Play Book Tag discussion

The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket - 3.5* - My Review

I have jumped ahead to the sixth book in A Series of Unfortunate Events, after reading books one and two. In this story, the Baudelaire children return to The City. As the story opens, the affable Mr. Poe takes the children to their newest guardians, Jerome and Esmé Squalor. The extremely wealthy Squalors live in the penthouse of an apartment building. Esmé is an aloof financial advisor who is obsessed with the latest fads – she wants to embrace what is “in” fashion and avoid what is “out” of fashion. Jerome is much more approachable, but he hates arguments and tries to avoid conflict. The elevator of the title is “out,” according to Esmé, so, as the story opens, the children must climb to the 66th floor in the dark.

The plot differs somewhat from the predictable format of the first two, as it covers a mystery of what happened to the Quagmire triplets (introduced apparently in a book I have not read), as well as probing into how the fire started that killed their parents. Of course, a portion of the story is devoted to the probability of encountering Count Olaf, who is still out to steal their fortune. As we have come to anticipate, the book is dark, and appropriately enough, the house is located at 667 Dark Street. This one is particularly Gothic in tone and excels at instilling a sense of foreboding. I am not sure how many more of these I’ll read, but I’m glad I’ve read these few. I recommend the audio for this one, which is brilliantly read by Tim Curry.

3.5

PBT November BWF Extra letters E/S and tagged "steampunk" x30

Oh thank goodness it's Tim Curry! I just finished the 2nd read by Lemony Snicket which NYPL had available and I just don't care for them as much. Though still growing. I did read the one that introduced the Quagmires and was hoping their mystery would be solved. That's The Austere Academy, No. 5. I too am skipping around as I find these easy listening while doing repetitive computer work look check through stacks of legal documents and updating tracking.

These books are growing on me a bit - the inventiveness and grit of the children especially. There is also something comforting about the predictability a la The Perils of Pauline.