A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Sixth

This is the only book in the whole series by Lemony Snicket that we read out of order, skipping it for a time because the discs at our local library were getting refurbished. It was odd, actually, listening to The Vile Village (Book the Seventh) before this, because at that time, we had no idea who Esmé Gigi Geniveve Squalor was, and thus were highly surprised to meet her as Count Olaf’s girlfriend and partner in disguise!

When we returned to this sixth story, everything started falling into place (well, as much as it can in an extended mystery series such as this). Esmé and Jerome Squalor were to be the Baudelaire’s final attempted guardians (not counting the “it takes a village” villagers in the next book), but they failed them as every guardian had failed them before, though this time through a betrayal almost as wicked as Olaf’s in Book the First. Jerome proved to be a weakling and coward, and Esmé a wickedly scheming mistress of Count Olaf, the children’s mortal enemy, who in this story poses as an accomplished auctioneer.

Playing with themes of light and darkness, this story feels like all purple and black when you read it. Esmé is so overly concerned with what’s “in” and what’s out “out” that she rejects for a time the use of lights and the elevator (which are clearly “out”) and glories in the joys of pinstripe suits and parsley soda (both clearly “in”). It’s a weird story that wasn’t our favorite. Still, the addition of a new villain who would prove to be a constant foe almost to the end was an interesting trick for Snicket to play now, nearly halfway through the series.

The most astonishing scene in the book was when Esmé pushed the children down an open elevator shaft, only to have them caught in a net a number of flights down. How traumatizing this sort of scene could be for kids! In fact, I was talking to a guy the other day about these books, and he mentioned how traumatizing the Lake Lachrymose Leaches had been to his own young mind when he first encountered them—terrifying things that could eat a person whole. He said he never ate food near the water growing up for this reason, in case the leaches were there ready to pounce.

I’m finding these stories entertaining and humorous, but they’re also occasionally quite disturbing, and I wonder whether I brought them to my kids’ attention too early or not. We’re dedicated and interested and will continue to the end, but honestly, I’m ready to take a break now. Not knowing the ending won’t keep me up at night, but we’ll stick with it for the kids.

©2021 E.T.

Read More in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket:

1. A Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (1999)
2. The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket (1999)
3. The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket (2000)
4. The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket (2000)
5. The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket (2000)
6. The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket (2001)
7. The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket (2001)
8. The Hostile Hotel by Lemony Snicket (2001)
9. The Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket (2002)
10. The Slipper Slope by Lemony Snicket (2003)
11. The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket (2004)
12. The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket (2005)
13. The End by Lemony Snicket (2006)