a short, grumpy book review

[redbird]

I just read The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket.

It's far too self-consciously arch. The villains are evil for its own sake, and know it--and maybe someone could pull this off, but Snicket doesn't. The central devices appear to be exaggeration, cute names (the main characters are named Baudelaire, and the old family friend is Mr. Poe, and his oldest son is named Edgar), and repeatedly using a not-especially-difficult word and defining it parenthetically.

I believe there are five or six more of these books, but have no particular intention of spending the half hour each it would take to find out if they're better than the first.

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

We talked of these on Sunday. I picked one up in a store once, reading enough to not get hooked, and to know I wasn't going to get hooked. Bit of a pity; I'd approached it with a favorable attitude.

Do people say, "leh-muh-nee" or "leh-MOH-nee" or what? I thought it was the latter, but people where saying the former.

K. [and how does that compare or contrast with pronoucing the name of the girl child character in "Captain Corelli's Mandolin"?]

on npr...

[replyhazy.livejournal.com]

... I heard an interview with the author, and it was pronounced "lemon - ee", just like a floor cleaner fragrance might be.

I found the bits they read aloud to be quite amusing, but I have not picked up any of the books myself.