The Baudelaire siblings are at Briny Beach. The oldest, Violet, likes to invent things. The middle child, Klaus, likes to read books. The youngest is Sunny, who is just a baby and loves to bite things. Mr. Poe comes down the beach to in order to tell them about their parents’ death in a great fire that destroyed their house and all their possessions. Mr. Poe takes them to live with their third cousin four times removed, or their fourth cousin three times removed, Olaf. Olaf is an evil theatre performer who messes up the children’s lives. They have to do back-breaking chores and cook all the meals. Then comes a time when Olaf wants the huge Baudelaire fortune. He devises a theatrical performance that involves a real marriage. Klaus figures out Olaf’s plot which was to marry Violet in order to get claims on the Baudelaire fortune. Olaf then hangs poor Sunny out a window in order to get Violet to marry him. She goes along with it, but Olaf’s plan is foiled anyway. He gets away, but not with the money.
I liked this book. I have read several in the series and I really liked all of them. I would say the tone of this book is misery and misfortune. You feel bad for the three children because their parents have died, all their things were lost in a fire and they are stuck living with a raving lunatic. Count Olaf makes them do back-breaking chores and cook all the meals. The characters cope with whatever is thrown at them. Even though I was happy that they no longer had to live with Olaf by the end of the story, I was also sad because they have to go live with another relative they don’t know. I sometimes had trouble relating to what the children were going through, but the story was quirky and kept my interest. I would also recommend reading these books in order because they will make no sense if you don’t.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Shippensburg, Pennsylvania United States of America
