As Snicket says, if you don’t like watching children endure hardships, you may as well stop reading now.
Let me first say that recommending an age is impossible for this book. As a child, the movie was among my favorites, but I seldom met another kid who felt the same. Now I know why.
The Bad Beginning is written at a child’s reading level, clear as day. Yet, it wrestles with adult themes of grief, acceptance, and marriage. Nothing in this book will land unless a child has experienced grief as the Baudelaire children have. So, while an 8-year-old may understand the words, he/she won’t appreciate the story for years to come.
All of this is to say, exercise judgment when recommending this book to children.
Now, what is this book about? Though it couldn’t start more peacefully, The Bad Beginning wastes no time thrusting the children into orphanhood and injustice. One thing after another lands them in the worst place possible— Count Olaf’s house. The children immediately peg Count Olaf for the monster he is, and the reader is left wondering why all the adults turn their backs on the children here.
Nevertheless, the children are left alone. They must learn to appease Count Olaf while seeking their freedom.
If you’re hoping for a happy-go-lucky ending, Snicket marks a good place to stop reading, but if you want to walk with the Baudelaires in their grief and suffering, there will always be more unfortunate events to read.
Let me know if you think I should read them!
If you’re still reading, I’m sorry for whatever you’ve gone through. I hope you’ve found a community to hold and help you. For the Baudelaire, it wasn’t so.
After Mr. Poe tells the children they’re orphans, he takes them to his home, where they are anything but comfortable or comforted. His boys are brats (Although, it is funny to know he named one Edgar. Suddenly the poems make sense having known the boy), their clothes are uncomfortable, and they are quickly shipped to the closest relative.
Even considering the awful state of Count Olaf’s estate, Mr. Poe leaves the children there. They survive with one bed, minimal provisions, and maximum responsibilities. Count Olaf only allows them to live because he wants their fortune and concocts an awful plan to take it by marrying Violet, a mere child!
Count Olaf’s friends are equally sinister, encouraging him to beat the children and applauding his harsh treatment of them. Several even aid in kidnapping and holding Sunny, the baby, hostage.
In the end, the ceremony commences and Violet signs the paper, making her marriage official. Well, except that she uses her left hand which unofficiates it. Count Olaf is apprehended and a kind woman offers to adopt the children.
This is the happy point Snicket suggests closing the book.
However, this is not the end. One of Count Olaf’s henchmen hits the lights, allowing his escape. He gives one last warning to Violet that he will return, take their fortune, and dispose of the three Baudelaire children.
With Count Olaf slipping into the night, Mr. Poe delivers the sad news that the children cannot be adopted by anyone outside of their family and must be shipped to the next closest relative.
And with that, the first series of unfortunate events ends.
Should this series continue?
