The Penultimate Peril - Lemony Snicket

For those who don’t know: A series of unfortunate events is a series of 13 books which follows the lives of the Baudelaire’s- Violet, Klaus and Sunny, after their parents’ death in a fire that consumes their home. These 30 words wouldn’t be enough to sum up the 12 books that have been read but it does certainly give an idea or a small insight on it.

As the name of the book indicates ‘The Penultimate Peril’, it is the penultimate book of the series which means that it is the next-to-last book in the series.

This particular series, I started it when I was 14 years old. We share some history. And after a gap of almost 5 years, I started off with the next-to-last book of the series. The reason I kept the book on hold for such a long time is that I did not want to let it get over yet. I wanted it to continue. The world that this series creates, it was visible to me, thanks to Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler).

The book as the previous ones is narrated by Lemony Snicket and picks up the activities of the Baudelaire orphans from the end of ‘The Grim Grotto’, the book before this, and follows as they become concierges in Hotel Denouement.

Something that’s attractive about this series is that at the back of the book, in every book of the series, Lemony gives us reasons as to why we shouldn’t read the book and the different ways we could dispose it off. That provides a certain kind of excitement that none of the other writers provide, nobody tells us ‘not’ to read their books. This guy does.

Then coming to the language part of the book, it is the same as that of the previous ones and I’m quite happy that it remains unchanged. It gets funnier in the ‘next-to-last’ book as the hotel that the Baudelaire orphans get recruited in functions according to the Dewey Decimal System, a system that is used in libraries. The plot this time is also quite interesting and the manner in which it gets executed also is engaging enough.

One of the funny statements by the antagonist as he was replying to the Baudelaire:

“I suppose I'll have to add the force of gravity to my list of enemies.”  

I wonder why they call it a children’s series, when anybody could relate to it so easily, thanks to the comic language used. One of the best things about this series is how in between the narration a phrase gets used and then the phrase gets explained as to how it applies in the story and then it is dragged through a series of dramatically comic situations.

Though at the same time since ‘The End’ (which is literally the name of the last book in the series) was nearing, at a few instances the book felt a bit different from its usual formula, felt like it was onto a more serious turn. I did kind of find these parts melodramatic but they weren’t so exactly, they were essential to the story. The characters have been living through the pages of this series since the last 11 books and the change in them as they age, in their manner of thinking, response, caution- it all changes and is noticed by the reader as he/she doesn’t have to strain his/her brain to figure out why they are acting so.

I am looking forward to ‘The End’ but at the same time I don’t look forward to the end of it. I have known them since they became orphans and as they were able to differentiate between the noble and the wicked and as they pulled out through every hurdle in an unfortunate manner and I don’t want them to disappear from the pages.