Series Deep Dive: A Series of Unfortunate Events

One of my goals for 2020 was to reread The Series of Unfortunate Events. I successfully finished on the very last day!

Partway through my reread, I realized I had the beginnings of a post lying around from years ago about this series and I thought I might finish it up during my reread.

I decided I kind of wanted to do overarching review of the series as to why it's so polarizing amongst readers, instead of doing individual book reviews. What makes them great and what turns people away. 

What makes them great

1. The fact that Lemony Snicket breaks all of the writing rules. There are so many places where he completely tosses the rule book out of the window. He has an entire page where he repeats the same word over and over, which normally would be really annoying, but it's hilarious in the context. One time he starts a chapter off with an explanation of deja vu and the very next page, it's the exact same chapter. He has alliteration everywhere. He has words written upside down and backwards and every which way. 

2. The characters. The characters are fantastic in so many ways. Some, such as Uncle Monty and Justice Strauss, are so kind and too good for the world. Some are awful, like Olaf and Esme. Others are misled or frustrating, such as Aunt Josephine or Hector. Even others, you're never sure if they're good or bad. Each character is unique and brings yet another level to the story that makes it sooo good.

3. The stylistic choices. The number 13 plays a big role in the series. There are thirteen books, each containing 13 chapters. VFD also is huge and is repeatedly used in different ways, such as Village of Fowl Devotees or Verbal Fridge Dialogue, making it more and more difficult to learn what VFD truly stands for, adding to the layers of mystery. 

4. The levels of meaning. Very little should be taken at face value in this series. Almost everything has a deeper meaning. Names. Events. Everything. Dewey is a librarian. Esme Squalor, the woman obsessed with being "in", so her name literally means "Living in Squalor". So many things in this series will come into play, even if they look to be meaningless at the beginning. 

5. The sense of humor. He writes with a very...brusque sense of humor, which I and many others find hilarious. It often hits when you least expect it, making the delivery even better!

What turns people away

1. The fact that Lemony Snicket breaks all of writing rules. Some people can't stand his style of writing. Often times his writing can be convoluted and confusing, which some people enjoy, but it turns other people off. 

2. The characters. Some people can't stand the characters. They're not "realistic" in the sense that they have the capabilities of normal human beings, such as a baby that can cook. That isn't the point of the series. They're realistic in the sense that they represent humanity in a truer form, however many people don't like that. They prefer characters similar to what they can find in the real world and that's not what this series offers.

3. The sense of humor. Some people find his humor absolutely offensive, which I guess is fair. I can think of many kinds of humor that are more offensive, but I can see where people are coming from. It's definitely a kind of humor characteristic of a depressed person, so maybe that's why I like it...

4. The confusing twists and turns. Absolutely nothing ends up making sense, and while I love that, many people don't. You think that you understand something, only for it to be wrong or to have yet another layer that needs to peel away. It's very hard to follow sometimes, making it a turnoff for many readers.

5. The ending. *MASSIVE SPOILER AHEAD* The ending irritates both lovers and haters of this series alike. Basically, the ending is yet another cliffhanger that we will likely never have answered. While I get why he wrote it the way he did, it does rub me the wrong way. I wanted to know what happened to the Baudelaires, but it seems like we'll never find out. Zoe at the YouTube channel Zoe's All Booked, pretty much sums up my feelings about the ending in her video "Who Authorized These Endings?!". I will warn you that she swears a lot, particularly in this video, so be aware of that if you choose to watch the video. 

So there's an overarching view of my feelings about the series as a whole! I hope it gave you a slightly different perspective of the series than you might normally get. If you wind of checking out the series, let me know what you think of it!!