It Depends On How You Look At It

Is Lemony Snicket, the chronicler of A Series of Unfortunate Events, the most masterful author of children’s literature since Lewis Carroll, or is he a unimaginative hack prone to endlessly repeating himself in the thirteen-book saga?

It depends on how you look at it.

That’s one of the amusing catchphrases of The End, the recently published volume that concludes the series. AlthoughThe End’s plot and final resolution are disappointing, the book is somewhat salvaged by Snicket’s verbal wordplay. This passage is typical: "...and so you are in fact in the dark about being in the dark, even though you are not in the dark about being in the dark..."

I'm deeply disappointed that The Reading Reptile or Rainy Day Books has not secured a local appearance by Snicket for what’s presumably his final series of unfortunate (book tour) events.