The Bad Beginning

The first book in The Series of Unfortunate Events goes to show that sometimes adults who make the system work, make the system not work. 

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire get the tragic news that their parents have died in a fire that destroyed their mansion home. A family friend, Mr. Poe, is executer of the parents estate and must find a home for the three orphans to live at. He chooses to send them to the "closest" relative (as in physically closest who lives across town but the kids have never met) who is a nasty piece of work. Count Olaf is... a nasty piece of work. He makes the kids do ridiculous chores and is an abusive acholic who is scheming to get the Baudelaire fortune. And the saddest thing is that Mr. Poe doesn't believe them because they are kids. 

This series is one of unfortunate events. These kids have a horrific life. And it only gets worse as it goes on. It has been a very long time since I've read this series though, so it's interesting to read it again, with adult eyes to pick up on the things I missed the first time. I find it really interesting too to see the different movie adaptations that have come about as well. This book is very basic where the kids don't understand that their parents were part of a secret organization--which the series gets into in the second book a bit--but the movies bring those moments up fairly quickly. Over the course of the series we get into a lot of hidden things that I know I didn't get in my first (teenage) read though. So it'll be fun to go through all 13 books (and the extras) to pick up what I missed. 

This is a good book for the start of the series. It is simple and straight forward. Olaf really is a bad guy. A nasty dude. Trying to marry Violet for her money, but is also excited for the "wedding night" is just... ick. Poor girl. The way she got out of it I don't think would actually work, but, you know, we really don't want it to happen, so we'll take it. Just get her out of there. The fact that so many marriages happened like this throughout the centuries and millennia sickens me. Poor girls. 

But for this book, Mr. Poe is also one of the worst! Olaf is obviously the bad guy, but come one Poe. He'll be awful and idiotic throughout the series. Sending the kids off to the worst places and not listening to them when the kids come to him with Klaus having handprint  marks on his face. There was his coughing fits where "he couldn't hear them" but he also wasn't trying to hear them or any of their complaints of mistreatment. Because they are kids, their complaints don't mean anything. Very much a commentary of how children are aware of what is going on more than what adults think. If only we would listen. Adults are supposed to help kids, keep them safe, but it never happens for them. Hence, A Series of Unfortunate Events.