THE MISERABLE MILL (A Series Of Unfortunate Events # 4).

THE MISERABLE MILL by LEMONY SNICKET.

BACK COVER BLURB: Dear Reader,

I hope, for your sake, that you have not chosen to read this book because you are in the mood for a pleasant experience. If this is the case, I advise you to put this book down instantaneously, because of all the books describing the unhappy lives of the Baudelaire orphans, The Miserable Mill might be the unhappiest yet. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are sent to Paltryville to work in a lumber mill, and they find disaster and misfortune lurking behind every log.

The pages of this book, I'm sorry to inform you, contain such unpleasantries as a giant pincher machine, a bad casserole, a man with a cloud of smoke where his head should be, a hypnotist, a terrible accident resulting in injury, and coupons.

I have promised to write down the entire history of these three poor children, but you haven't, so if you prefer stories that are more heartwarming, please feel free to make another selection.

With all due respect,


Lemony Snicket

FIRST SENTENCE {Chapter One}: Sometime during your life - in fact, very soon - you may find yourself reading a book, and you may notice that a book's first sentence can often tell you what sort of a story your book contains.

MEMORABLE RANDOM MOMENT{Page 121}: Behind his newest pair of glasses, Klaus had wide, wide eyes and a dazed and distant smile, as if his sisters were people he did not know so well. 

SOURCE: Ex-library stock.

MY THOUGHTS: Not having read any of the previous books in the series, I had however watched the film starring John Carrey and so, feeling up to speed with the plot, this worked okay as a standalone read.

Firstly, I intensely disliked the writing, finding the authors habit of using a word only to then go on to describe it proceeded with the words 'here meaning ...' horrendously patronising. 

Then there were the silly nonsense utterances - 'cigam' (apparently meaning, or so we are informed, 'Look at this note') or how about 'peli' ('meaning something like "but that doesn't explain the eye-shaped building, or the cover of the book!"') - of the youngest Baudelaire , the baby, Sunny, which I found beyond irritating, the children, with whom I discussed the book, finding it just plain silly.

Desperately striving to find a redeeming feature. Yes, older than the intended audience but by no means adverse to the reading of 'children's books'. I can normally at least put myself in the place of a child and recognise what it is they'd like in a book but alas in this instance I'm even struggling with that. 

Read for the 2016 Reading Challenge: 'A book you can finish in a day' category.