Of Secrets, Schisms and Treacheries: A Series of Unfortunate Events
While awaiting the release of the final Harry Potter book on July 21, 2007, I found myself getting hooked to A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. The Series is composed of thirteen books and several other accompanying books which appear to be a prequel or a sequel to book the thirteenth.
I remember seeing the A Series of Unfortunate Events in Powerbooks around a couple of years ago. I picked it up, considered to purchase, but eventually dropped it, heeding the warning that it contained, as can be clearly inferred from the title, nothing but narrations of unfortunate events. A few weeks before my birthday last year, I noticed that bookstores were all a-hype over the release of The End, the concluding book of the Series and I got curious once more. But of course, I couldn't read The End before reading the previous books and I was quite taken aback when I realized I had to catch up reading twelve books. It was only when I was able to borrow the Series from a friend was I able to start reading but then again, she didn't have The Wide Window, The Miserable Mill and The Austere Academy, books 3-5 of the Series so for quite sometime, I stopped at The Reptile Room and tried to look for the three books before proceeding to read The Ersatz Elevator. My search being futile and my unwillingness to buy my own copies of the books, I proceeded to read The Ersatz Elevator anyway - I kinda figured that the author eventually referred to previous incidents in the books I haven't read so I was thought it was fine to skip the three books afterall. Besides, I though that there wasn't too much foreshadowing of the characters so I really wouldn't miss much if I wasn't able to read a few books. I wouldn't dare do that with J.K. Rowling, as her previous books have proven that each tiny detail could be very significant in the story. Anyway, my friend's collection is only up to Book Eleventh: The Slippery Slope, but by the time I finished it, I was so itching and aching to know what would become of the Baudelaires that I purchased The Penultimate Peril last week and The End last Tuesday.
I finished reading The End a little past midnight last night, and upon waking up, things have started to sink in. I was wrong to skim through a few pages where Lemony Snicket rambles what I thought were merely lines injected to supply dark humor into the story. I was wrong not to have tried harder to remember details from the past books. I was wrong to give up trying to read sentences which were deliberately written to challenge not too persistent and impatient readers. I was wrong to think a few years back that I wouldn't grow to like the Series cause now, I'm hooked. Creepingly, it got to me and I am eager to know more about the Baudelaires, the Snickets and the V.F.D. In fact, I just might troop to my favorite book store tomorrow and try to get a copy of the Beatrice Letters, Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Biography, and The Bad Beginning: A Rare Edition which contains portraits of the characters and "an extra chapter filled with author's notes on the book, many of which foreshadow later events in the series".
Being on the brink of being outside the United Nation's definition of "youth", I couldn't help but be conscious whether I would want my own children or my dear godchildren to get hold and read of the Series since it is classified under children's books. The past years, I have become aware that I was actually subconsciously building up my book collection, thinking of the day when I will be able to share them with a friend, a child or a lover. Thinking about it, I was anticipating how I could "protect" young would-be readers from certain books, shielding them from it until they are at a certain age which I have not determined the cut off as of yet. Yes, I am guilty of scheming to censor this early but then, I believe it is for good reason.
*Spoilers*
There a lot a lot of lessons to learn from the Series and it is a shame that I don't have anyone to discuss it with, among my friends at least. I couldn't blame them for starting the book and not finishing them as the repetitive unfortunate incidents in the lives of the characters tend to be discouraging, and of course, there are days when we need something to cheer us up. However, towards the second half of the Series, things are starting to get gray and the path to what is moral, what is right and waht is just which was once so clear had become hazy, narrow and yes, treacherous. Many times in the story, the Baudelaires helplessly thought of their home, when it was safe and they were protected by their parents, and hoped that they still had the same refuge - much the same way whenever we have chosen to play safe, or when our own parents have chosen to shield us from the world. At some point the Baudelaires found a place quite as safe as the home they once had, and yet, having been made aware of how the world is, they made the choice to get out of their safe place and battle the truths and the treacheries that lay ahead. And indeed, as it became unclear whether there is a noble V.F.D., things get muddled and murky when one is trying to do what it right. It was actually poignant to depict that schisms - divides, parting of ways, can occur even among people who think they are doing what is moral, which at times "depends on how you look at it".
Having this personal sentiment on how to share my books (lovers and friends can read just about any of my books, by the way), I couldn't help but be able to relate to the dilemma faced by the characters in the Series. In the Series, adults kept secrets from the children or in some cases, from adults, in an attempt to shield them from the ways of the world, to preserve their rosy view of life, to spare them from the anguish of knowing the truth. (As I'm writing this, the current discussions in my block mailing list is about how to rear a child: antiseptically clean kids vis-a-vis rolling in the dirt, with sipon and uhog dripping from their noses or dried up in their faces kids.)
In any case, I've decided that the kids would be able to get hold of the Series any other way, but as far as my copies are concerned, they would only get hold of it when they are in high school or if I see them as potentially mature and wise at an early age, maybe when they are 9 or 10 at my sole discretion. The author's frequent deliberate definition of certain words and the comparison of literal and figurative meanings, as well as elaborate explanation of many idiomatic expressions would surely be a huge help for kids in school. The overall tone of the Series also puts much importance to being well-read, having stated outright that cruel people are not usually well-read.
There are a lot of things to learn from the Series - it is a social commentary, it is a synthesis of centuries of socio-political and philosophical thought (Can't help thinking of Machiavelli when the Baudelaires had a moral crisis whether the end justifies the means - why their quest for justice against a treacherous person led them into doing treacherous deeds. And I also can't help but see traces of communism, and be reminded of Orwell's 1984, in their leader Ishmael and how he runs what Count Olaf calls Olaf-Land. I think politicians, fence-sitters and kibitzers alike should read this book in time for the coming elections. So much for reading The Art of War and Power for them. It is even possible that they see themselves in the characters of the Series - I wonder who's gonna be Count Olaf, Justice Strauss or the Baudelaires...
In the end, The End did not answer all the questions I have about the lives of the Baudelaires and everyone they have encountered after they were orphaned (although I really, really hope The Dealth Hallows will, but that's a different story, literally). But then, Lemony Snicket wrote that the beginning of the story is not really the beginning but could be the end of another story. And the end could be the beginning or just another story, or even the middle of someone else's. Depends on how you look at it.
Looking back to the day when I decided to decide not to buy The Bad Beginning a few years back, I wouldn't have thought of the day when I would say that, I think Daniel Handler a.k.a. Mr. Lemony Snicket is brilliant. Yes, I think he is.
I remember seeing the A Series of Unfortunate Events in Powerbooks around a couple of years ago. I picked it up, considered to purchase, but eventually dropped it, heeding the warning that it contained, as can be clearly inferred from the title, nothing but narrations of unfortunate events. A few weeks before my birthday last year, I noticed that bookstores were all a-hype over the release of The End, the concluding book of the Series and I got curious once more. But of course, I couldn't read The End before reading the previous books and I was quite taken aback when I realized I had to catch up reading twelve books. It was only when I was able to borrow the Series from a friend was I able to start reading but then again, she didn't have The Wide Window, The Miserable Mill and The Austere Academy, books 3-5 of the Series so for quite sometime, I stopped at The Reptile Room and tried to look for the three books before proceeding to read The Ersatz Elevator. My search being futile and my unwillingness to buy my own copies of the books, I proceeded to read The Ersatz Elevator anyway - I kinda figured that the author eventually referred to previous incidents in the books I haven't read so I was thought it was fine to skip the three books afterall. Besides, I though that there wasn't too much foreshadowing of the characters so I really wouldn't miss much if I wasn't able to read a few books. I wouldn't dare do that with J.K. Rowling, as her previous books have proven that each tiny detail could be very significant in the story. Anyway, my friend's collection is only up to Book Eleventh: The Slippery Slope, but by the time I finished it, I was so itching and aching to know what would become of the Baudelaires that I purchased The Penultimate Peril last week and The End last Tuesday.
I finished reading The End a little past midnight last night, and upon waking up, things have started to sink in. I was wrong to skim through a few pages where Lemony Snicket rambles what I thought were merely lines injected to supply dark humor into the story. I was wrong not to have tried harder to remember details from the past books. I was wrong to give up trying to read sentences which were deliberately written to challenge not too persistent and impatient readers. I was wrong to think a few years back that I wouldn't grow to like the Series cause now, I'm hooked. Creepingly, it got to me and I am eager to know more about the Baudelaires, the Snickets and the V.F.D. In fact, I just might troop to my favorite book store tomorrow and try to get a copy of the Beatrice Letters, Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Biography, and The Bad Beginning: A Rare Edition which contains portraits of the characters and "an extra chapter filled with author's notes on the book, many of which foreshadow later events in the series".
Being on the brink of being outside the United Nation's definition of "youth", I couldn't help but be conscious whether I would want my own children or my dear godchildren to get hold and read of the Series since it is classified under children's books. The past years, I have become aware that I was actually subconsciously building up my book collection, thinking of the day when I will be able to share them with a friend, a child or a lover. Thinking about it, I was anticipating how I could "protect" young would-be readers from certain books, shielding them from it until they are at a certain age which I have not determined the cut off as of yet. Yes, I am guilty of scheming to censor this early but then, I believe it is for good reason.
*Spoilers*
There a lot a lot of lessons to learn from the Series and it is a shame that I don't have anyone to discuss it with, among my friends at least. I couldn't blame them for starting the book and not finishing them as the repetitive unfortunate incidents in the lives of the characters tend to be discouraging, and of course, there are days when we need something to cheer us up. However, towards the second half of the Series, things are starting to get gray and the path to what is moral, what is right and waht is just which was once so clear had become hazy, narrow and yes, treacherous. Many times in the story, the Baudelaires helplessly thought of their home, when it was safe and they were protected by their parents, and hoped that they still had the same refuge - much the same way whenever we have chosen to play safe, or when our own parents have chosen to shield us from the world. At some point the Baudelaires found a place quite as safe as the home they once had, and yet, having been made aware of how the world is, they made the choice to get out of their safe place and battle the truths and the treacheries that lay ahead. And indeed, as it became unclear whether there is a noble V.F.D., things get muddled and murky when one is trying to do what it right. It was actually poignant to depict that schisms - divides, parting of ways, can occur even among people who think they are doing what is moral, which at times "depends on how you look at it".
Having this personal sentiment on how to share my books (lovers and friends can read just about any of my books, by the way), I couldn't help but be able to relate to the dilemma faced by the characters in the Series. In the Series, adults kept secrets from the children or in some cases, from adults, in an attempt to shield them from the ways of the world, to preserve their rosy view of life, to spare them from the anguish of knowing the truth. (As I'm writing this, the current discussions in my block mailing list is about how to rear a child: antiseptically clean kids vis-a-vis rolling in the dirt, with sipon and uhog dripping from their noses or dried up in their faces kids.)
In any case, I've decided that the kids would be able to get hold of the Series any other way, but as far as my copies are concerned, they would only get hold of it when they are in high school or if I see them as potentially mature and wise at an early age, maybe when they are 9 or 10 at my sole discretion. The author's frequent deliberate definition of certain words and the comparison of literal and figurative meanings, as well as elaborate explanation of many idiomatic expressions would surely be a huge help for kids in school. The overall tone of the Series also puts much importance to being well-read, having stated outright that cruel people are not usually well-read.
There are a lot of things to learn from the Series - it is a social commentary, it is a synthesis of centuries of socio-political and philosophical thought (Can't help thinking of Machiavelli when the Baudelaires had a moral crisis whether the end justifies the means - why their quest for justice against a treacherous person led them into doing treacherous deeds. And I also can't help but see traces of communism, and be reminded of Orwell's 1984, in their leader Ishmael and how he runs what Count Olaf calls Olaf-Land. I think politicians, fence-sitters and kibitzers alike should read this book in time for the coming elections. So much for reading The Art of War and Power for them. It is even possible that they see themselves in the characters of the Series - I wonder who's gonna be Count Olaf, Justice Strauss or the Baudelaires...
In the end, The End did not answer all the questions I have about the lives of the Baudelaires and everyone they have encountered after they were orphaned (although I really, really hope The Dealth Hallows will, but that's a different story, literally). But then, Lemony Snicket wrote that the beginning of the story is not really the beginning but could be the end of another story. And the end could be the beginning or just another story, or even the middle of someone else's. Depends on how you look at it.
Looking back to the day when I decided to decide not to buy The Bad Beginning a few years back, I wouldn't have thought of the day when I would say that, I think Daniel Handler a.k.a. Mr. Lemony Snicket is brilliant. Yes, I think he is.
Labels: Children's book, dark humor
posted by wernicke at 11:30 AM
2 Comments:
Hi Wernicke,
You're right. Censoring should be done. Moreso, When it concerns children. It could be books, movies, or even the cartoons they watch. So, don't feel guilty for doing a responsible thing.
One thing I learned is that I can't force my son to read whatever I would like him to read, or even "encourage" him to read to have him develop an interest. I once bought him a Hardy Boys mystery, mainly because I guessed that he would like it the way I did when I was a kid, but he really didn't go for it; he chose to read, instead, the R.L. Stein horror book he borrowed from the school library. After that phase, he went for the Geronimo Stilton adventure series out of his own volition or, more possibly, I suspect, as influenced by his "library gang."
=)
I think it is a good sign that he is interested in reading, even if the stuff he reads are not those you thought would be of interest to him. =)
Post a Comment
<< Home