Ten years have passed since the last book in A Series Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket (also known as Daniel Handler) was published. The tale contained within the 13 volume series is, at times, so heart wrenching, one must take a break from reading, lest he or she fall in to a pit of despair - the word "despair," as you well know, means a complete absence of hope.
If you have yet to read these books, plan a quick junket - which here means "a pleasurable excursion" - to your local library and check out all of them. Yes, all 13 books; if the librarian will allow it. (There are actually 14 books if you include the Unauthorized Biography of Lemony Snicket which was published between The Hostile Hospital and The Carnivorous Carnival.
These books chronicle the woeful tale of the three Baudelaire Orphans (Violet, Klaus and Sunny) as the abominable, (which in this context means "completely awful,") Count Olaf attempts to steal their inheritance and dispatch, or kill, them. And while the books are extremely unpleasant and may bring a reader to tears, I highly recommend them all, the whole kit and caboodle.
Avoid the film at all costs. While Jim Carrey does a top-notch job of bringing the treacherous Count Olaf to life on screen, the screen writer encapsulated, or mashed together with complete disregard of chronological order, the events of the first three books. (For shame Robert Gordon, for shame.)
However, Netflix has recently added The Series of Unfortunate Events to their library. The show is the complete antitheses of the film. The use of the word "antitheses" here indicates the Netflix show is as incredibly good as the 2004 film is awful. In other words, the series is very, very well done.
If you haven't watched it yet, take a moment to view the trailer:
If you have yet to read these books, plan a quick junket - which here means "a pleasurable excursion" - to your local library and check out all of them. Yes, all 13 books; if the librarian will allow it. (There are actually 14 books if you include the Unauthorized Biography of Lemony Snicket which was published between The Hostile Hospital and The Carnivorous Carnival.
These books chronicle the woeful tale of the three Baudelaire Orphans (Violet, Klaus and Sunny) as the abominable, (which in this context means "completely awful,") Count Olaf attempts to steal their inheritance and dispatch, or kill, them. And while the books are extremely unpleasant and may bring a reader to tears, I highly recommend them all, the whole kit and caboodle.
Avoid the film at all costs. While Jim Carrey does a top-notch job of bringing the treacherous Count Olaf to life on screen, the screen writer encapsulated, or mashed together with complete disregard of chronological order, the events of the first three books. (For shame Robert Gordon, for shame.)
However, Netflix has recently added The Series of Unfortunate Events to their library. The show is the complete antitheses of the film. The use of the word "antitheses" here indicates the Netflix show is as incredibly good as the 2004 film is awful. In other words, the series is very, very well done.
If you haven't watched it yet, take a moment to view the trailer:
But, don't say I didn't warn you. The life of the Baudelaire orphans is, quite literally, a series of unfortunate events. But on the bright side you will learn the meanings of numerous interesting words including ersatz, penultimate, austere and feign. Which may be of some assistance if you happen to be a member of a secret organization.
Oh yes, and after you do read the books, go back and rewatch the series to see just how many Easter Eggs you can find.
I hope you are a very fine detective...
1 comment:
My son loved the books at the beginning. But the repetitiveness of the narrative got to him after a while and he finished the series by audio book. We watched the first episode on Netflix last week - very very well done, but too slow now for the almost 17 year old action-loving guy :)
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