Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
by Lemony Snicket

Aided and abetted by the rather less elusive author Daniel Handler, the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events brings us this weird, disturbing, practically incomprehensible collection of background photos and documents relating to the VFD, the Baudelaire orphans, the Quagmire triplets, the Daily Punctilio, Esmé Squalor, and of course, Count Olaf. Complete with coded messages from classic children’s books, interesting chapter titles that have been crossed out by hand and replaced with cryptic questions, and an atmosphere that veers sickeningly from slapstick comedy to brooding paranoia, I think the publisher’s warning from the back cover about sums it up:

“Our advice to you is that you find a book that answers less upsetting questions than this one...[such as] “Aren’t ponies adorable?”

What do you really need to know about Lemony Snicket anyway? As a child he was kidnapped (or recruited) by a secret organization, in a manner damaging to the ankles. Through snippets of folk-song, B-movie screenplays, the minutes of meetings, and sundry scraps of newsprint and personal letters, the portrait of the author that emerges is at least as vague and insubstantial as the picture of him in your head, before you opened this book. But along the way you may enjoy some clues about what is really behind all the unfortunate events in the Baudelaire orphansÂ’ lives.

Or maybe “enjoy” is not the right word. After reading this book, you may jump whenever you hear a bell ring, and the sight of a lone cow may strike you as suspicious. Take all the passing references to Lemony Snicket’s personal life from the Baudelaire orphans’ books, multiply their weirdness by the square-root of umpteen, and expand them to fill an entire book, and you have Lemony Snicket’s Unauthorized Autobiography. This is not exactly a recommendation...but then, when has Lemony Snicket ever recommended that you read one of his books? And who am I to gainsay him?

No, really...who am I?

Robbie Fischer
USA

Recommended Age: Who's asking?

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