February 3, 2015
Book the Fifth of A Series of Unfortunate Events. I'm still on board here, and it was good that Handler went a bit away from the established pattern this time. Not much, but enough to add more suspense to the series.
So this is the one that has the Baudelaires at a boarding school. It's a strange school that has classes every day, teachers who are qualified on paper but less so in practice (in a case like this, I'd argue for the importance of standards), and a vice principal, Nero, who is, to quote Office Space, a "no talent ass clown." Since these poor orphans don't have parental permission to live in the nice dorms, they have to stay in the crappy Orphan Shack.
But there's a silver lining! The Baudelaires meet the Quagmire triplets (giggity!). There's only two of them because the third died in a fire that killed their parents. Also similar to the Baudelaires, the Quagmires are to inherit a fortune (sapphires) when they are legally adults. Isadora and Duncan are the first true friends that the Baudelaires make in a long time, and they seem to be the only decent kids at this shitty school.
Okay, I know that Carmelita Spatts is a brat, but she's so funny! She reminds me of that big-mouthed girl from the "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000" episode of South Park (though Liz is much more profane than Carmelita), so loud and insulting. I loved that Duncan gave it right back to her. Sometimes the Baudelaires are a bit too passive.
So the Baudelaires are treated unfairly at this school, even before Olaf arrives as Coach Genghis (undoubtedly, he or his female cronies threw the other PE coach out of a window). His plan is to force the Baudelaires to run and run and run, all night long, so that they flunk out of school. Nero agrees to allow "Genghis" to homeschool the Baudelaires if they are expelled, and this jackass seems very eager to be rid of them.
The Quagmires are the ones who take the series to a whole new level. For one thing, they're kidnapped by Olaf and the powder-faced women (when their metal cafeteria worker masks were described, I imagined Bane for some reason) at the end of the book. It sounds like Poe will be in charge of trying to rescue them in the next book...urg. Call the fucking FBI, dude. Also, as they're being taken away, they tell the Baudelaires something about V.F.D. This surely has something to do with Olaf, and the fact that he burned down the Baudelaires' house and killed their parents. It may explain the connection between Dr. Orwell and Olaf as well. Ooh! Now I'm intrigued.
Snicket mentions his dead beloved Beatrice a lot more in this book. Confession: I cheated and found out who she really was. I'll just say that it explains Snicket's interest in the Baudelaire orphans's plight.
I've barely started Book the Sixth. I really wanna know what happened to those nice Quagmire kids, and also about this whole V.F.D. thing. I mean, maybe Olaf's wickedness is for more than the fortune? I think I'm ready to see the series through to the (hopefully not too) bitter end.
No comments:
Post a Comment