A Year of Unfortunate Events — Part the First: Beatrice Begins

I propose that over the course of a year and a month I will re-read the entirety of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events to see how a series of children's books holds up to being read by a man in his mid-30s.

Hold up, I just ran the math and that would mean that these books started coming out when you were a freshman in high school.

Yes, that is correct, but I don't believe I started reading them until I was a senior.

That's worse!

We've definitely already had this discussion before. Anyway, I'll read one book in the series every month  and then on the 13th I'll post a write-up about it. We'll sort of play this one by ear from there. Oh, and consider this your SPOILER WARNING: These books have all been out for more than ten years, I will be discussing the plot of each book, including how they end.

Book the First  - The Bad Beginning

What did you remember about this before re-reading it?

Okay, so I'm pretty sure I've got a handle on the plot of this one. Since it was also the first section of the Jim Carrey version and comprised the first two episodes of the Neil Patrick Harris version on Netflix. This is the story about the Baudelaire orphans, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. After the death of their parents they're sent off to the ramshackle home of their nearest living relative, the sinister Count Olaf who has a unibrow and a tattoo on his ankle resembling an eye (remember that detail in the months that follow. In any case, he comes up with a plot to get ahold of the orphans' inheritance by marrying Violet (since she's only 14 he'll need the consent of her legal guardian, who happens to be, let me check my notes, oh right, Count Olaf, so that's convenient). As with the rest of the series, The Bad Beginning is littered with linguistic jokes and references to literature that the target audience (children) probably won't get, but which the secondary audience (the parents of children) probably will. And, I'm pretty sure this is the book that contains the "He found himself reading the same sentence over and over. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over." gag.

I would point out that you fit into neither of the demographics mentioned above.

Quiet, you! Now give me several days to re-read it.

Now that you've read it again, what did you think?

It's good. Turns out that I remembered the plot more or less accurately. But let's talk about the mechanics of how the book is written itself. A Series of Unfortunate Events operates on two levels. And I don't just mean that there are jokes and allusions that only an adult would get, but rather that both levels would be apparent to younger readers as well. So let's talk about the first level: The Bad Beginning is the story of Violet (14), Klaus (12), and Sunny (<1) Baudelaire, who, after the death of their parents, are sent to live with their distant cousin, the dastardly Count Olaf. Count Olaf concocts a scheme to gain financial control of the orphan's trust fund by staging a play in which he marries Violet with his neighbor Justice Strauss playing the judge and reading actual marriage vows — making the ceremony official. To ensure Violet's coöperation, he threatens to kill Klaus and Sunny if she tries anything funny during the play. However, Violet, thinking on her toes, signs the marriage contract with her left hand, invalidating the marriage and foiling Count Olaf's plot. Just when it seems Count Olaf will be exposed and brought to justice, he makes good his escape, leaving our heroes in the care of their banker, Mr. Poe, until he can find another suitable guardian. As far as kid's book plotting goes, Snicket nails it. Each chapter builds tension, forcing the Baudelaire's into an increasingly desperate plight and making the reader wonder how they can possibly escape it. And while it beggars belief that they live in a world where a marriage contract signed under such blatant duress could be considered valid, it is ultimately satisfying when the whole marriage is undone due to legalistic quibbling. This is partly due to the many instances in which Snicket draws attention to Violet's right-handedness so that the twist doesn't come out of left field. Meanwhile, The Bad Beginning puts a lot of work into establishing the characters that we'll be spending the next twelve books with. Olaf in particular is a fascinating creation and that most dangerous of enemies: a moderately clever reprobate who believes himself to be a criminal mastermind.

Let's go down a level. What is the actual project of A Series of Unfortunate Events? Satire. The work is a stylistic parody of children's adventure series. From the orphaned protagonists to the condescending vocabulary education, Snicket deftly skewers the tropes and clichés of children's literature. The Baudelaires live in a city near a beach in the year 19XX. The villain has a cartoonishly evil desire to murder preteens (yes I know I just praised Count Olaf's characterization, but if there's one thing we can learn from the series as a whole it's that things aren't always as they appear). The complete incompetence, impotence, and indifference of the "good"adult characters. But none of these approaches the parodic heights of Snicket's narration which is the element I've remembered most strongly (this book definitely includes the "He found himself reading the same sentence over and over." x3 gag). The books' gallows humor largely comes in the form of Snicket's exhortations that readers looking for a book with a happy ending should look elsewhere and the aforementioned vocabulary lessons (I hadn't realized that the first book even includes the first instance of Snicket giving the easy word first and explaining that it means the more advanced word).  And the best part of it (and I'll admit this is partially speculative as I have only read these books as an adult) is that the parody is comprehensible to children. It isn't meant to go over their heads and give their adults something to chuckle about. Snicket lets the kids in on the joke and that's nice.

Oh, I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the excellent illustrations by Brett Helquist, whose style strikes the perfect balance between menace and whimsy.

Were there any allusions you had to look up?

Mr. Poe's own children are named Edgar and Albert. I would have thought that Edgar and Allan would be more appropriate, but as it turns out there was also a 20th century poet named Edgar Albert Guest, of whom Dorothy Parker once said, "I would rather flunk my Wassermann test than read a poem by Edgar Guest." I then had to look up the Wassermann test which it turns out used to be used to diagnose syphillis, so pretty sick burn, Dorothy Parker. Judging by the excerpts on his Wikipedia entry, I'd say she's about right.

Lucas, your degree is in 20th Century American Literature, how are you unaware of Edgar Albert Guest?

My focus was primarily on Modern and Post-modern fiction, not poetry.

Is there anything else you'd like to say? Perhaps something troublingly censorious?

Well . .  . I mean, I did think when I was reading it that the complete uselessness and disinterest with which the adult characters respond to the Baudelaires' descriptions of Count Olaf's abusive and neglectful parenting did briefly spark a worry that these books might give kids the impression that they, too, shouldn't bother seeking help from adults. But, I do think that subsequent entries in the series do improve on this dynamic.

Okay.

That's it, "okay?"

Yeah.

All right, then. A Year of Unfortunate Events will return next month, we'll take a look at The Reptile Room.

Links:

Here's Lemony Snicket's website, if you're into that kind of thing.

Also, each book has an accompanying song by singer-songwriter Stephen Merritt's side project, The Gothic Archies. For the Bad Beginning we have "Scream and Run Away."

So, we're not gonna talk about the fact that Lemony Snicket is the pen name of the novelist Daniel Handler?

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