Vile Village (Series of Unfortunate Events, #7)

by Lemony Snicket

Brett Helquist (Illustrator)

There is nothing to be found in the pages of A Series of Unfortunate Events but misery and despair. You still have time to choose another international best-seller to read. But if you must know what unpleasantries befall the charming and clever Baudelaire children read on...Within the chapters of The Vile Village Violet, Klaus and Sunny face such unpleasant matters as migrating crows, an angry mob, a newspaper headline, the arrest of innocent people, the Deluxe cell, and some very strange hats. With 5 million copies sold in the UK alone, one might consider Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events to make him one of the most successful children's authors of the past decade. We, however, consider these miserable so-called adventure stories and the Hollywood film starring Jim Carrey that accompanied the books for children as nothing more than a dreadful mistake.

• ISBN10: 0060288906
• ISBN13: 9780060288907
• Publish Date: 24 April 2001
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 8 September 2008
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperCollins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 212
• Language: English

Reviews

[thepunktheory]

What amazes me most about this series is how the same basic plot can be so fascinating and also different in each book, despite the fact that you know from the first page on how it will most likely end. So far all the installment had been interesting reads but The Vile Village marks sort of a turning point. If even possible, the story gets darker. Not only Count Olaf seems to be against the Beaudelairs by now it's almost the whole world. Furthermore, you can sense that from here on things will be a bit more mysterious and we are getting closer to finally finding out what V. F. D. stands for.
I've mentioned before that the narrator, Lemony Snicket, is reason enough to read this series and that the illustrations are beyond wonderful. No need to go into detail on that again, just a little reminder ;-)
The great thing about The Vile Village and also about the rest of the series is that despite the fact that you're dealing with children's books, very serious matters are picked up. If you see some of the stuff as metaphors you can identify a lot of criticism concerning our society. So even as an adult, this books will give you food for thought.


The Vile Village was a very dark yet fascinating story to read. I can't wait to follow the Beaudelairs in The Hostile Hospital!

[celinenyx]

This is the first book in the series that I'm reading for the first time (the others were childhood rereads) and one of the best. I love the village and the way the Elders are constantly bickering over their rules, and there was some nail-biting action going on at the end. I'm looking forward to learn more about the whole VFD thing, and how Mr Snicket himself is involved in the whole thing. He keeps giving us small clues, but I hope there will be some bigger clues in the next few books (or at least in the final one).

The seventh book, The Vile Village, sees the Baudelaire's back in Mr Poe's office waiting to find out what latest terrible living circumstance he's managed to find. Unfortunately, even distant relatives want nothing to do with them and Mr Poe is reduced to a new government program based on the idea 'it takes a village to raise a child'. The children at least have a choice of village - but with Paltryville (the location of the Lucky Smells Lumbermill, book 4), Tedia (near where Uncle Monty lives, book 2), Ophelia (Mr Poe vetoes this because of a rival bank - Ophelia Bank - yes good you have the children's welfare in mind) and V.F.D. - the final choice seems an obvious one. I mean, they still have no idea what V.F.D. stands for but being in a place that has the same initials can only lead them to the answers they seek.

Or not.

V.F.D. stands for the Village of Fowl Devotees and is home to a murder of crows. Although the whole village is supposed to be looking after them, they are placed in the care of Hector - the handyman - and are expected to confirm to the 19,000+ rules the town has and to do all the chores. Because what else would you do with three orphans.

Hector is an alright guardian by the standards of the Baudelaire's previous guardians - which means he believes them, he feeds them and he cares for them - but like all the rest is unwilling or unable to actually stand up to the town and defend them or help them when needed. On the other hand he's willing to let them live with forever and is even willing to home the Quagmire triplets if they ever find them. So still not the worst guardian they've had.

And then they're told that Count Olaf has been captured. If they could just find the Quagmire's then all would be well, but alas it's not to be. Count Olaf is really Jacques Snicket and before he gets a chance to explain why he has a matching eye tattoo on his ankle (apparently it's for his job for the volunteer... and that's all they know), he winds up dead - which is probably actually better for him because he was going to be burned at the stake. Then Officer Luciano (Esme Squalor) introduces Detective Dupin (Count Olaf) and the Baudelaire's are arrested for Jacques murder.

The plan this time is to burn two of the Baudelaire's at the stake and have one "escape" before being kidnapped and having to live with Count Olaf until he can get their fortune. All three manage to escape from jail, figure out that the Quagmire triplets are being kept in the Fowl Fountain and rescue them and then head over to Hector's to escape on Hector's self sustaining hot air mobile home. I enjoyed the use of the couplets hiding the clues to where the Quagmire's were. I liked it even better when I managed to figure it out myself.

Although the five children make it to Hector's, only the Quagmire's make it aboard the mobile home. The Quagmire notebooks are destroyed when they try to throw them down and the only consolation is that by destroying the notebook, Luciana accidentally kills a crow. When the Village of Fowl Devotees realise, the mob mentality that worked so well for Luciana and Dupin turns against them and they find themselves having to flee.

And so the Baudelaire's are once again on their own. This time they don't wait for Mr Poe and just leave the village on their own. Honestly, I would've been out of there at least three books ago.

Like the last book, I'm left with so many more questions, not least of which is who the hell is Jacques and how does he fit into the equation? 3 stars.

[ibeforem]

I think I enjoyed this one more than the last few. The formula was shaken up a bit. And I’ve never heard “deus ex machina” explained so well!