Rating: 
Summary: What a strange idea.
Review: Reverse psychology in its most freakish form.
From the start of any of Lemony Snicket's books, on the back of his books, and throughout the pages, Snicket urges readers to put down the book and for the reader to pick up something happier. Who would have thought that a children's author would successfully convince children to keep reading his books by making his stories everything that kids, stereotypically, don't want to read.
Spread like encyclopedic lice throughout his books are helpful explanations as to what some of the larger words he uses in his story mean. Soon our children will be using words that we aren't even sure as to what the meanings of them are.
All in all Snicket's stories aren't really all the groundbreaking but are a delight to read simply for the author's commentary into the lives of the unfortunate Baudelaire children, and occasionally references to the author's own life.
I strongly recommend these books for anyone who enjoys Roald Dahl's style of writing, both in his children's stories and his more adult short stories. Snicket grabs your attention and squeezes it until a passerby could easily mistaken it for an Italian zucchini.
An instant classic for anyone who enjoys reading about other peoples woes.
Rating: 
Summary: I like the illustrations, but not the story
Review: This book was compared to the Harry Potter books in a famous entertainment magazine and I decided to purchase it since I loved the Harry Potter books. I am not sure if the targetted age group for this book is the same as H.P., but it feels much more juvenile. The author keeps interrupting the story to define words, which is highly annoying. Also the characters are not very well developed and everything is very predictable. It does not live up to the hype. Check it out in a library before you spend your money on it.
Rating:
Summary: Throw back to classic tales for Children
Review: Once upon a time tale for and about children were dark and dreadful. The stepmother in the end of snow white dances to her death in iron shoes heated over hot coals, the little mermaid dies, these are not happy stories. These stories show that kids books don't always have to be light and happy, but explore the darker side of life. Also, rarely has there been a writer who feels that maybe, just maybe, it might be nice to explain the meanings of words to young children, in a way that does not demean them, but will allow them to retain the information
Rating:
Summary: The Bad Beginning Grabs You
Review: The Bad Beginning by author Lemony Snicket is a classic tale of woe. Although terrible things happen to the Baudelaire children, the author cleverly uses his sense of humor to provide comedy relief. I would reccomend this book to any adult or teenager, as you have to be older to understand the quick and witty humor.
Rating:
Summary: The Best One I've read(So Far!)
Review: I've only read the first 4,but this is definatly the best one I've read!Count Olaf is the best villian since Voldermort(Harry Potter)!I didn't really want 2 read these books at first,but they turned out 2 be great,they replaced Harry Potter(who I've been a fan of since the first book came out)while i was waiting for book 5!
Rating:
Summary: A Bad Beginning- for them, but not for me!
Review: I really loved this book. I thought that, though it was unrelentingly depressing, it had humor in the style in which it was written. It seemed more like a conversation than a book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Bad Beginning
Review: Most books start with a happy beginning.That is how it started with this book.For about a few pages it was a happy beginning.Then the sky got dark and that,in my opinion, was the start of Lemony Snicket's book. It is hard to say what age is appropriate for this book. Under the age of eight will probably get a little scary.But I wouldn't be surprised if a adult got spooked by this ghastly tale. There are eight more books in this series and you can go to [the website]
Rating:
Summary: Mixed feelings, reality missing
Review: This book was actually not that bad. It keeps you hooked and makes you finish it. But, I want to point out some things about it that as much as they are key to the book, they are also major flaws.
1. The children. The children are realitively bleak. The author can support this with the fact that they have horrible lives, but it does not make the characters too interesting or fun. They are usually very sad, and are never funny. This might make the book very different, but it would give the characters more attributes that people can look up to.
2. The stupidness of adults. Every single adult in this book is incredibly stupid except for the bad guy. Mr. Poe is the obvious problem, and continues to be throughout the books. He is never believes the children until they come up with a good plan to save the day. In one of the books, Mr. Poe sends them off to work at a mill. He can never recognize Count Olaf in his various costumes, and often it seems that Count Olaf counts on Mr. Poe's stupidness. In the second book, the children refuse to ride in the car back with "Stephano" really Olaf in disguise, and Mr. Poe is so stupid he practically puts them in the car with him. Also, Justice Strauss cannot see that Count Olaf is using her to have the play where he marries Violet. Count Olaf is so nasty, he hits Sunny. But when the children tell MR. Poe of this, Mr. Poe says that it is Count Olaf's style of parenting. Mr. Poe is the bad guy the way I see it. He is always coughing and is so stupid. That's why I hate this book. It shows that grown-ups are very stupid and kids have to fight bad guys on their own. When Count Olaf escapes in the second book, Mr. Poe refuses to chase after him on the grounds that, "Grown Men do not get themselves involved in car chases".
IT's a book I love to hate. Don't read it though.
Rating: 
Summary: A horrid little book -- why is it getting good reviews?!?
Review: We've been reading reviews and recommendations for months, so I went out and bought an edition of Lemony Snicket's book -- the 1st book in the series. I read it last night and I must say, I do NOT get the fanfare it is receiving. I think its a horrid little book. The anti-'Harry Potter'... children at the whim (evil or stupid) of adult forces around them and they never prevail over their fate. It is Charles Dickens without things coming out alright in the end.The children are left orphans in the first chapter when their parents die in a fire. They are sent to live with a distant cousin who emotionally and physically abuses them while trying to steal their fortune. The children outwit his scheme to gain access to their trust fund and have happiness in their grasp when they are invited to stay in a wonderful loving home, but the executor of their parent's estate forbids it because he doesn't think it would honor the wishes of their parents to the letter. So they are dragged off to await his poor judgement yet again. And in between this all is a rather stilted writing style with caricature characters.
This is going back to the store IMMEDIATELY!
Rating:
Summary: A Bad Beginning - A Good Beginning to the Series
Review: A Bad Beginning was a really good beginning to what seems will be a fun, though miserable, series. This is the story of the Baudelaire's. To say that nothing goes right for them is an understatement. They face death, attempted murder, abuse, hunger, etc., etc. As each new trial, here meaning bad thing that happens to them, comes up, though, the three Baudelaire's lean on each other to come through the difficulty. That's the great thing about the book. The children go through so many horrible things, mainly caused by Count Olaf, and yet they learn ways to trudge ahead using their intelligence, their humor, and their love for one another. The lessons taught are important for anyone to learn. Bad things do happen, but it is possible to survive and to be happy - especially since there is someone in the world who will love you and help you. The great lessons here are taught in a really interesting, humorous, and exciting story. I really recommend A Bad Beginning to everyone, and I am really looking forward to reading the rest of this series.
|
