May 13, 2015
Book the Twelfth of A Series of Unfortunate Events. This book was baffling in many ways, which I'll go over. But I'll start by pointing out that the on-going theme of the Baudelaires' loss of innocence was the central theme. On a mission at the Hotel Denoument, assigned to them by the cryptic (and pregnant) Kit Snicket, the children are told that they must be on the lookout for villains and "noble" people...and they must observe and judge for themselves which is which. They quickly realize that in most cases, the lines are blurry. As Fernand said in the last book, no one is really wholly evil or good. And the Baudelaires (and the reader) start to realize how monsters like Olaf are created.
While it was fun to see some previous characters again (like the ever-obnoxious Nero), I'm still not sure why Olaf and Esmé invited them to the hotel to attend their party. I don't think that question will ever be answered, since the party never happens. Olaf dumps Esmé in a fit of annoyance, the presence of Carmelita being a source of tension. Oh, and the Baudelaires burn down the hotel.
Their reasoning for this was complicated. First off, it was Sunny's idea; her intention was to send Kit a message, as they'd been instructed. Why go to such extremes? Well, think about all that these poor kids have been through. They've encountered people with wicked intentions who are relentless, and people with decent intentions who are useless. They have just been tricked by the evil couple from The Slippery Slope, who are apparently influential justices in the High Court. Justice Strauss herself never suspected that they were so underhanded, and she'd known them for years. That's just one frustrating issue that the kids faced in this book.
Also, they accidentally shot and killed Dewey Denoument, Kit's baby-daddy, when trying to disarm Olaf in a tense standoff. They obviously did not murder him, but the hundreds of witnesses at the hotel think they did. Their reputations were already in shambles so...fuck it, right? They just wanted to get out of there, even if it meant hitching a ride on Olaf's boat.
They never wanted to kill anybody. They warned people on each floor of the hotel about the fire, so whether or not people heeded their warning I guess was somewhat on each individual. But they left that chaotic scene of friends, foes, and strangers behind them...and are now on a boat in the ocean with Olaf! Talk about tension.
I felt that Handler missed a good opportunity with his Native Son reference. I would have compared Bigger to Olaf, or even the Baudelaires themselves. Bigger did horrifying things, including killing two women. But what turned him into a monster? Fear fueled by racism. Anger fueled by poverty. His circumstances turned him into a monster, and while it doesn't excuse his actions, it does make him human. The reader gets a bit about Olaf's past in this book. He, too, was orphaned...his parents were murdered by poison darts. Now, that's the same weapon that the Baudelaire parents used at some point. Against whom, we don't know, but while I don't think it was Olaf's parents (the timeline wouldn't make sense), it's still a jarring similarity. I'm sure we'll learn more harrowing details about Olaf's past in the next (and final) book. While his own unfortunate circumstances could never excuse his behavior, it makes him more...human.
And what about the Baudelaires? I guess both literally and metaphorically, they're in the same boat as Olaf. To an extent they've reached the end of their rope, and who can blame them? I commented on an entry on an earlier book that these kids seemed to operate on a higher moral plane, but that's not quite true anymore. I don't see them as bad people, still, but I can see how they could go bad from here. It's a slippery slope (hardy har har), but they are not so far gone that they can't still make a choice. To an extent, they know this.
So much depth for a children's series! I think that I will accomplish my goal of finishing the series by year's end. Only 16 school days to go, but even if I don't finish The End in that time, I'll get to it...I'll borrow the book going into summer if I must. I am eager to see how things turn out for all four of the boat's occupants. From the cover, though, I think Olaf will be done for...I'm not mad at that.
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