Lemony Snickett

[green-ink]

I have just finished reading the Lemony Snickett books and I noticed that they follow a very similar 'pattern', a pattern which mirrors many gothic novels from the late 18th early 19th century. Such as 'The Castle of Otranto' or 'Dracula'.

Is this just my imagination? Or have I really been reading gothic novels for children?!

I suppose that isn't a bad thing but, in fact I think that Mr Handler (a.k.a Lemony Snickett) should be credited for bringing about such a revolution among childrens books!

I welcome any opinion.

 

[mehastings]

I honestly hate the Lemony Snickett books. I like to keep up with books for kids and young adults. I buy a lot of books for the children in my life and I try to only buy books I've read. So, if there's something I'm considering, I read it myself first. I struggled through the first three Snickett books before giving the entire series up as a waste of perfectly good trees. While the books certainly have a gothic aspect to them, I'm inclined to doubt that it was really intentional. These books feel like they were each written and edited over less than 24 hours. They are certainly marketed to older kids, but the writing is something a first grader should easily handle. I'm shocked that they are so popluar, but perhaps it's part of the lazy illiterate children epidemic that seems to be growing.

 

[eliott]

I have mixed feelings about these books, perhaps not as strong as Mehastings's. On the question at hand, however: the author has made it clear that these books are spoofs of a 19th Century serialized genre that went on and on with tragedies and complications, alternating with moments of hope, stretching out the stories ridiculously. The success of that spoof may be debatable, but that was his intention.