The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 13)
Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that the humor in this series is of the dark, bleak variety, and many kids don't get the joke -- they just see it as an adventure. Few books are seen as differently by adults and kids as this series. You'll probably enjoy it almost as much as your children -- but for entirely different reasons.
Families who read this book could discuss the dilemmas in which the Baudelaire children keep finding themselves. How have they been forced to commit acts they regret? Did they have other choices? Are the things they've done really bad? Is it possible for good people with good intentions to do bad things? Also, is it possible to be safe from the turmoils of the world? Is it desirable?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
Fans of the A Series of Unfortunate Events books have probably already read THE END, and those new to the series won't understand much of it. Adults love the mordant humor. Kids love the melodramatic adventure. And plenty of people, both kids and adults, just don't get what all the fuss is about.
In this case, it's about the denouement of one of the most unusual and clever series ever. Part mystery, part Dickensian melodrama, with a few touches of fantasy, all served up with a sort of glum hilarity, A Series of Unfortunate Events is like Oliver Twist narrated by Eeyore. With frequent witty explanations of vocabulary, extended cockeyed metaphors, a "Perils of Pauline" flavor, and much tongue-in-cheek woe and misery, it's the kids' version of a mock-tragedy, a literary jape that even those who don't get the joke can enjoy.
Anyone worried about the verbal and literary acuity of today's generation can relax -- judging by the popularity of this smart series, something must be going right after all (though Lemony Snicket would surely deny it).
From The Book
The Baudelaires followed the villain's gaze to the storm. It was difficult to believe that just moments ago the horizon had been empty, and now this great black mass of rain and wind was staining the sky as it drew closer and closer. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny could do nothing about it. An inventing mind, the notes of a researcher, and surprisingly adept cooking skills were no match for what was coming. The storm clouds unfurled wider and wider, like the layers of an onion unpeeling, or a sinister secret becoming more and more mysterious. Whatever their moral compass told them about the proper thing to do, the Baudelaire orphans knew there was only one choice in this situation, and that was to do nothing as the storm engulfed the children and the villain as they stood together in the same boat.
Plot Summary:
The Baudelaire orphans -- Klaus, Violet, and Sunny -- are cast up on a desert (but not deserted) island with their nemesis, Count Olaf, and their friend, the very pregnant Kit Snicket. There they find a group of people, led by the mysterious Ishmael ("Call me Ish"), who are determined to stay apart and safe from the world's troubles, and who are the first people besides the Baudelaires who seem to be able to see through Olaf.
But everything eventually washes up on this island, and not only is Olaf still scheming, but the island is intimately related to the Baudelaires' parents and history. Even Ishmael is not what he seems. Much will finally be revealed -- and much will not.
Related Books:
The Rest of the Series
The Bad Beginning
The Reptile Room
The Wide Window
The Miserable Mill
The Austere Academy
The Ersatz Elevator
The Vile Village
The Hostile Hospital
The Carnivorous Carnival
The Slippery Slope
The Grim Grotto
The Penultimate Peril
The Beatrice Letters
Related Web Sites
Author's Site
Official Site
Lemony Snicket's Informer
The Quiet World
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ViolenceA shooting with a harpoon, poisoning, several deaths (and more alluded to). |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoA cordial with opiate effects. |
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