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A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series of thirteen children's novels written by American author Daniel Handler under the pen name Lemony Snicket. The books follow the turbulent lives of orphaned siblings Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire.
A Series of Unfortunate Events is an American black comedy drama television series based on the book series of the same name by Lemony Snicket (the pen name of American author Daniel Handler) for Netflix.
- Black Comedy Drama [1]
A Series of Unfortunate Events: With Neil Patrick Harris, Patrick Warburton, Malina Pauli Weissman, Louis Hynes. After the loss of their parents in a mysterious fire, the three Baudelaire children face trials and tribulations attempting to uncover dark family secrets.
- (68K)
- 2017-01-13
- Adventure, Comedy, Drama
- 55
- Genre
- Plot
- Development
- Mature Content
- Reception
- Books
- Releases and Packaging
- Promotional Items and Merchandise
- Adaptations
- Other Works by Snicket, Set in The VFD Universe
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Although A Series of Unfortunate Events is most commonly classified as "children's" fiction, it has also been classified as teen/young adult and having a quality that older adults can enjoy, similar to the Harry Potter series. There is a level of complexity in the series, such as the relations between characters and how it is all connected, which c...
Setting
A Series of Unfortunate Eventsis set in an unusual, anachronistic time period that is ambiguously set sometime in the 20th century, with old and new inventions used. A variety of inventions and technology are mentioned. For example, there are helicopters, cars, phones, a microphone, and an advanced school computer (in the TV series, the computer looks like a computer from the 1990s and early 2000s). At another point, typewriters, telegrams, and carriages pulled by horses appear. This paints a...
Premise
The series focused on Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. Violet has a talent for inventing, Klaus has a talent for reading, and Sunny has a talent for biting (though she is later shown to have a talent for cooking). While they are portrayed very intelligent children, they are not perfect "superhumans" and have their own flaws. For example, Violet can overlook the obvious and doesn't know what leeches are, Klaus can be rude and doesn't know what a "xenophobe" means, etc. Sunny could be consi...
Dystopic elements
The world in the series often feels dystopic, hostile, corrupt, chaotic and cruel, leading many readers to call it a "crapsack world". However, it is set in a conventional setting without any war, famine, etc (where the Baudelaires live, at least). Most of the dystopic elements are often found in sociology, human behavior and often barbaric and nonsensical laws which humanity follows obediently and submissively, and the vast majority of people lack critical thinking skills. For example: 1. In...
The author of the series, Daniel Handler (who uses the pseudonym Lemony Snicket), has said in an interview with The A.V. Club that he decided to write a children's story when he was trying to find a publisher for his first novel, The Basic Eight. One of the publishers, HarperCollins, passed on The Basic Eight, but they were interested in him writin...
Despite that A Series of Unfortunate Eventsis often categorized as a "children's book series", there is a lot of questionable, disturbing, distressing, violent, and mature content in the series. Lemony Snicket warns the reader on each book cover that the Baudelaires' lives are unpleasant - there is no happy beginning, no happy end, and very few hap...
Praise
Reviews for A Series of Unfortunate Eventshave been generally positive, with reviewers saying that the series is enjoyable for children and adults alike, and that it brings fresh, mature and adult themes to children's stories. The books sold 60 million copies and were translated into 41 languages. They were also shared and taught in certain classrooms and were purchasable at Scholastic book fairs. The series became a literary cultural phenomenon of sorts in youth literature in the early 2000s...
Criticism
A Series of Unfortunate Eventshas received its fair share of criticism. The series has been criticized for formulaic and repetitive storytelling. Similar events occur repeatedly. In Books 1-7, the Baudelaires appear with a new guardian, Count Olaf appears in a disguise, no one believes the Baudelaires, someone is killed or almost killed, and Olaf escapes. In defense, the formula being recycled makes The Vile Villageand the latter books more dramatic. Another example of repetitiveness is that...
Controversy
A Series of Unfortunate Eventshas come under criticism from both parents and some school districts for its dark themes. Upon its release, many were quick to deem the series as "sick" and "demented", due to the often overwhelming feelings of despair, children under constant threats of death and violence, people dying in gruesome ways, etc. This was especially true during the time when only books 1-4 were released, in which someone explicitly dies. The finale of book 5 is perhaps the first turn...
A Series of Unfortunate Eventsconsists of thirteen novels and and one epilogue chapter at the end of the series that is considered by Daniel Handler as a separate book. 1. The Bad Beginning 2. The Reptile Room 3. The Wide Window 4. The Miserable Mill 5. The Austere Academy 6. The Ersatz Elevator 7. The Vile Village 8. The Hostile Hospital 9. The Ca...
The series carries a unique feel, not only in content, but also in packaging. The original covers were made to look old fashioned, with Victorian designs throughout. They were originally released in paperback, but those have now become harder to find, with hardcovers becoming the standard for the series. Several hardcover box sets were released in ...
Numerous promotional items and merchandise has been released including calendars, buttons, dust covers, postcards, puzzles, board games and many more. An unofficial website focused on merchandise is here.
There have been two major adaptations of A Series of Unfortunate Events: the Paramount film, and the Netflix series. While the film is not canon to the books, the TV series has debatable canonicity as Daniel Handler was involved with some of it, although he was taken off the development team, and many things in the TV series are different from the ...
All the Wrong Questions
1. Main article: All the Wrong Questions All the Wrong Questions is another series written by Daniel Handler set in the same universe as A Series of Unfortunate Events, and includes several characters from it, although mainly in the form of small cameos. This series depicts the childhood of Lemony Snicket himself as a student in the V.F.D. organization. He is taken by his chaperone S. Theodora Markson to the town Stain'd-by-the-Sea, where he solves mysteries on his own and asks all the wrong...
Learn about the thirteen books by Lemony Snicket, a pen name for Daniel Handler, that follow the misfortunes of the Baudelaire orphans. Explore the genre, plot, development, reception, adaptations, and related works of this darkly humorous and complex series.
A 2004 film adaptation of the first three books in the series by Daniel Handler, starring Jim Carrey as the villainous Count Olaf. The film follows the orphaned Baudelaire children as they escape Olaf's schemes and uncover their family's secrets.
The extraordinary Baudelaire orphans face trials, tribulations and the evil Count Olaf in their fateful quest to unlock long-held family secrets. Watch trailers & learn more.
Find out more about the 13 books in the popular series by Lemony Snicket, featuring the Baudelaire orphans and their misfortunes. Browse ratings, reviews, editions, and related collections on Goodreads.
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