For a long time I have wanted to try and edit and merge all of these re-reads together, into one single thread. To kind of create a complete unofficial guide to the books.... perhaps one day
So Here's an example of what I was meaning, stitching together the re-reads to create this....this covers chapter one of The Bad Beginning at least
Chapter One
Sherry Ann : Let’s start by examining the title.
The Bad Beginning presumably applies not only to the bad beginning in this book – the death of the Baudelaires parents – but also the beginning to the series. Note the adjective isn’t particularly obscure or even that descriptive. “Bad” is rather vague by nature, which might be appropriate in that an array of “bad” things happen in the book, but the title has nothing on, say, “ersatz.” Also, like TPP and
The End, the book acknowledges its chronological space in a larger series. This along with a few other features sets up the contrast for
The End, something you’ll all address, I’m sure, in another twelve weeks or so.
Dante : Artwork notes: On the U.S. cover, the tall, grey-blue building in the background appears similar to the one that appears in the frontispiece for the book (that is, the Chapter One illustration). However, in Helquist’s colour plate for the Special Edition, this building is more of a yellow-brown stone colour, so they can’t be the same.
Sherry Ann : The cover illustration, HC edition: There’s a nice gloomy blue hue over everything in the Olaf home that contrasts with the bright world outside. It’s well done, I think, and gives Olaf a visually sinister introduction. I’m additionally a fan of the inner border. I think it’s appropriate that since the series deals so much with eyes that it should be illustrated on the front cover. Though the insignia itself was probably conceived of much later, it’s still possible to see a V,F, and D in the more traditional renditions bordering the cover illustration
The cover illustration, Egmont edition: Egmont’s version focuses a lot more on Olaf, which I find interesting. The book is about him, really, as much as it is about the Baudelaires. He’s the main antagonist, the main source of conflict, the entity that moves the story along. It’s not wrong he should take up so much of the spotlight.
Sherry Ann : The dedication: It’s generally agreed that Beatrice wasn’t thought of as the Baudelaires mother until later in the series, but it’s still nice to see her here. Dead, as the Baudelaires are soon to find out. In retrospect, it’s a nice paratextual irony.
Dante : Notice also how Mr. Poe never appears in illustrations even when he should logically be right there – for example, the cover of any edition of TBB. Of course, this is because he’s really a side-character; on the first book in the series, you can’t really illustrate anyone besides the Baudelaires and Olaf.
Sora : Agreed that Poe is really a laissez faire charactor throughout the entire series - and of course when TBB was published Snicket had no intention of really going beyond TWW - Poe becomes hence even more irrelevant.
Dante : Regarding the Chapter One illustration: Much was later made of how the fireman – presumably of the Official Fire Department – nearest to the Baudelaires apparently has a question mark on his helmet. I’m pretty sure this is just the shaded edge of a “shield” emblem, and the Special Edition colour artwork confirms this, with no such question mark.
Charlie : I can't help but think that the building in the opening picture seems to be the Cathedral of TAV. Also, what is the dalmatiany thingy on the back of the truck? I always thought that they meant shopping trolley, but now I see they meant tram.
Dante : The Chapter One full-page illustration in
Orphans!, Mr. Poe looks extraordinarily sinister compared to the situationally-identical Chapter Thirteen illustration of TGG; however, you can make out a hint of round glasses, and what is probably a handkerchief pressed to his mouth to suppress his coughs.
Sora : Hence my feelings that Poe was somewhat in the know about this fire more than Snicket ever explicitly let on.
Sherry Ann : A few notes on the Dear Reader. “From the first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news” isn’t quite accurate. We don’t know the Baudelaires whereabouts until page two, and they don’t receive the bad news until page eight. I wonder if the first eight pages take up a normal typed page, i.e., one with normal font, margins, and page size? …I checked. It takes about two. But I digress. The actual content of the DR sets the tone for the rest of the series. We have pleas to ignore/put down/destroy the book, a list of items we’ll find within the book, a stamp, a sign-off, and a price tag.
Dante : Consider the “ingredients list” – “
a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.” The first four sound very much your usual gothic orphans tale, with the last one being instead quite parodic – adding insult to injury, if you like. “Cold porridge for breakfast” is a cliché in itself. In addition, I’m not sure the book itself actually uses the term “porridge,” preferring instead “oatmeal.”
Sherry Ann : They're more or less synonymous. I think "porridge" was there to keep in sequence with the gothic listings, whereas the text itself uses oatmeal.
Dante : Chapter One opens right off with a very biographical way of talking about the Baudelaires; reading page one, I don’t think you’d have the impression that the Baudelaires were still alive. This helps to a degree to disguise the fact that the Baudelaire parents are themselves no longer alive at the time of the events narrated, e.g. in examples such as “
The Baudelaire parents had an enormous library in their mansion” – we’d put down the heavy use of past tense to the events having happened long ago, rather than to the fact that they’re already gone.
Hermes : I don't actually have the text with me, so can't check it, but isn't this normal in fiction? Books generally begin 'There was a boy..', or the like even when, if the book were read as factual, it's obvious that the boy would still be alive. Perhaps what this shows is that Lemony has not yet fully written himself into the fictional world; in later books he inhabits the same world as the characters and so says things like 'I don't know where they are now'.
Dante : I agree with your assessment. One expects the past tense in fiction, of course, but there's just something about TBB's opening that screams "this is about people who are no longer around" in a way which the later books don't.
Carrie : I absolutely love the first page; it sets the tone so well for the rest of the series. I think the first sentence is particularly great, but I also love the repetition of happy/happened, and 'I'm sorry to tell you this, but that is how the story goes'. That sentiment is echoed so many times across these books - Lemony is sorry for the state of the world, but isn't going to sugar-coat it, or pretend things are better than they really are. In this way, ASOUE is set apart from many children's books right from the start.
Sora : Straight of the bat - I love Lemony's style. No fruitless exposition, no haphazard attempts at suspense. Just blunt realities - the Baudelaires are kids with talents, and from now on their lives are misfortunate. No ifs ands or buts about it.
Mijahu : The first page is what brought many of us into the series in the first place. Right off the bat, first sentence is "If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book." It's a seducing sentence, really.
Mister M : The First chapters on both ASOUE, and ATWQ both work as first paragraphs for the entire series. And you wouldn't get the two confused. You can instantly see the difference.
The Entire first chapter does have a different feel to not just the rest of the book, but most of the series. Its very drawn out, and really a sort of prologue to the first book. I like to think about how it would be if this was the case, a chapter 0 equivalent to chapter 14?
Sherry Ann : I'm not sure I'd call it a prologue, but I agree the first chapter does well setting the mood and tone for the rest of the series. The chapter deals with a lot of exposition, which I'll address below.
Cwm : If the fire started the minute the Baudelaire mansion was out of sight and spread quickly (in ASOUE, fires generally spread very quickly, as we'll see from THH onwards) then it could be just about plausible. I suppose it's possible that Mr. Poe had accompanied the children on at least one previous trip to Briny Beach; this may not have been the first place he looked.
Dante : According to page 2, the Baudelaires are spending the day at Briny Beach; they could've been there for many hours. Lunch provided by nearby cafés or food stands. I know there's a reference somewhere to the fire having started in either the morning or the afternoon, but I can't remember where or which.
Mijahu : The mansion started to burn when they were on the trolley, no doubt. In the illustration at the beginning, the Baudelaires are seen on the rickety trolley heading to the beach, while the firemen are going to a fire (presumably the Baudelaire mansion's). We know they are on their way to Briney Beach (not from) at this point because Mr. Poe takes them from the beach in his car, not on the trolley. So the only time they would have been on the trolley on this day is as the mansion started to burn.
Hermes : the mansion, on the evidence of TUA, is probably built of wood.
Carrie : It's interesting that the first definition isn't prefaced with 'which here means' - instead it's 'the word rickety, you probably know, here means'. Also, the definition is the exact/actually correct one, rather than the overly specific or absurd ones that seem more common in later books. I wondered if that was somewhat of a feature - if the definition starts 'which here means', the definition is a humorous one, while 'you probably know means' leads to a more exact definition, but that isn't consistently done, even in this book, so I don't know. Still, over this reread, I want to try to analyse why/where the definitions are used. I've heard people criticise the series saying they are condescending, and others praise it saying they are trying to be educational, but I don't think either of these are true. I think their function is to parody children' books that try too hard to be educational, to the point of being condescending, but it's difficult to pick apart exactly how this works.
Mijahu : The city they live in is described as dirty, yet for some reason I have never imagined it that way. Perhaps there is some poetry in that? Take Gotham, Batman's hometown. Or even New York. It always seems sort of rich and glamorous on the outside but under that it's a very filthy place with evil people.
Carrie : How far away is Briny Beach from the Baudelaire mansion? That they can take public transport there suggests it's not that far, but the idea that the Baudelaires are 'spend[ing] the day as a sort of vacation' implies it's not actually
within the city itself, maybe an hour-long ride or so on the trolley that takes them outside the city limits. I'm not sure if this is supported by the description of Briny Beach in relation to the city from TPP.
Veryferociousdrama : If the Baudelaires had been going off to Briny Beach on their own several times, then why is their trip with Beatrice after TE described as their third time?
Carrie : Maybe Lemony just means the third time they've been there since he started researching their lives. It's definitely a weird way of phrasing it.
Dante : Notice that Violet’s right-handedness is highlighted on the very second page.
Mister M : All three Baudelaire's tend to read whereas, only Violet is seen inventing, and Sunny biting or cooking (with a few exceptions, TMM mainly). However, Klaus is obviously much better at it than Violet and Sunny
Carrie : I don't understand why Klaus is described as 'a little older than twelve'. We later find out that his and Violet's birthdays are very close together, so it's confusing that his age would have been written this way when Violet isn't 'a little older than fourteen'.
Sherry Ann : The facts Klaus remembers – how to tell an alligator from a crocodile and who killed Julius Caesar – give us an idea of his breadth of knowledge, possibly so it’s not so unbelievable later on.
Charlie : He had not read all of the books. This figures he would not have found any VFD chapter, like the Fungal Ditches one in Mushroom Minutiae
Dante : Sunny is established as having a few ordinary words in her vocabulary, whereas later on, when she starts using actual English, this is taken as character development. Of course, her “unintelligible shrieks” soon turned into in-jokes in practice.
Hermes : I think she always knows a few English words (the one which leaps to mind is 'shark' in TAA).
Sora : The development comes in her use of full phrases or sentences - I think from the beginning she could say intelligble individual words here and there.
Sherry Ann : “Gack,” also appears in TGG when the Baudelaires are under almost identical circumstances.
Mijahu : I noticed Sunny's size seems to change somewhat throughout the series. She is first described as the size of a boot here in Chapter One, and later a watermelon and a loaf of bread. These things are all pretty varying in size, if you ask me. And I noticed that her's is the only age not mentioned...
Carrie : It's weird to see the Baudelaires described as 'children' rather than 'orphans'. I guess that shows how large a part of their identity this is throughout the series.
Anka : Violet is nervous and thinks the approaching figure of Mr. Poe is frightning, and Klaus tells her that it's only scary because of the mist. Later Sunny makes „ a noise that sounds like an angry bird“. It seems like Violet and Sunny know that there is something wrong and Klaus not.
Mister M : Sunny made a noise like an angry bird - This made me laugh out loud.
Dante : Fog, mysterious figures, children feeling threatened enough to throw stones at them – there’s an almost supernatural feel to the first chapter.
Sherry Ann : The “fog” scene, which foreshadows doom, runs by having the Baudelaires experience dread, then relief, then more dread. Klaus’s statement that “It only seems scary because of all the mist” reads like an acknowledgement of this device.
Sora : I do feel Violet should have thrown that stone at Poe. Maybe it would have knocked some sense into him.
Sherry Ann : Mr. Poe could use a good concussion, is that what you're saying? Because I agree.
Theaqauasprite : Would things really have been different had Violet thrown the stone after all? It almost seems as if the ominous figure was representing their future misfortunes themselves, but whether the stone would have prevented them is doubtful. If Handler's philosophy is that bad things are going to happen anyway, then maybe the stone would be representative of an action that would delay misfortune, rather than preventing it entirely (which, I'm guessing, would have happened had Mr. Poe gotten injured by it).
Reading further, it looks like Violet blames him, too.
Dante : The Baudelaire children are allowed to join their parents at the table at dinner parties – there’s something that’ll cause problems for later continuity, as the children should probably have been overhearing things they shouldn’t. Then again, clearly these weren’t exactly V.F.D. dinner parties, since Mr. Poe was in attendance.
Sherry Ann : No, presumably not. The Baudelaire parents wouldn't speak of V.F.D.-related matters in front of their children, so I don't think it's a problem continuity-wise.
Sora : This was a bold one in my notes. Why if the Baudelaires had spent so much time at their dining table, could they not recognize Kit or Jacques - two people who surely would have frequented the Baudelaire house for meetings or even tea often?
TBB:RE notes also make mention of the fact Lemony spent much time at the table - suggesting Beatrice and Lemony were on talking terms and experiencing each others company for at least a few years before her death.
Hermes : if I remember rightly, Kit and Jacques haven't seen each other for some years, so it's not all that surprising they haven't seen the Baudelaires either. I get the distinct sense that VFD is very fragmented by this stage; its glory days are long past; so we can't assume people will be in contact just because they are both involved. (And of course, as will emerge in TE, the Baudelaires want to shelter their children from the troubles of the world.)
Charlie : I imagine that a huge coughing fit would be a good way to mask an important conversation with an unwanted guest in whatever the next room was.
Carrie : How close a friend could Mr Poe have been of the Baudelaire parents? Aside from his lack of knowledge about VFD, you'd think they'd dislike him for the same reason their children do.
Dante : Mr. Poe’s coughing is explained as being due to always having a cold, but I’m not sure this is ever mentioned again – he just coughs all the time. I fancy even Handler forgets this, and just remembers that he coughs.
Anka : I like Mr. Poe's „fine, thank you“ and „Yes, it's a nice day“. But the „but he looked very sad“ after the first one ruins everything
Dante : Typographically, it’s extremely nice that we go from ordinary, peaceful events at the bottom of page seven to “Your parents have perished in a terrible fire” at the top of page eight. I hope that was intentional. The effect is lost in the new paperback version.
Sora : I noticed this too - it flows well with the constant yin-yang of the series - for every good experience of the Baudelaires is an equal and entirely negative experience.
Sora : It also had always perplexed me why Mr. Poe was the person to meet the Baudelaires anyway. Snicket suggests that the Baudelaires have only been at Briny Beach for a few hours at max - how in such a short space of time could the fire rage to the point the house had burnt down, the fire department arrive, gauge the extent of damage and the fact the parents were dead, phone Poe, work out where the Baudelaires were, then get Poe down there to tell them of the deaths?
Mister M : ‘My Dears’ definitely shows a caring side to Mr Poe. He's not evil, just dimwitted.
Mijahu : I like how Klaus is angry at Mr. Poe after he breaks the news. I feel I would have done the same in his situation, I would have felt very patronized. And to read this again really made me hate Mr. Poe all the more because he knows the children, and he knows that they know what "perished" means, so he's really only making things worse for them.
Dante : Everything’s very fragmented when the children are told about their parents’ deaths; they see only a few glimpses of things at a time
Mijahu : Klaus thinking he wouldn't get to read all of the books in the library anymore was a great line.
Anka : Klaus thinks about the books he won't be able to read first and not about his dead parents. Maybe he just avoids thinking about them.
Sherry Ann : I think they're all in denial, a bit. Violet thinks it's a joke; Klaus focuses on the meaning of the word "perished." I wonder if the Baudelaires go through all five stages of death?
Anka : I almost feel sorry for Mr. Poe when Violet feels like he is the executioner because it's not really his fault.
Mister M : The Baudelaires were quite literally taken from their previous lives. They never see or mention any of their friends again - this is of course assuming they have friends which they must.
Sherry Ann : Later in the text it mentions that none of the Baudelaires old friends come to visit them, even when their companionship is needed most. So, clearly, they do have some acquaintances within the community.
Carrie : The description of the Bauds being led off the beach by Mr Poe makes it sound like Sunny is walking, but we'll just have to assume she actually isn't. This is also a problem at the end of the book.
Mister M : But, I suppose. Each book is a different life for the Baudelaires with them living (albeit shortly) in a new location with new people in a new stage in their discovery of VFD. After Book 13, The Baudelaires are able to live a new life, which, in my mind, is closer to their first life than the others.