If you're unfamiliar with the unfortunate, that's unfortunate indeed. Writer Lemony Snicket has created a series of lovable and laughable, if at times equally annoying and amounting, books in his series A Series of Unfortunate Events. The series is thirteen books long and, having completed each individual book, with each individual sentence (even the ones that were written backwards... yes, you heard me, backwards), permit me to say it is completely worth it. Obviously, there has to be some commitment to the cause as you're not likely to complete all 13 books overnight (though you could do it fortnightly with some serious time or insomnia on your hands). The characters are endearing, however, and manage to acquire more complexity with each book. The Baudelaire orphans are headed by Violet, the eldest, who is quite the little engineer. She is followed by Klaus, her brother who has a knack for research. And the youngest Baudelaire, Sunny, who begins as a baby but grows into early childhood, has a mouth fetish, to say the least.
If only to reach the final book in the series, The End, each book is worth the adventure. For what other author, in a thirteenth book of a series, could combine biblical allusions, insult The Little Engine that Could, and come up with several Shakespearean and Melvillian (?) references in a package that actually leaves you wanting more?
You'll see what I mean once you travel through the story of unfortunate events, past The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, The Wide Window, and The Miserable Mill, through The Austere Academy, The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village and The Hostile Hospital, over The Carnivorous Carnival, The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto, and The Penultimate Peril, to adventurously arrive at The End . You'll be quite fortunate to have done so.
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