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.
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!
Reading updates
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Started reading
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5 April, 2017:
Finished reading
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5 April, 2017:
Reviewed