The Bad Beginning

4/5 stars

This is one of my favorite series and it never bores me no matter how many times I read it. I remember how amazed I was as I read, as I had never encountered this type of writing style. I loved how Lemony Snicket warned the readers on each book's cover that the Baudelaire's lives are unpleasant-there is no happy beginning, no happy end, and very few happy things occur throughout the series. I already knew what to expect, but the ways the characters are set up and the events that unfold in each book never failed to captivate me.

Spoilers:
In terms of the first book, we start on a beach where the three siblings are playing. We get a very good description of what to expect from each sibling. From how inventive Violet was to how aggressive Sunny could be, the book goes on to prove this throughout the book with the actions they take in certain situations. After this, we get to meet the series' main villain, Count Olaf. He immediately had them do difficult chores. Even though they tell Poe, he proves himself useless and fails to admit that Count Olaf is evil. I remember resonating with these scenes because they proved how adults tend to ignore them.

As we continue to read, we realize that he is carrying out a plan in which he will marry Violet and threaten her with having Sunny captive to force her to sign. I loved how she managed to figure out a way to ruin his plan while not making it obvious. She used her non-dominant hand to sign, making it invalid. This caused Count Olaf and his associates to flee. Although Justice Strauss (one of the relatively better adults in this book) offers to take them in once again, Poe steps in (this man annoyed me throughout the series). The story ends with them saying goodbye and being taken to another guardian.