Book description:
Virtually every detail of the volume has Snicket’s indelible mark, from the book jacket (reversible to help readers disguise this “extremely dangerous” and “objectionable” autobiography) to the copyright page text to the intentionally blurry and bewildering black-and-white photographs appearing throughout. An apparently false obituary for Lemony Snicket sets the stage for what turns into a series of mind-boggling bundles of coded information passed from hand to hand, gleaned from newspapers blowing through streets, pages from a journal addressed to “Dear Dairy,” blueprints of ships, minutes from secret meetings, and a lot of edited and disputed commentary. The question is, do we finally discover the meaning of VFD?
Review:
This is a quick read that gives nothing of significance away regarding the mysteries of the series. However, there were a few little tidbits that made it worth reading. A bit of information (how this will hold up in the remaining two novels, I do not know) about VFD’s operations is revealed, though they don’t come off very nobly as a result. We also learn how Esme and Jerome Squalor came to be married and why the Baudelaires received no response to their telegram to Mr. Poe back in The Hostile Hospital.
This book is by no means necessary to enjoy the rest of the series, and I wouldn’t advocate shelling out for it, but if your library has it, as mine did, it might be an amusing way to spend an hour or two.
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