funstm
Written on May 13, 2012
Yes and no. The Unauthorized Autobiography details some of Lemony Snicket's history and the history of the V.F.D. if not what it actually stands for. But a lot of the text is in code or blurred out or destroyed so I don't have anywhere near as many answers as I'd like.
Basically the V.F.D. is a volunteer organisation of some description made up of children mainly from the sounds of it - kidnapped children who are stolen by their ankles which is why they are tattooed on their ankles. These members are taught to disguise themselves and infiltrate places. Count Olaf is/was a member as is Esme. Hector may or may not be - there is a reference to a H that wants to build a self sustaining mobile home so possibly. But one of their members is betraying them and this led to them taking sides? I think that was the gist anyway. I'm not entirely sure who they're being betrayed to but it's a secret organisation so I'm sure they have plenty of enemies.
There's also lots of references to things that have happened behind the scenes. For instance, Mr Poe (Arthur) never responded to the Baudelaire's telegram because his sister, Eleanora Poe recently sent an article from the Daily Punctilio about the dangers of telegrams being sent to the bank. So he ordered that all telegrams be ignored. In addition to the Baudelaire's telegram, he also ignores one from Eleanora claiming to be imprisoned in a basement and that she suspects the articles in the paper might be wrong. Gasp. Who would've thought?
In terms of the story, the companion novel has a few clues that contribute but the difficulty in deciphering the text makes it kind of annoying. 2 stars.