A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Eighth

The Baudelaire orphans have finally realized that “V.F.D.” does not after all stand for the “Village of Fowl Devotees,’ but could it mean “Volunteers Fighting Disease”? Questions of such import for these young kids keep this series moving, now into the eighth book of thirteen.

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire had just witnessed the rescue of their friends, the Quagmire Triplets, but face a dangerous world in which they have been accused of murdering Count Olaf, the man who has sought their demise from the very beginning. Now on the lam, they flee anything that even resembles a guardian, striking out on their own to discover the causes of the great misfortunes that seem to follow them everywhere, as well as the secrets of V.F.D.

In this tale, the children find themselves moving deeper into the Hinterlands to a half-built hospital and a staff more concerned with record-keeping than with care. The “Volunteers Fighting Disease” hope to heal all pains and illnesses with happiness and song, and the Baudelaires join the troupe, incognito. The Library of Records within the hospital promises to provide answers to secrets the Baudelaires have long sought to uncover, yet a new team of doctors led by Count Olaf himself—very much not dead—threatens to kill the eldest child publicly and in the name of science.

Lemony Snicket includes another set of idioms in this story, and one I enjoyed especially was his logical treatment of “No news is no news,” since I had written the very same thing in a recent update about our return overseas. Overall, we found this story an odd addition to the series, as it forced the orphans into situations of deceit and thievery that they justified with concepts of “the greater good.” This issue is discussed at length in future books, especially in terms of “heroes and villains” or “the noble and the wicked,” but seeing it at play in this story absent any deep discussion was a bit off-putting. More on that issue later, I suppose.

The mysteries move forward in that the children discover the final page of what’s called “The Snicket File.” It not a final answer, but it’s a start, and from this point on the mysteries really start opening up. No longer will plots surround Count Olaf and his desire to acquire the Baudelaire’s enormous fortune, but rather the children’s desperate search for answers.

©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)