As adults, we hardly ever reach for books targeted at children. The reasons are obvious, they are for children. However, a good story has no age, and a good children’s book should be a book for any age, such is the case for classics like The little prince, The Chronicles of Narnia, Peter Pan, and even Harry Potter. This too is the case in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.
A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series containing thirteen novels written by American author Daniel Handler under the pen name Lemony Snicket. The story follows Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, three recently orphaned siblings, and their turbulent life after their parents are gone. The books follow the siblings as they discover that there is more to their parent’s life and death. The children are placed in the custody of an apparent relative who clearly has nefarious intentions. It is clear to both the children and the reader that this relative, Count Olaf, is attempting to kill them and steal their inheritance. Count Olaf will follow the children to wherever they escape, leaving the children, little by little, with no place to go, and no one to turn to.
The books have a strong dark sense of humor, a sarcastic narrative and storytelling, and frequent cultural and literary allusions. The writer assumes the children to be on the known, to have no need for explanation, it doesn’t assume, as many books for children, that the kids aren’t capable. Yet, it does a fantastic job of explaining the references it makes. The siblings are well-rounded characters who start with the innocence of childhood, and as the narrative progresses, we see the Baudelaires being forced to understand the complexities of moral ambiguity.
The books make a strong criticism of the relationship that adults have with children. Most of the Baudelaires’ problems are derived from the incompetence of a system that is supposed to protect them and the adults that uphold them, even after seeing them fail. It also criticizes adults’ refusal to see children as capable humans and their inability to see beyond what they should be.
These book series are marketed for children, but there is no doubt that they can be, and they are being enjoyed by the public. Ever since they are first released in 1999, the books have been adapted into a movie Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), and a Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017).
