Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
by Lemony Snicket

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Book Reviews of Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography

Book Review: Curiouser and curiouser!!
Summary: 5 Stars

Mr. Snicket, who's 8 books of the orphans include "The Bad Beginning," "The Reptile Room" all the way up to "The Hostile Hospital" and "The Carnivorous Carnival" due out in the Fall of 2002, has relayed the stories of how the evil Count Olaf has followed the triplets through a series of misadventures in the hopes of stealing their fortunes and doing away with the children themselves. Surrounded by unhelpful and often idiotic adults, like Mr. Poe who is in charge of finding them guardians (all of whom turn out to be recklessly abusive, paranoid or both), we last saw the triplets stashed in the trunk of a car trying to find not only the meaning and mystery of V.F.D., but the missing two Quagmire triplets who were last seen floating away in a Self-Sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home.

The Unauthorized Biography of Lemony Snicket is SUPPOSED to shed some light on some very pressing questions readers of the series will have, chief among them is What is VFD? and Why Does Count Olaf Have a Tattoo of an Eye on His Ankle? Though these and 11 other questions appear in the books table of contents, the text itself has been tremendously altered by some reader--we assume Mr. Snicket himself--and the questions as well as answers have been wholly changed.

The book itself is painstakingly illustrated with photographs, letters, correspondences (many of which are crumpled, torn or burned in the attempt to keep them out of dangerous hands), and there are a lot of HINTS as to what VFD is, why Count Olaf has a tattoo, and who some of the minor characters like Jacques Snicket really are, but readers won't find any open, honest and concrete answers here.

The book calls itself dangerous, and therefore has a reversible cover so you can disguise this work as a fake book called "The Luckiest Kids in the World! Book 1! The Pony Party!" by a certain Loney M. Setnick... The characters on the fake cover somewhat resemble Klaus, Sunny and Violet, so those who are IN THE KNOW about the orphans may read it in public and thereby secretly signal others that they are open to the plight of the orphans and it's pursued author.

All asides aside, the book will be very confusing to readers who have not read at least up to book 7 in the series, "The Vile Village." Indeed, it is in book 7 that the plot really begins to twist like one of Uncle Monty's serpents, and a good number of questions raised in #7 are referred to (and more questions raised) in The Unauthorized Biography. The reversible cover is a fun touch for young readers who will like to play into the conspiracy of Mr. Snicket being a dangerous and hunted character, quietly and secretly churning out the story of the Baudelaire orphans.

The book is printed on high-gloss paper with dozens of illustrations and censorship marks, as if the document has been expurgated for the reader's safety, and the photographs and illustrations are quite engrossing.

The writing will, as noted, confuse readers who aren't familiar with the gamut of the series, and it might confuse younger readers who aren't exposed to the concepts of conspiracy theory and trying to keep something hidden and suppressed. Since the writing takes the form of letters, memos, etc, there is no coherent plot to the book, rather a jumble of information that subtly hints at what might be REALLY going on; for example, Jacques Snicket, the authors brother, has a tattoo of an eye on his leg just like Count Olaf. In a Q & A section re: becoming a volunteer for V.F.D., one of the questions is "do I have to get a tattoo?" This implies, to my mind, that Count Olaf himself might have been a member of this still-unexplained secret organization. Details like this that require a lot of memory and reading between the lines will probably be lost on young readers, leading to frustration.

Is the book worth reading? Yes, if you're a fan of the series, go out and get the book by all means!! If you're slowly collecting/reading the series, get the book anyway and put it away until you're done with the 7th book at least, preferably the 8th, as The Unauthorized Biography is published between #9 & #10. If you've never read any books in the series and don't know who Klaus, Sunny, Violet, Jacques, Lemony or Count Olaf are, then don't bother, you'll only waste your money and become helplessly confused. Otherwise, recommended by this fan!

"The world is quiet here..."

Summary of Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography

In anticipation of the forthcoming release of The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events Book the Tenth) don't miss this depressing opportunity to warn even more readers off Lemony Snicket.

Finally, here is the definitive ? and only ? book for anyone interested in learning more about the alarmingly elusive author.

Ages 10+

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