The Miserable Mill (Series of Unfortunate Events #4)

While Count Olaf has many associates from his original acting troop who help him in his attempts to steal the Baudelaire fortune, The Miserable Mill is the first book where someone from outside joins the attempts. Dr. Orwell is an optometrist who lives in Paltryville, the city where our story takes place and she plays a huge role in this novel.

The Miserable Mill, by Lemony Snicket, starts off with the Baudelaire children being adopted by Sir who runs the Lucky Mills Lumber Company. Instead of providing a warm and nurturing home, he forces the three children to work the dangerous lumber machines, share a bunk in a dormitory with fellow workers, get paid in coupons, and have a lunch of a mere stick of gum. Even Sir’s partner Charles, who is treated like an assistant rather than an equal, thinks that the children shouldn’t be working. Charles tries to sneak them extra food and show them the library, but as he won’t stand up to Sir, it does little to help the situation.

While working at the Mill, one of Count Olaf’s associates trips Klaus and breaks Klaus’ glasses. To get them fixed, Klaus is sent to the only optometrist in the area, the aforementioned Dr. Orwell. After his appointment, Klaus returns confused and doesn’t seem to hear and understand what Violet and Sunny say to him. As it turns out, Dr. Orwell is a hypnotist and has hypnotized Klaus to cause accidents and hurt people around the mill. When Violet and Sunny go to confront the doctor about what is happening they discover Count Olaf in her office, and the villains laugh at the orphan’s pitiful attempts to stop them from stealing the fortune and their lives.

Luckily, and that is not a word often used to describe the Baudelaire children since that dreadful day at Briney Beach, they are able to outwit the evil adults (with no help from Charles, Sir or Mr. Poe). Violet, not usually a researcher, reads books on eyes and hypnosis to break the hold on her brother, Klaus helps to build an invention that stops the lumber machine from killing anyone, and Sunny uses her sharp teeth to protect her siblings from being stabs by Dr. Orwell.

Unfortunately, Sir blames the entire incident on the children, and sends them off to a boarding school until Mr. Poe can find another guardian to care for them. This book start to reveal that the evilness of Count Olaf and his associates is much more far-reaching than the children thought. Dr. Orwell was willing to hurt the children and listen to Count Olaf even though she wasn’t in his acting troop. The novel sets up that the children need to be wary of people they haven’t met as Count Olaf might know them from somewhere else and be working together.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book to Movie Review

While movies almost never live up to the book, I thought that A Series of Unfortunate Events did a very good job. Yes, things were changed, especially the ending. But trying to make a conclusion to a movie that only covers part of a series needs to do that sometimes. The writers and producers took a lot of liberty with that ending, but it was a good one, and it fit the end of a movie that was not going to have any sequels.

            One of the most true parts of the book-to-movie adaptation was the role of te narrator. Played eby Jude Law in the film, the narrator comments throughout the movie, pausing and giving commentary just like Lemony Snicket does in the books. He even pulls direct lines from the book like “stop reading/watching now” and telling people they should just change the channel and find something else. The narration was one of the best parts of the film, mainly because it was so true to the book.

            Lets talk about casting. I thought the casting was just this side of perfect. I am not usually the biggest Jim Carrey fan, but he was the perfect Count Olaf, mainly because he has the ability and facial expressions to pull off so many different characters. I love that Meryl Streep played Aunt Josephine, and I thought that Liam Aiken and Emily Browning played the roles of Klaus and Violet beautifully. They had the mannerisms of children who had lost everything, but were trying to keep it together more for each other than themselves.

            Now for the story itself, the movie was very true to both the Reptile Room and Wide Window. They got the character of both guardians down perfectly, and the storyline of both were followed down to the letter. The biggest difference between the books and movie was the first book, when Count Olaf was their guardian.

            The Baudelaire’s get taken from Count Olaf the first time in the film because he tries to get a train to run over them while locked in a car. Because of that, the children are taken away. After Aunt Josephine’s death, Mr. Poe finds Count Olaf with the children on the lake and believes that Olaf has saved them, rather than kill Aunt Josephine.

            The fake marriage takes place then, after the deaths of Uncle Monty and Aunt Josephine. Here again the movie took liberties, trying (in my opinion) to make a good conclusion for a single film. In the book, Violet gets out of the marriage by signing with her left hand, but in the film Count Olaf catches her doing that and makes her change hands. Klaus and Sunny are stuck in the tower, where Klaus finds a machine that magnifies light and can cause fires to start at far away locations. This hints to the fact that Count Olaf burned the Baudelaire family home, and has done so to many other homes as well. Using that device, Klaus aims it at the marriage document and burns it to shreds.

            The movie ends with hope that the Baudelaire children have hope, and that together they can get through anything. While in the books they are always steadfastly loyal and caring for one another, there is little hope for their future. Overall, it is a great movie, and one that I enjoy watching all the time, but one just needs to be prepared for a different ending.

Wide Window (Series of Unfortunate Events #3)

Rereading the Wide Window by Lemony Snicket was a great experience, and I think a lot of that is because out of the first three books that were turned into a movie, this is the novel that was changed the most. Well, not changed so much as so much of it was left out. I had forgotten so many of the details, and it almost felt like reading it for the first time. Lemony Snicket has a wonderful way with the names of people and places. He uses so many alliterations for places and often the names he gives the characters have underlying meanings if one has a grasp of vocabulary and history. This book was no exception with places like Lake Lachrymose and Curdled Cave, and names like Captain Sham (who is really Count Olaf) and even Josephine and Ike are famous hurricanes. The entire Series of Unfortunate Events if filled with names and places like this, and it makes it such a joy to read.

Violet, Klaus and Sunny find themselves with their third guardian in this book, their Aunt Josephine. The woman is terrified of almost everything, believing that a doormat will trip people entering the house, door handles will shatter and blind her, and the stove will burn the house down. She does however love grammar, and is constantly correcting the children’s, even when they are upset or in Sunny’s case, a baby.

While at the store a short time after the Baudelaire’s arrived, they run into Captain Sham, Count Olaf in disguise.  As usual, no one believes the children about who he is, and Olaf is able to charm Aunt Josephine into liking and trusting him. Just like with Uncle Monty, that is a big mistake. The three Baudelaire’s come out of their room one day to find the window overlooking the lake below smashed and a note saying that Aunt Josephine has taken her life and if leaving the three children in the care of Captain Sham.

Despair wraps around the children until Klaus and Violet realize that the note was a code, telling them that Aunt Josephine had only faked her death and was at Curdled Cave. At lunch with Mr. Poe and Count Olaf, the three manage to sneak away, steal a sail boat and with the help of Aunt Josephine’s atlas, find Curdled Cave and their Aunt.

Sadly, that is not the end of the story. Aunt Josephine is as irrational, scared, and more concerned with grammar than the children’s safety. After pleading and threatening her with realtors (another of her fears), she finally agrees to go back with the children and confront Olaf, hopefully putting him in jail. While sailing back to shore however the sailboat is attacked by vicious Lachrymose Leeches, who smell the food that Aunt Josephine had just eaten.

Violet and Klaus start to signal the shore for help, but the only help that arrives is Count Olaf, who pushes Aunt Josephine into the water and watches as the leeches tear her apart. Once back on shore, Mr. Poe refuses to believe that Captain Sham is really Olaf until Sunny bites his wooden leg, revealing his eye tattoo underneath. Of course, thanks to Mr. Poe’s ineptitude and short sidedness Olaf once again escapes capture, leaving the children sitting on the pier wondering what will happen to them next.

Reptile Room (Series of Unfortunate Events #2)

The second Series of Unfortunate Events book, entitled The Reptile Room, follows the Bauldelaires to their second guardian. Wary at first, the three children find themselves happy for the first time since the death of their parents, and believe themselves to be safe from Count Olaf. Unfortunately, happiness is not something the Baudelaires are able to have for very long. 

Uncle Monty, a renowned snake specialist has hired a new assistant to assist them while in Peru. When this Stephano shows up at the house however, the children recognize him as Count Olaf (only with a beard, shaved eyebrows, and makeup covering his eye tattoo).  The children try to tell their newest guardian who Stephano really is, but he doesn't listen. While he loves and cares for the three Baudelairs, he still finds folly with believing the things They try and tell him. 

It is early one morning that Olaf tells the children that their uncle Monty has been killed by a snake, and that he will be taking them to Peru, a place with lax guardian and inheritance laws. 

It is thanks to Violet's impressive inventive skills amiss chaos and danger, Klaus' knowledge and Sunny's biting and screaming that they are able to catch Olaf in his lies. When Mr. Poe attempts to call the police, Olaf is smuggled away in a doctor’s car driven by one of his henchmen. The children are safe for another novel, but Olaf is still out there trying to hurt them and steal their inheritance.   

Bad Beginnings (A Series of Unfortunate Events)

A series of unfortunate events has been one of my favorite series since I was in middle school. I still remember having to wait months between books, and talking with my friends about what I thought the "note to the editor" at the end of each book meant for the Baudelaire children. This summer while taking the Never Ending Book Quiz on GoodReads I can across a question about Count Olaf. It made me nostalgic for the series and I decided to reread all thirteen of them. Since they are short books, at least they start out that way, I will reread the series within two weeks. That means one review a day for nearly two weeks. 

The Bad Beginning starts the tale of the Baudelaire Children and their unfortunate lives. While at the beach, Violet, Klaus, and sunny are told that their parents have died in a fire and are being sent to live with their closest relatives. Here starts the ineptitude of adults in this series. Rather than interpreting the parents last wishes as family the children knew well, Mr. Poe send them to Count Olaf, who happens to be the relative in the nearest zip code. 

Olaf is a horrible man who hardly feeds the children, forces them to share one small bed, and is only after the fortune the Baudelaire parents left their three children.  The only thing standing in Olaf's way is that Violet isn't 18 and can't touch the money, even as her guardian he can't get near it. So Olaf hatches a plan, to wed the fourteen year old, giving him the legal right to all of her money. The three try to find away out of the marriage, but Olaf's friends kidnap Sunny, the youngest and threaten to kill the baby if Violet and Klaus don't agree to the plan. 

All seemed hopeless, adults wouldn't believe them, and with their sister's life hanging in the balance Klaus had nearly given up. Luckily, the two oldest Baudelaire children are smart, and find a way to get Count Olaf to admit his plan before he actually marries Violet. 

Just as the author says that he wishes the story ended there, that the children are giving to a loving relative, it would make for a boring series. Olaf and his friends elude police capture, promising to come after the children's fortune and kill them. 

I love this series so much, and am excited to continue reading it. I love the style the author uses. It's as if he's an investigative journalist following their story. He makes the reader laugh, even when the Baudelaire's situation looks bleak and impossible.  It's great for younger audiences wanting to expand their vocabulary in new and fun ways. I would recommend this book series to people who enjoy novels like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Spiderwick Chronicles, the Golden Compass, and Anything on a Waffle.