summary: A Depressing Book That Made Me Laugh Review: Many of the other reviews on this book say that it is too depressing, the children are portrayed as ..., and the whole theme of the book is not beneficial to a person's well being. Well I agree with them. The plain fact is, that's what makes these books funny. Dark humor litters these pages and the intent of these books is not to make people feel all warm and fuzzy. The book is titled The Bad Beginning, what more could you expect. I would highly reccomend this book to anyone who understands dark humor. However, if you are easily offended or looking for a book with a substantial intellectual plot (or one that has sixteen pages dedicated to how the trees blew in the wind) than this book is not for you.
Rating:  Summary: Amazing Review: This was the most amazing children's book I have read in a long time (other than Harry Potter, of course). I went through all 9 books in 3 days, I couldn't put them down! For the people who say they are inappropriate for children, you must be sheltering your kids. I think these books are wonderfully creative and would recommend them over and over again.
Rating:  Summary: Too depressing for kids, too condescending for adults Review: This series was recommended as a suitable way to stave off boredum while waiting for Book 5 of Harry Potter to come out. Terrible recommendation. It is condescending to both adults and children - defining words in the text (although often just with more difficult words than the original.)Plus, it's just depressing - admittedly, they warn you with the title - but it was depressing to me not because of what happens, but because the children are protrayed as being stupid in many ways. Kids aren't dumb. You don't, for example, not tell an adult that you trust that someone has kidnapped your little sister - it's a terrible example to set for your kids. Anyway, don't bother it isn't Harry Potter (although at least they aren't 1000 pages long...)
Rating:  Summary: Absolutely Terrible Review: With all the hype surrounding this book and the entire series for that matter, I thought that I would be enjoying a really good book and then continue on with the rest of the series. WRONG. This is by far THE worse children's book that I have ever read. Parents don't waste your money on this book. It is not even worth the time to go the library and check this book out. I do believe that a junior high student could easily write a much better book. The grammar is awful - flow and transition from one paragraph to the other is missing - the subject material does not even make sense - thoughts are scattered - character development is nil - and 99.9% of the book is boring. I forced myself to finish the book and struggled the entire way to do so. But MOST IMPORTANTLY, this book is depressing, filled with negativity, constant threats of killing the children, perverse humor, and inappropriate adult themes. Joy, happiness and love are definitely missing in this book. This is not a book to build a child's self esteem or instill messages of self worth or confidence. There is absolutely nothing to like about this book. I would urge parents to steer their children away from all of the books in the series - like another reviewer said - there are so many other BETTER books out there to read. Lemony Snickett is not one of them. If I could, I would give this book a negative 10.
Rating:  Summary: Why is this good? Review: I just picked up this book at the used book store ... and all I can figure out is that I wasted my money. this book is often found on the list of 'books to read while waiting for the next Harry Potter book'... and I can't figure out why. The author has one dimensional characters, and plot lines that aren't engaging. The characters are boring, unlike Rowlings most insignifigant characters who have more pizazz in their three paragraph appearance than the main children in this book. The children are perfect and good to the point of being totally unbelievable. The adults are shown to be stupid and easily manipulated, but at the same time oblivious to the needs of the children. The author has a tendency to define words that are used. Perhaps this is supposed to be a humor device, or some such positive thing, but all it does for me is make me think that he assumes his audience has an IQ of a goldfish. yes, the book is written primarily for children... but don't assume the children don't know how to look up words they don't know, or that want the words defined in a patronizing tone. Give the reader some credit. All I have to say is that anyone looking for a good read here, something that a Harry Potter fan would enjoy... they're looking in the wrong book. Try Dianne Duane, Patricia C Wrede, or Tamora Pierce. Or just re-read the harry potter books. They're just as enjoyable the 7th time around as the first, which is more than I can say for this one...
Rating:  Summary: This is a great beginning to a wonderful series Review: The Bad Beginning is the first book in the Series of Unfortunate Events. It is my favorite book by Lemony Snicket. Count Olaf is the most devil like creature in any book. The three main characters are Sonny,Klaus,and Violet Baudelaire. Their parents die in a horrible fire and that's when the unfortunate events begin. You have to buy this incredible book today.
Rating:  Summary: A book with no value Review: For any parent who loves for there children to read books that cause them to come away with a feeling of hope, joy, strength, or at the least to have learned something beneficial, this book is not for you. It was dark, cruel and perverse with what I felt was sexual tendencies. As I told my 11 yr old daughter, there are absolutely thousands of good books out there to read. Don't waste your time on Lemony Snicket!
Rating:  Summary: The run of da life Review: The book The Bad Begining from A Series of Unfortunate Events is a book that hooks you to keep reading on. The book takes place in a quiet, peacful, and dull town. . The day starts out like any other day, until the Baudelaire's house burns down killing both parents and leaving the three children. The Baudelaire children are Violet, the oldest, who makes funny inventions, Klaus, the middle aged boy, who looks at bugs in a pool of water, and Sunny, the youngest, who bites and chews on things. The book is very depresing and that why it is funny to read. The book is about the three children ovecome the death of their parents. They also have to deal with the wrath of Count Olaf, who is the closest relative. The three children were sent to live with him. Count Olaf is a nasty guy with a run down house. Count Olaf is mean to the children. For example, he only gives them cold lumpy oatmeal for breakfast. The children are in for a ride of their life. Count Olaf wants the money that the children inherited from their parents when they died in the fire. This book is a must read if you like good books. A five star book.
Rating:  Summary: light reading; very different from Harry P. Review: A charming little book! I read it in one sitting, and it wasn't at all what I expected. For one thing, these have been sold along side the Harry Potter books and this one, at least, had no magic in it. On the contrary, it was very down-to-earth. The children's solutions to their problems did not seem particularly far-fetched. Although the books are "dark" in some ways, they do not teach a helpless outlook. On the contrary, the kids usually solves their problems by either reading books (law books, in this case) or by using their minds to come up with technological solutions. Their plans are frequently thwarted, and they have to start over again, but they don't give up. The plot is simple: three orphaned kids must deal with a malevolent guardian who's after their money. The fun part is the witty, entertaining prose. My only criticism is that frequent explanations of word meanings get old. As a child, I derived most of my word definitions from context and figured things out quite neatly. This author stops the dialogue to define words, which is cute the first few times and gets a little annoying towards the end. However, this is a children's book, and perhaps children like that sort of thing. At any rate, I will definitely read the second one.
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